The September Letter

Dear Christ Bearers,

Every month we set out to do two things: put good books into your hands, and put our hands to work for our neighbors. September asked more of us on both counts than any month yet, and we want to tell you about it.

Thirteen new titles went live, a year-long series was finished, a new one was begun, and we put a spiritual classic back into print.

A classic on the interior life

The Soul of the Apostolate  ·  Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard

There is a particular kind of tiredness that comes from doing good. You say yes to one thing, then another, and somewhere in the middle of it you notice you have not prayed in a week and can no longer remember why you started. If that is familiar, this is the book.

Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard was a French Trappist, abbot of Sept-Fons, and he assembled this book in 1907 out of the conferences he gave his monks. Its argument is blunt: work that does not flow from an interior life goes sterile, and the person doing the work is the first casualty. He borrows an image from St. Bernard — a canal passes water along and keeps none of it, while a reservoir fills first and gives only out of its overflow. Most of us, Chautard says, are canals, and we are proud of it.

It is not a book against action. It is a book about where the water comes from. St. Pius X is said to have kept it on his nightstand; Benedict XV wrote a foreword for it; Benedict XVI was still quoting it at Lourdes a century after it was written. If you teach, serve, volunteer, sit on a committee, or are simply raising children in the faith and running on fumes, it will find you out gently and then tell you what to do about it.

The Kindle edition is live now. The paperback is in review at Amazon and should follow within days.

The twelve-month devotional cycle is complete

If you have been picking these up one at a time, the set is now whole. Three more months went live in September — February with the Holy Family, March with St. Joseph, and April with the Holy Eucharist — and with them the circle closed. Every month of the year now has its own book, in English and in Spanish. Twenty-four volumes. One page a day, tied to what the Church is already celebrating, so your prayer moves with the year instead of starting over each time you begin again. You can now hand someone the whole twelve months at once.

A new series: the Seasons

The calendar year was only ever half of the Church's year. So in September we started a second series that follows the liturgical seasons rather than the months:

All Saints is a month away and Advent begins November 29. Both books are ready now, which means for once you can start the season on the first day of it instead of the third week.

The October Companion planner

October's Companion is out in English and Spanish, paperback and hardcover — your appointments, your intentions, and the month's devotion on the same page, so that what you mean to pray about sits right next to what you have to do.

The books are the half of this work you can hold. Here is the other half.

In the workshop

• More devotionals, continuing the Season series through the liturgical year.
• More spiritual classics, brought back into readable, affordable print.

In the neighborhood

• Feeding the homeless again next month.
• Continuing the jail ministry — the weekly Bible discussion, and the work of getting him into treatment.
• Supporting men's night at the church.
• Continuing OCIA and the weekly Bible study.

We are still building our foundation, and all proceeds from book sales go toward this work. Nothing is wasted. For now all we ask is that you spread the word, tell us honestly what you think of the books through email or amazon reviews, and keep praying for us until we can open a way to accept more. This is a small group that loves bearing Christ to others, and we are thankful He lets us work in His grace for His merit.

Thank you for reading with us, praying with us, and working alongside us.

St. Christopher, pray for us.