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Are you, like so many, seeking refreshment and restoration for your soul, as you walk through the desert of our present culture? Have you found only mirages and “false loves” as your soul thirsts for Living Water? Perhaps you already know Jesus and you recognize that He is exactly Whom your heart has been seeking. This book opens the pathway for a deeply personal and unique heart-to-heart relationship with Jesus.
God tells us throughout the scriptures that His love for us is the love of a husband for his wife, spousal love. God desires to enter a marriage covenant with each and every human person. This short yet profound book, “Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom,” leads the reader to a deep understanding of God’s spousal love by describing, through Scriptures, art, and teachings of the saints including St. John Paul II, how the sacrificial life-giving love of Christ is spousal love in its purest form.
This book contains 9 days of prayers and reflections leading up to your consecration and enthronement of Christ the Bridegroom as King and Spouse of your heart. Each of the 9 days includes a scripture reading and a reflection from the book, The Cantata of Love, a Verse by Verse Reading of The Song of Songs, by Ignatius Press. Thought-provoking questions invite the reader to meditate upon each day’s content and apply to his/her own life.
Through the 9-days of prayer and reflection, our hope is for the reader to foster a new relationship with Jesus; begin to develop heart to heart conversation and spousal prayer with Christ; and to respond to the Bridegroom’s invitation to enter into a more personal and intimate spousal relationship. This consecration is a call to be set apart and made holy for Christ. As you grow in love of Him and drink deeply of His life-giving Love, you will realize that your emptiness is filled, your thirst is quenched, your aching heart is soothed and the spousal love you share with Him is overflowing into your relationships, your vocation, and your life.
Includes a women’s version, men’s version, and married couple’s version of the consecration prayers.
Paperback: $19.95 | Hardback with special notes section: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99
“Laura’s approach is both fresh and consistent with Catholic practice over the centuries, drawing her own wisdom from saints like John Paul II, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantel, Faustina, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Bernard of Clairvaux, among others. May everyone who enters into the prayers of this book find hope within Mary’s garden, where we can safely surrender to the love of Christ the Bridegroom.” – from the foreword by Christopher West, Th.D., President, Theology of the Body Institute
“This beautiful book will lead you on a 9-day preparation journey as you discern the consecration of your heart to Christ the Bridegroom. With lovely reference to the Song of Songs, it is an excellent accompaniment along this path to giving your heart to Christ, our One true, faithful and perfect spouse. It contains prayers for both men and women specifically speaking to each heart. May it bless you as it has blessed me!!” – Nicki Verna, Reader
Laura Ercolino is a Catholic mother, writer, artist, and spiritual mentor, best known as the founder of Hope’s Garden, a ministry dedicated to helping women heal from trauma through the redemptive love of Christ the Bridegroom. Drawing from her personal experiences with betrayal and childhood sexual trauma, Laura integrates therapeutic tools with her Catholic faith to guide others on their healing journeys. Her creative expressions, including journal writing, poetry, and various artistic mediums, play a significant role in her therapeutic work and are featured in Hope’s Garden’s healing retreats and speaking events.
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“Napoleon once told a Catholic cardinal that he had the power destroy the Church, and the cardinal replied, ‘Your Majesty, we Catholic clergy have done our best to destroy the Church for the last eighteen hundred years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.’ Dantean in its criticisms of the modern Church, Trinity: Why Everyone Should be Catholic sounds a clarion call for the restoration of our Catholic faith in a fragmented world and provides an important reason, which is nothing less than our salvation, for why everyone should get on board.” — Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, author of Catholic Realism: A Framework for the Refutation of Atheism and the Evangelization of Atheists
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“Common Sense for a World of Common Nonsense is a clarion call to reclaim moral clarity through reason, faith, and virtue—essential reading for anyone navigating today’s cultural confusion.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, author of The Narrative Spirituality of Dante’s Divine Comedy
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“A Race Redeemed is a compelling, faith-filled journey through salvation history, blending science, Scripture, and Catholic teaching to reveal the profound truth of God’s plan for humanity.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, co-author with Ronda Chervin of Catholic Realism: A Framework for the Refutation of Atheism and the Evangelization of Atheists

Juan Novo was born in Habana Cuba seven years before the communist Castro regime took totalitarian control of this burgeoning island paradise and turned it into an isolated, run down specter of her former glory. He came to the U.S.A. unaccompanied when he was nine years old through “Operation Pedro Pan,” a clandestine operation that succeeded in rescuing over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minor children from communist indoctrination and control by the communist Castro regime. The operation, which ended with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, was run and directed by Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh of the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Miami, Florida.
By the time he was nineteen, Juan had become a professional musician and was making a living as a percussionist playing music in the San Francisco area under contract to Warner Brothers Studios in a band called “Fat City.” In 1976, he graduated from Spokane Falls Community College with degrees in both music theory and musical instrument repair and restorations and has been active as a practicing professional technician in this field for the past 50 years.
Mr. Novo founded the Research and Development Committee for the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT) in 1983, and it was here where he was “bit” for the first time by the “investigative writing bug.” Juan ended up publishing a work entitled “The Grenadilla Story,” an in-depth investigative study of African Blackwood, an African hardwood that has been used to make woodwind musical instruments for over a century. The report revealed the precious wood was at the edge of extinction which led to successful replanting programs years later. Mr. Novo has written technical repair and restoration articles published in the Association’s trade journal, “TechniCom.” His work with musical instruments has been featured in several TV specials, and articles about him and his work have appeared in both foreign and domestic newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. Although Juan switched careers and entered the musical instrument repair field full time in 1976, he continued to play percussion as a hobby and has performed in concerts with Jazz legends such as the late Dizzy Gillespie and Ira Sullivan.
Since 1983, Mr. Novo has been making professional model Grenadilla wood mouthpieces for the metal concert flute which are played by both amateur and professional flutists worldwide. Between 1981 and 1984, Mr. Novo was awarded two U.S. patents on musical instrument designs. One of these, patent # 4,685,373, is for the transparent FANTASIA flute he invented in 1984: a professional grade transparent flute that is illuminated with colored lights during performance. The first such instrument, built in 1985, was commissioned by the late Julius Baker, principal flautist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. This instrument was later purchased by the late New York Latin-Jazz flutist Dave Valentin and is featured in one of his albums entitled, “Light Struck.” The FANTASIA flute made U.S. Patent history, for it was the first illuminated musical wind instrument to be awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent Office. As a result, a new division had to be created for it and it remains to this day the only such instrument in its class.
In the late 80s, Juan served for a time as editor of the “Sunshine Jazz Messenger,” the newsletter for Miami’s Sunshine Jazz Organization, and in 1990, his Grenadilla flute mouthpiece, played by Dave Valentin, was featured in the soundtrack of the film “Havana” starring Robert Redford. His books, “A Race Redeemed,” and “Who Do You Say I Am?” are Mr. Novo’s latest and most important investigative works. Juan is a practicing Catholic, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and an avid student of Catholic theology and philosophy. He now works part time for a company that is devoted to music education for children.
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The Seminary Journal is a journal of opinion, research, and praxis in the field of seminary education and formation for priesthood within the Roman Catholic tradition.
This special issue of Seminary Journal explores the evolving landscape of Catholic seminary formation. Featuring contributions from St. Mary’s Seminary faculty, it addresses theology, pastoral leadership, political philosophy, and Marian doctrine, offering fresh insight for shaping future priests in light of the sixth edition of the Program of Priestly Formation.
PDF: FREE | Paperback: $9.99 | Kindle: $9.99
“Seminary Journal (Spring 2025) is an exciting compilation of articles regarding the formation of seminarians into priests for the pastoral and intellectual care of the faithful. While these studies in spirituality, scripture, canon law, philosophy, language & culture, moral, and systematic theology are geared toward the integration of the intellectual, spiritual, human, and pastoral life of the priest, they surely also regard the life of each and every Catholic in the universal call to holiness. This issue of Seminary Journal can readily serve as a study guide for all those seeking a deeper understanding of their faith.” – Kiki Latimer, author of Home for the Homily: The Sacred Art of Homiletics and host of WCAT Radio’s “The Catholic Bookworm“
Barnabas Aspray, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (baspray@stmarys.edu) Doctor Aspray is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Dennis J. Billy, C.Ss.R., D.Min., Th.D., S.T.D. (dbilly@stmarys.edu) Father Billy holds The Robert F. Leavitt Distinguished Service Chair in Theology and is Professor of Moral Theology and Spirituality at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Phillip Brown, P.S.S., J.D., J.C.D. (pbrown@stmarys.edu) Father Brown is President Rector and Professor of Canon Law at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Dr. Dennis Castillo, M.A., Ph.D. (dcastillo@stmarys.edu). Doctor Castillo is Professor of Systematic Theology and Associate Dean of Assessment and Accreditation at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Most Reverend Fredrik Hansen, J.C.L., J.C.D., D.D. (fredrik.hansen@katolsk.no) Bishop Hansen of Oslo, Norway, taught for two years at St. Mary’s as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies and also served as Dean of Seminarians during that time.
John Macias, M.A. S.T.L., Ph.D. Doctor Macias is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Hy Nguyen, P.S.S., S.T.L., S.T.D. Father Nguyen is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
Leelamma Sebastian, M.A. Ms. Sebastian is Director of Pastoral Formation at St. Mary’s Seminary & University.
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