The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame contains one of the largest collections of late nineteenth-century French stained glass outside of France. The French Gothic-inspired church has forty-four large stained glass windows containing two hundred and twenty scenes. Today, more than 100,000 visitors tour the basilica each year to admire its architecture or participate in the beautiful liturgies. Honoring both the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary, the vibrant windows have, for more than a century, drawn visitors and worshippers alike into a conversation with the art and faith found in the windows. This informative and conveniently sized guidebook tells the unique story of the windows: the improbable creation of a glassworks by cloistered Carmelite nuns in LeMans, France, and their stained glass that so perfectly illuminated the late nineteenth-century French Catholic spirituality of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who established the University of Notre Dame. The words of Father Edward Sorin, CSC, founder of the university, are featured throughout the text. He saw the basilica and its windows as an avenue for teaching this spirituality. The book describes the windows according to their location in the building, from the narthex at the entrance to the Lady Chapel behind the altar. Full-color photographs provide a detailed view of the scenes found in each window. These photos are accompanied by informed commentary on the historical and theological importance of the windows, the iconography of featured saints, and how they illuminate the work of the Holy Cross to educate both mind and spirit. Stories in Light is an easy-to-read book written for all who visit the basilica, including faculty, students, alumni, and friends and family of Notre Dame, and for readers everywhere who want to know more about the rich history and heritage of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart's stained glass.

Fiction from a National Book Award-winning author and “short-story writer of substantial gifts and reputation” (The New York Times). From National Book Award Winner Ellen Gilchrist, a pillar of Southern literature hailed by the Washington Post as “a national treasure,” comes a colorful collection of short stories integrating favorite characters with captivating newcomers. Rhoda’s reveling in her childhood and infinite possibility in “The Tree Fort” and “The Time Capsule” is juxtaposed with her darker adulthood in “Mexico.” Nora Jane returns alongside Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who predicts the birth of her twins. Fans of Gilchrist won’t want to miss the author’s exploration of the many stages of life—and the lightness and darkness each can bring. “Several stories in Gilchrist’s latest collection are distinguished by her old magic—they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgic tone.”—Publishers Weekly “A validation of the author’s skill and versatility. Gilchrist creates new experiences for characters from earlier stories and … creates new characters who reveal her skill in portraying character and place.”—Library Journal

Cancer disappearing without trace. A premature baby confounding the medical predictions about his prognosis. A teenager seeing her long-term debilitating illness vanish in an instant. A church receiving cash out of thin air, ensuring it survives the threat of closure. A man defying death, multiple times, following life-threatening injuries sustained in a head-on road collision. Light through the Cracks contains ten true stories, united by a common theme: All of them feature ordinary people encountering God, in extraordinary ways, in the toughest of life's circumstances. Starting with her own dramatic story of the car accident that could have left her dead or paralysed, Joanna Watson writes authentically and compellingly of how God breaks in when life turns tough. Each story raises faith, builds hope, and encourages readers to look for God's Light through the cracks in their own challenging situations.

These stories about struggling artists are “a fierce and funny exploration of creation and its discontents” (Steve Almond, author of My Life in Heavy Metal). Set in various creative communities—an art school, an illegal loft studio, a guerrilla street performance troupe—where teamwork and professional jealousy mix, these interconnected short stories by prizewinning author Anne Elliot follow artists as they grapple with economic realities and evolving expectations. A middle-aged poet, reeling from 9/11, fights homesickness, writer’s block, and ladybugs at an artist’s colony. A new empty-nester finds a creative outlet in her community garden, but gets tangled up in garden politics. As the characters pass through each other’s stories, making messes and helping mop them up, some find inspiration in accidents and others are ready to quit art completely. Together, they stumble through the creative process, struggling to make art and find the spark of something new and original within themselves. In a world where the odds of becoming a star are nearly impossible, The Artstars tells the darkly humorous yet moving stories of those who dare to dream.

The astonishing story of a woman with an extraordinary psychic gift and a powerful message from the Other Side that can help us to live more beautifully in the here and now.

Focuses on the journey from darkness to light inherent in Lent. By using an easily accessible liturgical format, the book provides a pathway for those who walk from Ash Wednesday to the empty tomb of Easter. Chapters begin with a prayer or poetic excerpt, followed by scripture for the day or week. A narrative then expands on the themes introduced by the prayer and scripture. Exercises following the narratives are simple—mostly collage exercises using differing techniques—and are accessible to a wide audience. Soul Questions guide the spiritual exercise following the narrative, and Thoughts for the Journey, complete each chapter with suggestions for further reflection.

Combining memoir with oral history, creates a vivid and searing portrait of the Freedom Summer of 1965

Matthew Kirkpatrick’s debut, Light without Heat, is an inventive, surprising collection of short stories full of odd, marginal characters rendered with surreal humor and lyrical, often beautiful language. Formally playful, these stories take the shape of biographies, instructions, glossaries, and diagrams, all ultimately in the service of depicting characters with emotional intensity. Stories in the collection explore the flawed nature of memory, workplace malaise, the isolation of home, and the last throes of ending love. No two stories in Light without Heat are the same, yet all of them work toward sharing human experience in new, innovative ways.

Dr. Lerma has devoted his career to compiling anecdotal and scientific research on pre-death hallucinations from countless terminally ill patients. This groundbreaking book shares 16 inspirational stories of children and adults confronting their deaths through the comforting visions of divine beings.