Several weeks ago I promised you something on the FOCUS Equip blog, and I haven’t forgotten. Below is a list of media that shows love, the way it was intended to be: good, true, and beautiful. Amazingly it does exist, but like any treasure, you have to hunt for it. Because this list is incomplete, please add to it the jewels that I (or my helpful friends who contributed to the list) haven’t found.
Film
Courageous (2011)
Saint Rita (2007)
Love is a Choice (2005)
Quo Vadis (1951)
Sound of Music (1965)
Fireproof (2008)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
Foreign (aka subtitled)
The Tiger in the Snow (2005)
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Departures (2008)
Ushpizin (2004) (Get past the first 20 minutes, I promise it’s worth it)
Books
Novels
Anything by Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Writings of Holy Men and Women
Jeweler’s Shop by Karol Wojtyla (now known as Bl. Pope John Paul II)
The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur (She is a Servant of God)
Love Letters to My Husband by St. Gianna Beretta Molla
Love, Dating and Relationships
Men, Women and the Mystery of Love by Dr. Edward Sri
How to Find your Soulmate without Losing your Soul by Jason and Crystalina Evert
The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment while Keeping your Clothes on by Dawn Eden
FREE Goodies on FOCUS Equip
Audio Talks
The New Sexual Revolution: JPII’s Theology of the Body by Dr. Edward Sri
Don’t Settle by Stephanie Weinart
Love Story: The Six Proven Principles for Finding True Love by Curtis and Michaelann Martin
Why do Women Do That? by Lisa Cotter (yea, that’s me)
Articles
Back to the Garden: Theology of the Body from Eden to Today by Dr. Edward Sri
Avoiding Fatal Attractions by Dr. Edward Sri
Getting it Right: The Foundation of Friendship by Dr. Edward Sri
(This blog post was originally published at FOCUS.)
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Lisa Cotter and her husband Kevin have been a FOCUS family for the past 5 years. Currently she serves as the Family Liaison, a position in which she strives to connect FOCUS’ over 100 wives across the country. She is a proud graduate of Benedictine College where she received degrees in Religious Studies and Youth Ministry and later served as a Resident Director while Kevin served as an on-campus missionary. She is a national speaker as well as a video presenter for YDisciple Leader. In reality, she spends most of her days playing with her young children and trying to avoid laundry. Lisa is not currently on Twitter and her Facebook account has been disabled. You can connect with her by telegraph or Pony Express.
14 Comments
Thankyou for this list, it has come at the perfect time when I have decided to try again to carefully select what I watch. I have come to realise that the tv shows and movies I have been watching are creating unrealistic expections of the people in my life
Here’s another Great Article sooooo needed, written by the author you posted above….Also written by Edward P. SRI: To Inspire Love: A Return to Modesty……
Does it really matter what a woman chooses to wear? ……..DR. SRI says here: “The attitude of “I shouldn’t have to worry about how I dress — that’s the man’s problem” naively fails to take original sin seriously”:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0130.htm
I would also like to put forward the Fairy Tale Retold series by Regina Doman.
http://www.goodreads.com/series/58111-a-fairy-tale-retold
Just to add to the list 🙂 : Joshua Harris’s books “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” and “Boy Meets Girl” ; also any and all of the Janet Oke books/films such as the “Love comes softly” series; the film “Miss Potter”; the book “North and South” by Elizabeth Gaskin; also the film, “Belle and the Beast; a christian romance” (this last one not particularly amazing cinematography, but the sweet story line is there)…. and definitely the film “A Walk to remember” which is based on a Nicholas Sparks’ book though they are quite different from each other so worth reading too…..
A really great series for teen girls is the Christy Miller series. My friends and I love it!
What about tv shows???
One author I would recommend is Francine Rivers. Her books are fantastic! I’ve read several books that she’s written, “Redeeming Love”, which is romance novel set in the 1800s, and the “Mark of the Lion” series, which is (also a romance) that takes place about 40 years after Jesus’ death. The best part: she’s a Christian writer! Her characterss give a very good example of the phrase “pray unceasingly”! One of my all time favorite writers!
One of my all-time favorite movies: “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour remake, not the black-and-white original.) Sink me.
What about Les Misrables??
awesome list – love it!
Very good list! Bendiciones! Greetings from Argentina
an excellent article
I would suggest not watching “Tiger and the Snow” if you’re looking for chastity… there are several quite sexual references, at least two f-words, this was not exactly the family movie I was expecting.
Thank you so much for the list. Very helpful.
God bless you all.