The village of Old Mines is the oldest settlement in the state of Missouri. Lead miners were in Old Mines as early as 1719. The founding of Old Mines in 1723 coincides with the land grant awarded to Philippe Francois Renault by French authorities on June 26, 1723, to mine lead. Thus, the oldest village in Missouri began as a mining town. In 2023, the village marks three hundred years of the French in Old Mines. This book narrates the history of people in remote Louisiana and how they have kept alive a French heritage of culture and customs. The history of Old Mines is tightly bound to the Catholic faith the French settlers brought with them, the parish they founded, and the church, schools, rectories, and convents they built. The decade of the 2020s is filled with over twenty anniversaries to be marked and celebrated in the oldest mining town in Missouri, itself marking its Bicentennial in 2021. This is not a scholarly writing of history; it is a thirty-chapter narrative, grounded in research, of the continual presence of the French in Old Mines for three hundred years.

"Contextualizes and analyzes the key energy transitions in U.S. history and the central importance of energy production and consumption on the American environment and in American culture and politics"--

Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy: An Anthology of Poems represents almost fifty years of well-known spiritual master Mark G. Boyer’s poetry writing. After writing seventy books of prose on spirituality and history, he has collected over two hundred of his poems and divided them into nineteen chapters (collections). You will find poems on Alaska, Christmas, Colorado, day and night, Easter, friendship, ocean, seasons, wind and rain, and more. Over the years, a few were published in now out-of-print journals, magazines, newspapers, and books, but most are taken from his handwritten files and organized according to themes, arranged alphabetically in this book. The poetry lover will find a variety of styles, rhythm, and length in this collection of poems that delve into the insight of things and people, because there is also more than what is at first perceived. As the title indicates, the author hopes that this book of poems smothers the reader with inexhaustible mercy.

This is a book about four Roman Catholic pioneers—explorers and developers—whose lives crossed each other’s paths in Old Mines, Missouri, in the middle of the 1800s. Two of them were priests, and one of them was a bishop, then an archbishop. One was a laywoman, who was very generous with her riches. Three of them were not only of Irish descent but came from Ireland. The laywoman was French, and she came from Ste. Genevieve. The Great Potato Famine in Ireland in the 1840s brought all of them together in the oldest village in the state of Missouri: Old Mines. The potato famine brought many Irish to Missouri in the nineteenth century to farm, to build railroads, and to construct churches for worship. This is the story of pioneers Marie-Louise (Bolduc) Lamarque, Peter Richard Kenrick, James Fox, and John Joseph Hogan. Their lives crossed each other’s paths in Old Mines, Missouri, a lead-mining village about sixty miles south of St. Louis (before St. Louis existed) and about forty miles east of Ste. Genevieve (before Ste. Genevieve existed).

This is a book about spirituality for the solitary, those people who live alone. In the past they were known as hermits, eremites, and anchorites; today they are known as pioneers, mountain men and women, widows, widowers, and people who choose to live alone in the country or in the city. They spend their days like other ordinary people taking care of daily chores, but also spending some time in prayer and meditation. The solitary life is alive and well, and it appears in all world religions. The solitary seeks solitude for prayer, meditation, self-awareness, and personal development. Living alone in a house or apartment begins to transform one’s life; a person sets off on the path of purpose, the path of integrity, the path of transcendence that lifts his or her heart, mind, and spirit to the divine presence, God, who transforms more and more as the solitary dives deeper and deeper. This book provides an in-depth exploration of spirituality for the solitary along with eight-part exercises designed to further enhance solitary spirituality. Included are prayers, psalms in contemporary English, and celebrations using natural things, such as water, oil, and fire.

This book presents forty-two reflections on biblical names for God in an abecedarian (A through Z) format. The names, terms by which God is known, are not biblically exhaustive. These entries present spiritual reflections, grounded in Scripture, with Psalm responses, questions for meditation and/or journaling, and prayers designed to nourish spirituality at any time. Beginning with Abba, Alpha, and Ancient One, individual entries continue through the alphabet to Yahweh and Zion. By reflecting on forty-two biblical names for God, the reader comes to know better the Holy One, and, in so doing, is transformed.

This book presents one hundred reflections on the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The seasons of the year bring change to people. Winter heating gives way to spring and summer air conditioning. The new life of spring—trees leafing, bulbs blooming, grass growing—brought about by rain turns into summer maintenance. Summer maintenance diminishes as the autumn chill begins to spread across the land, and T-shirts and shorts are exchanged for sweaters and jeans. Coats are brought out of the closet and prepared to be worn as frost forms on the lawn, snow falls from the sky, and ice forms on water. The changes that take place outside of us also take place inside us. Without noticing, we discover ourselves adapting as we pass from one season to another. All the reflections provided in this book begin with biblical passages that mention each specific season or some event that occurs as part of the season. The passage is followed by a reflection, a Psalm response, questions for meditation and/or journaling, and prayers designed to nourish one’s spirituality. The yearly process of passing from one season to another brings about transformation in us of which we may not be aware.

Because there is no single word that translates the Hebrew word hesed and the Greek word eleos, multiple words are used in English biblical translations. Mercy is the most frequently used word in English, but forgiveness, generosity, pity, and others are also used. Using 106 biblical texts gathered from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the Old Testament Apocrypha, and the Christian Bible (New Testament), a representative sample of the various ways hesed and eleos are translated is presented in this book. Each entry consists of a short title, a few verses of Scripture, a reflection, a psalm response, a meditation/journal question, and a concluding prayer. The purpose of the book is to assist the reader’s development of spirituality, a deeper knowledge of divine mercy, meditation on how he or she has experienced it, and a closer relationship with God.

The Bible encourages believers to love God with all their hearts. Interestingly enough, there is no command to “like” God. Is the admonition to “like” God conspicuously absent due to its inherent difficulty? If we are honest, we can safely affirm that there are unlikable realities about our world that critics allege reflect poorly on the perceived nature of God. However, there is a lack of awareness regarding alternative ways to understand such realities. Divine Frustrations is an attempt to bridge that gap by providing a balanced, engaging approach to revisiting the unpleasant aspects of God’s dealings with humanity. Drawing on decades of interactions with students, atheists, critics, inmates, and church members, as well as people from all walks of life, Moore offers reflections on both sides of the most common complaints leveled against God. Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, your approach to various topics will be challenged. If you are open to considering alternatives to what you believe, as well as new insights into your own views, read on.

This book continues The Shelbydog Chronicles by Shelby Cole, in which Shelby, a sixty-pound Labrador-Boxer mix, narrates the events of the first ten years of her life. As she approaches her twelfth birthday, she has delegated her friend, Mark G. Boyer, to write More Shelbydog Chronicles. Boyer shares the experiences he has had with Shelbydog in twenty-seven short reflections with the goal of fostering reflection on how one’s life intersects with one’s pet. At the end of each chapter are reflection questions designed to help the readers get to know their pets better and get to know themselves better, too. Just as Shelbydog has changed Boyer’s physical and spiritual life, the readers will become aware of how their pets have changed their own physical and spiritual lives.