MSI Press Blog

  (drawing by Uliana Yanovich) What is Lent? One of the duties during Lent is to go to confession (reconciliation). Lent is one of two times in the Catholic Church when the Sacrament of Reconciliation is required. Can you guess the other? Yep, it is Christmas. I like to sit with people in the church as they take turns going to one of the priests—our Mission often brings in several priests on one evening during Lent to make it easy for people to go to confession. I notice that when they come back—maybe the priest has given them a penance of a prayer or something like that—they sometimes pray beside me. They always seem happy! That is why I think the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a good thing! Sometimes people seem nervous at first, but if anyone is willing to take advice from a cat, I say “go for it; don’t pass up any opportunity for reconciliation.” The Mission, like every Catholic church makes the opportunity for confession available at any time. Usually a few hours each week are

  Sula is a very unusual cat. She is the parish cat for Old Mission San Juan Bautista and, beyond being beloved by the people of the parish who see her at Mass every day and have paid for three cancer surgeries through collections (a fourth surgery was provided gratis by the vet, Dr. Theresa Arteaga of the Animal Cancer Center of Monterey), she has garnered some national attention for her miraculous understanding of who needs comfort and joy -- and uncannily offering it to them at just the right time. Her story appeared in G uideposts Magazine in December 2015, and in All Creatures in Novermber-December 2017. She has also written 6 books, with the help of some of the parishioners at Old Mission SJB. The first book, which has garnered some fame, including totally selling out during the first hour of a Barnes & Noble book launch event, is called Surviving Cancer, Helping People: One Cat's Story. It is recommended by US Review of Books, and was selected as a Reviewers' Choic

Hi, I am Sula, the Parish Cat. In honor of Caturday, I am going to invite you to join me on my Facebook Page  HERE   -- I have almost 800 friends now; you can be my friend, too, if you like read some blog posts about me HERE   -- all kinds of information: who I am, pictures of me, information about my book, and more: go discover! read the interview that Mudpie conducted with me when my book, Suriving Cancer, Helping People: One Cat's Stor y first came out HERE   -- it was fun; I think you will like it see  the stories about me on the Internet (from local newspapers, Guideposts Magazine, All Creatures Managzine, and more) read reviews about my books; you can a list of the reviews here Christmas at the Mission Dia de Muertos Easter at the Mission Saints I Know Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story Tale of a Mission Cat read some excerpts from my books HERE And, for some immediate reading pleasure right here, this is the Canticle of Sula that Stacy Gentry, my care pro

  (photo by Lisa Lavignano) THE ALTAR The altar is the most important part of the church. The altar is where the priest celebrates the Mass, offering the Sacrifice (body and blood of Christ). Without an altar, there cannot be a Mass.  What happens at the altar is mysterious and highly spiritual. The priest consecrates the host (bread) and the wine, blessing it by prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to descend upon it to change it into the body and body of Christ. This change is called transubstantion.  Altars have been used in worshipping God for a very long time. At first, they had to be made of stone, but that is not the case today. If you read the Old Testament, you will read that God’s chosen people, the Jews, in the old days, San Juan Bautista Mission long before the time of Jesus, used altars to offer to God sacrifices like lambs, or, yikes!, (almost) Isaac, Abraham’s son. That’s a story of incredible trust, the kind of trust that helped Abraham to be the progenitor (t

(Christmas photo by Lovejoy Studios, Hollister, CA; originally published in The Hollister Freelance )  This Caturday, we are sharing some new pictures of Sula, parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, who has earned Internet fame and written six books (one in Spanish) and two more proposed. For today, though, thought it might be fun just to share some pictures of the author herself, as she has appeared in various interviews and stories over the years. Photo by Klimek, for Guideposts Magazine. More from that article can be found HERE . Portrait by Kat, cat artist in New York City. Drawing of Sula by Stacy Gentry, photographer and Old Mission Gift Shop manager--and overseer of Sula's care and caregivers. And the newspaper article with the photo above. And another newspaper article : "Cat's Story Is a Tale of Hope" ( The Hollister Freelancer ; photo by Nick Lovejoy). And yet another article , "Sula the Cat Is on a Mission in San Juan" ( The Gilroy Dispatch

Love cats? Like to read good books? Like to read good books about cats? Have online sites where you can post reviews? We need you! We are looking for reviewers for our wonderful cat books. All have received top-notch reviews, but none have received LOTS of reviews. We want to bring these good books to more readers. That takes more reviews. If you are willing to review any of the following books, we will be happy to send you a free copy. Contact editor@msipress.com. How My Cat made Me a Better Man Books by Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission: Christmas at the Mission Dia de Muertos (in Spanish) Easter at the Mission Saints I Know Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story Tale of a Mission Cat Intrepid

We celebrate Easter by offering two previous posts about Easter: https://msipressblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Easter And here is some more information about those books and their authors -- Bennett Easterling has written three terrific spiritual books; follow the book links for more information about each book. Jesus Is Still Passing By Jesus Is Still Passing By: Study Guide Edition (by popular demand when study groups discovered the original book) Of God, Rattlesnakes, and Okra: A Preacher's Boy Tells His Growing-Up Story (a delightful, funny, warm-hearted memoir -- and award-winning) Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission has written six books, one of which is focused on Easter. Easter at the Mission: A Cat's Observation of the Paschal Mystery  Sula received great reviews on her Easter book. Read them on Goodreads , MidWest Book Review and Readers Favorite . Learn more about her othe

Today's fortune cookie is associated with Tale of a Mission Cat (Sula).  Read more about Sula and her books  HERE . Get a copy at  MSI Press webstore . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .