My New Book: the Perfect Gift

Plus a coupon code, free shipping, and a little story about the genesis of the book

I have mixed feelings about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I am a bit of a cheapskate, so I love sales. But I find myself getting anxious over getting the best sales, having FOMO over what I might be missing, or buying things I don’t need just because they’re on sale!

This is not a post to condemn shopping on Friday or Monday. In fact, I’m going to tell you about a sale … and a chance to get some people checked off your list!

Ave Maria Press is having a sale now through December 3: 30% off plus free shipping! (Use code BFCM24)

Why is that important? Because my new book comes out December 6, you can preorder it now, and it would make a great Christmas present. It’s all about hope, and who doesn’t need some of that in their life? It’s a Scripture study, but not a heavy academic work. It uses the Holy Door at St Peter’s as its inspiration, but its content is not limited to the Jubilee Year. In fact, I think there’s something there for everyone: the daily-Mass-go-er and the rarely-Mass-go-er, the person who loves praying with Scripture and the person who has never tried.

Just head over here and get your copy. Remember: code BFCM24!

Want to know a little back story about the book?

Several years ago, I picked up a unique medal in a gift shop on the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica. Yes, there’s a gift shop on the roof, right next to a coffeeshop. I have found the most beautiful and unique medals in Rome, much more detailed and delicate than the ones I usually find here in the States, so I always peruse the selections to see if I can find a saint I don’t already have.

This one was a panel from the Holy Door at St. Peter’s. I had never paid much attention to the Holy Door, although I knew what it was. It is a main door into the Basilica that is only open during Jubilee Years, or Holy Years. Jubilee Years are times of great grace, when the spiritual treasury of the Church is opened wide for people to receive mercy and forgiveness. As a physical sign of this, the Holy Doors in the 4 Major basilicas of Rome are opened for pilgrims to enter through in pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles and holy sites.

When I say the Holy Door is closed, I don’t mean that this door in St. Peter’s is locked with a special key that only one Swiss Guard has. No, this door is walled up. Plastered. You could say that it doesn’t exist outside of these years. Except it is, because you can see the front of it: a beautiful, bronze-paneled door, with 16 panels depicting various Scripture scenes.

The medal was one of these panels, and it caught my eye because it was such a unique depiction of the Good Shepherd. Usually the Good Shepherd is standing upright, staid, wearing many layers of clothing, holding a lamb serenely on his shoulders. There is no movement, no energy. No indication that this shepherd did any work, really.

This depiction was different.

He was reaching out, straining. You could almost see the sweat on his brow. He was holding on to a tree as he extended his arms to the lamb that had stubbornly strayed too far. Those arms, outstretched like… well, I had seen them before, stretched out cruciform for me.

Over the years, this was the Good Shepherd I came to know. This man who risked everything for me. Who gave up everything. Some days I was the little lamb that had strayed. Other days I was up with the other lambs in that pack left behind, being watched by the dog in the Shepherd’s absence. I wondered where he had gone, why he had left, and I felt a little bitter that he loved the stupid straying sheep as much as he loved me, the faithful one.

When I had the opportunity to write a book for the Jubilee Year, I jumped at the chance to do a Bible study using these panels. And not just a study that will take you through the Scriptures and help you pray with the Word of God, but a study that also takes you through these panels, invites you into them, to study them and pray with them, too.

The book is not just for the Jubilee. While the door is only open during the Jubilee, the exterior is always visible. Because these panels, these signs of hope, should assist our meditation every single year. God’s mercy is always available.

There is always reason for hope.

Pick up a copy today, for yourself and for the hard-to-buy person on your Christmas list. Because we all could use a little hope.

Head over here. And don’t forget coupon code BFCM24!