Seek out what is wholesome and beautiful in your life and rest in it. But at the same time, we cannot forget that the path to holiness is one of sacrifice and discomfort. Much like Tolkien’s Hobbits, we must hold fast to our courage and step out onto the road ahead of us to meet whatever may lie ahead.

The Catholic reader of Jane Austen’s novels should find them to be dramas of conscience. Her heroines are women of thoughtfulness and integrity.

Celebrating almost six decades of Catholic-Methodist theological dialogue, the Vatican publishing house has released a book summarizing the issues dialogue members have agreed on and briefly outlined the issues where work is ongoing.

Meg Hunter-Kilmer breaks open the meaning of the Scriptures in light of Christ as the fulfillment of all prophecies in her latest book, “Eyes Fixed on Jesus.”

Surveys indicate that reading books is dropping precipitously across all age groups. This is a tragedy in itself; it’s also a social disaster, as a post-literate society risks becoming a post-rational society. All the more reason, then, to consider giving books for Christmas: books that entertain, inform, and open new horizons of understanding.

As the church in the United States looks for new ways to foster community, it is helpful to look to the past and understand the history that led to the current state of parish life. OSV News’ Charles Camosy recently dove into this history with Father Stephen M. Koeth, assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, in discussing his new book, “Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America.”

Catholic Review Radio Managing Editor George Matysek talks with Marion Amberg, author of “Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest,” a fascinating collection of more than 300 stories about the people, places, and traditions that make Catholic America unique. She’s also the author of two award-winning Catholic travel books and a journalist whose work appears in more than 100 markets nationwide.

Much has been written about keeping Christ in Christmas but Catholic children’s author Anthony DeStefano’s new book is helping to keep the Hallow — or “holy” — in Halloween.

A nonprofit dedicated to supporting the U.S. Army has released a graphic novel highlighting the story and service of Father Emil Kapaun, the Catholic military chaplain who gave his life in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War and has an active cause for canonization.

The Liturgy of the Hours is a repeating four-week cycle of psalms, biblical canticles, prayers and Scripture readings that has been part of the church’s public prayer — in one form or another — almost from the beginning. The prayers vary in accordance with the liturgical season and also — like the Mass — commemorate the feasts of the church calendar.