Even though we’re not living through the Great Depression, it sure feels like it, doesn’t it? The headlines are depressing. The economy stinks. Businesses are closing. Families are losing their homes. Things are a mess in Washington.

If you’re like me, I’m sure you know someone who is having a really rough time right now. Someone who has lost his job. Someone who has been dealing with a serious illness in her family. Someone who has lost a loved one. Someone who is battling cancer. Someone who has a teenage child that’s bringing strife to the family. Someone who has a tyrannical boss. Someone who is feeling alone and depressed.

Life is a challenge and can very often be quite overwhelming. We all know people who are suffering. Family members. Loved ones. Friends. Neighbors. Co-workers. Fellow church goers.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could bring a little joy into their life and put a smile on their face?

Well, I would like to try to help. My name is Anthony DeStefano. You may have heard of me because I’ve written a few books, two of them for children: Little Star and This Little Prayer of Mine. And several for adults: A Travel Guide to Heaven, Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To, and The Invisible World.

I’m not new to suffering. Over the years I’ve dealt with a lot of it. Especially family illnesses. Without going into any details, I can only say that it’s been a rough few years for me. During that time, I’ve done my best to cheer up the people closest to me. Sometimes I’ve been successful, and sometimes not. But through it all, I kept remembering that old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

So I stopped talking and put together a little book filled with adorable pictures of children reacting to all that life has to throw at them. Then I came up with some captions which I thought seemed light and inspirational, but at the same time had a deeper message—a message of spiritual consolation—and I gave the book to some of my family and friends who were hurting.

I’m happy to say that the reaction I got was always the same. Slowly, as they turned the pages, I noticed that they began to grin. By the time they turned to the last page of the book, looked at the last picture, and read the last caption, that tiny grin had become a big smile. And the look on their faces told me that, if only for a moment, they’d been able to put their troubles behind them and allow these children to remind them of just how beautiful life truly is and how much God loves them and cares for them.

It was then that I realized that I had to share this little book with others who are feeling down and need a quick spiritual pick-me-up. Well, the book is called I Just Can’t Take It Anymore! and it is being published by Harvest House Press in just a few weeks!

Can a small, slim book change your life? This one can! Pairing hilarious photos of children with beautifully simple words, I Just Can’t Take it Anymore will cheer up even the most discouraged people. In a lighthearted yet profound way, Anthony DeStefano, author of the bestseller, A Travel Guide to Heaven, conveys the essence of the JudeoChristian teaching on suffering, all the while making readers laugh out loud and sigh “Aww.”

At once straightforward and funny and yet deeply moving, the book depicts challenges we all face: “Messy” lives, feelings of loss, abandonment, frustration, and despair. Then, step by step, DeStefano gently nudges readers into seeing the whole picture—life with all its beauties, joys, challenges and pleasures.

“Sometimes people just need to be reminded that there are always things to be grateful for. No one ever has to suffer alone,” said DeStefano, a best-selling author whose previous books include Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To, The Invisible World, and two award-winning children’s
books, This Little Prayer of Mine and Little Star.

If you think you know someone who might be able to benefit from this book, or if you, yourself, would like to read it, please goto book order page to pre-order the book from Amazon.com. Thank you very much!

- – - written by Anthony DeStefano

The Christmas spirit visits us every year. We celebrate with presents and letters to Santa along with charity and concern for those less fortunate than ourselves. We express our Christmas spirit with adornment and surround ourselves with pine trees decorated with ornaments, houses lit in multi-colored lights and street lights outfitted with holiday characters.

Every year during the Christmas season we take an angel ornament from a charity tree to make sure that children less fortunate than ours have a present to open on Christmas morning. We are more inclined to open shop doors for strangers and smile as we wish them “Merry Christmas.”

Our world would be a much happier place if we could keep the spirit of Christmas with us all year. Imagine a willing and helpful attitude that is able to easily forgive the infractions of others. We know that the struggles of our daily lives will creep in and we’ll forget the Christmas spirit. Fortunately, this giving inspiration does take place once a year.

In many ways our burdens are lighter during the Christmas season and even our car loans, utility bills and mortgage payments are easier to bear. The Christmas atmosphere is different for everyone and begins at separate times of the year. For some people, Christmas begins as soon as the turkey leftovers are stored away in the refrigerator. For other revellers, the Christmas spirit begins on Christmas Eve as they decorate the tree and wrap presents.

We are our better selves during the Christmas holiday and inspire others to be the same. Generosity is plentiful this time of the year, and we are more likely to share what we have with others. The homeless person on the street may require our assistance, and we are more prone to lend a helping hand.

Christmas is when magic happens, especially for those of us who have children. The excitement a child experiences on Christmas Eve is a palpable moment and you’ll never get closer to reliving your own childhood as you do when you have the opportunity to share it with your children.

You’ll also enjoy teaching your children about the importance of the holiday and that it’s about more than just opening new toys on Christmas morning. Moreover, when you share the Christmas spirit with your children, you are bringing the next generation into the specialness of this holiday. Furthermore, as your children grow up with Christmas in their hearts you are increasing the strength of this special season throughout the world.

The Christmas spirit can encourage us to be more open with our budgets and we may find ourselves making purchases spontaneously. Make sure that you’ve shopped thoroughly for affordable car loans before you place that big red bow on the hood of a new car for your spouse’s Christmas present.

Christmas spirit is an incredible sentiment and is one that happens all over the world. People of diverse religions celebrate in similar fashions and even individuals who don’t believe the holiday has a spiritual significance will revel in festive ways.

The entire world is transformed during the Christmas holiday just like a blanket of snow changes your neighborhood into a perfect Thomas Kincaid painting. Let’s try to keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts longer this year as we show kindness to our neighbors and patience towards our loved ones.

About the author: Kathleen Hubert is a blogger who writes on a variety of different sites. Check out more of her work at LED TV reviews.

Beware of the spiritual generation gap among our children.

Any role of leadership in society, whether social, economic, political or religious would have its root in the hearth of the family, without which it is impossible to exercise any authority. We are fundamentally what we are at home. We act and react the way we do so at home. Family is the training ground for a child’s future leadership in the larger society. When he is denied such role at home, the consequence would be disastrous with various chaos, pandemonium, unrest and violence in the wider society.

The society reflects its face back to its inception at home. What is denied at home cannot be compensated in the social role nor be ‘made up’ elsewhere. None can give what he does not possess at home. Or else one has ‘to act as another’, wearing a mask of artificiality all through one’s life and begin to divest and distance oneself from the real self. To such type of ‘artificiality’ the word of God asks: “why do you pretend to be another?” (I Kg 14:6). In pretension, the inner growth is stagnant and personality would be warped unable to face realities. “Self-alienation” would be the end product of long-range domestic disorder.

Leadership in the Bible

Bible has offered many personalities who have developed their leadership qualities in the hearth and warmth of their homes and under the tutelage of their parents. Gideon although ‘afraid of his family’ did pull down the altar of Baal at night (Judges 6:25-27). Jephthah the Gileadite was mighty warrior but he was the son of a harlot and he lost the property of his family. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were of no exception; they were brought up by their faith-filled families (Ezra 5:1-5).

St. Paul advised the parents to ‘bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.’ “Discipline your son” says Sirach (30:13) “and take pains with him.” “Do not withhold discipline from a child” (Prov. 23:13). The father who is the head and the leader of the family would find it easy to train future leaders of the society in order to shape its destiny.

Leadership in the Family

St. Paul was straight forward when he spoke about the men leadership in the family; “He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way – for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?” (I Tim 3:4-5). Paul demanded that the church leader be exemplary in controlling his own family. He was to raise children known for their obedience and morally upright behavior. The verb for ‘manage’ carries the idea of governing, conducting, leading and giving direction to the family. The term demands an effective exercise of authority fostered by a character of integrity and sensitive compassion. In the context of the family life, the term implies that the father demands ‘respect and devotion’ from his children by his holy and dignified way of life.

For the father to see ‘that his children obey him’, demands primarily a character and manner of discipline that develop a natural respect. The passage assumes that the leader is married and knows how to blend authority and compassion so skillfully in the training of his children.

The development of proper leadership skills in the home was a pre-requisite for using them in the Church. Paul’s reference to the Church as ‘God’s household’ (I Tim 3:15) underscores the close relationship between the Church and home. Hundreds of ‘domestic churches’ would establish a parish church or a local Christian community. Basically our actions and behaviour patterns of the ‘household church’ would be reflected in the bigger church called the ‘parish’ or the diocese.

Foresight in the Family

St. Paul has reprimanded certain families which neglected their own needy members. ‘And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (I Tim 5:8). To ‘provide’ involves ‘foreseeing’ and planning for the future needs of dependents. St. Paul suggested that a believer has an inalienable duty to care for all the needy relatives, especially for ‘those under his own roof.’ Anyone who does not provide such care has denied the faith. Such denial is an egregious failure that mutes a claim to Christian piety.

Leadership qualities whether social or religious are not always inborn, but created by human efforts. Family and its healthy environment would be conductive to inculcate the skills needed to develop the potential qualities within. We see in the animal world that they train rigorously their younger ones in order to equip them to catch the prey. So too, in the human society, we need to impart to our children effective leadership qualities. This training has to be done at home.

For, home is the first and primary school of life and it is the inalienable right for the parents to impart perennial and traditional values to the coming generations of humanity. Or else what happened to the Israelites might occur again. “There arose another generation after them, who did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). We notice the ‘generation gap’ widening due to the absence of effective family catechesis. The spiritual generation gap is worse than the temporal one. Our children’s secular knowledge far exceeds their religious knowledge.

Lord Jesus, we invite you into our homes today. As you entered the house and rooms of the ruler, come into our homes and put out all the tumults of our families. May your divine words echo in our homes too: “Today salvation has come to this house.”

- – - written by Fr. J. Eapan SDB