MSI Press Blog

Hello, My name is Sula, and I am the parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista. My first book, Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story , came out a couple of years ago. I am very grateful for  everyone who read and reviewed my book. All five stars! That made me so happy. More recently I have written three more books, one after the other, on slightly different topics. Many people had written to me, especially om my Face Book page , and told me that they like my books, but no one has written reviews. Reviews really help to get the word out. So, if you would like to write a review in exchange for a free copy of one of my books, just contact my publisher: info@msipress.com . Here are the books that need to be reviewed: Christmas at the Mission: A Cat's View of Catholic Customs and Beliefs Sula the Cat does it again! Sula, parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, is a cat with a special mission: to comfort people in need. Every morning, she spends time ...

  Every Lent, the same question surfaces at dinner tables and parish gatherings: Why fish? Why does the Church ask Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays, yet allow salmon, shrimp, or a tuna sandwich? The answer is older—and more meaningful—than most people realize. 1. It begins with Friday itself For Christians, Friday is the day of the Passion. It’s the weekly remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion. From the earliest centuries, believers marked Friday with some form of penance. Not dramatic gestures—just a small, steady act of self‑denial that kept the memory of Christ’s sacrifice close to daily life. 2. Meat meant feasting In the ancient Mediterranean world, meat wasn’t an everyday food. It was celebratory—weddings, festivals, victories, homecomings. To give up meat was to give up something rich, festive, and symbolic of abundance. Abstaining from it became a quiet way of stepping back from celebration and entering a posture of humility. Fish, by contrast, was ordinary food. It ...

  Last year, I decided to “do something meaningful” for Lent. I gave up red meat—simple enough, I thought. A small sacrifice, a gesture of discipline, and certainly nothing dramatic. Except it was dramatic. Red meat also happens to be the most absorbable form of iron, something my 75‑year‑old body apparently relies on more than I realized. My iron levels had been excellent— very excellent—just a few weeks earlier at my annual checkup. Then Lent arrived, I dutifully avoided red meat, and by Easter I was seriously anemic. It took six months of iron pills to climb back to normal. When I told my doctor what I had done, he didn’t prescribe a new medication or order a battery of tests. He simply said, with the kind of dry understatement only a seasoned physician can deliver: “Try commonsense.” And honestly, that may be the best Lenten advice I’ve ever received. Lent isn’t supposed to break us. It isn’t a contest in self‑punishment or a test of how cleverly we can deprive oursel...

If you walk into a Catholic church during Lent, you’ll often see people quietly moving from station to station, pausing before small images on the wall. This ancient practice—the Stations of the Cross —is one of the most beloved Lenten devotions in the Church. But what exactly is it, and why do Catholics do it? 1. A pilgrimage without leaving your parish The Stations of the Cross are 14 moments from Jesus’ Passion , beginning with His condemnation by Pilate and ending with His burial. Early Christians in Jerusalem walked the actual path Jesus took to Calvary. Over time, as travel became impossible for most people, the Church brought the pilgrimage home. Parishes installed “stations” so the faithful could walk with Christ spiritually, even if they could never set foot in the Holy Land. It’s a pilgrimage of the heart. 2. A way of slowing down the Passion The Gospels tell the story of Good Friday with stark simplicity. The Stations invite us to linger —to notice the falls, the face...