Real Life with Mary Book Club: Week 1

Our Book Club selection for May 2025: Real Life with Mary by Kelsey Gillespy. Find out why Kelsey wrote this book!

Our May 2025 Book Club selection is a book honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary! Kelsey Gillespy, in her new book, Real Life with Mary: Growing in Virtue to Magnify the Lord, encourages moms to grow in friendship with Mary and learn from her how to walk the daily path to holiness.

This book is written for all of us! Kelsey observed during this session that the book is a call to discipleship, a call to fellowship, and a call to sainthood. She acknowledged that when we look at the saints we see all the glamor, and it can seem like sainthood is distant — but over time, God can bring us to sainthood too.

Kelsey and Allison discuss how Mary is close to us because of the grace of God, and that grace can bring us closer to God. Learn more about Mary as a powerful example and mentor as well as someone who's going to nurture us, love us, and want the best for us in our Week 1 Book Club episode.

What's the book about?

Grow in virtue and friendship with Mary through the chaos of life with these spirited, down-to-earth reflections by Kelsey Gillespy, author of In the Trenches (our Book Club selection from Winter 2024). In this witty and profound guide to Christian discipleship for women, Gillespy contemplates the virtues of Mary and proposes practical and powerful ways to magnify the Lord — by folding laundry, raising kids, or training for elite athletics. Formatted for personal reflection or group discussion, Real Life with Mary features short chapters, discussion questions, and prayers.

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Where can I get a copy of this book?

Pauline Books & Media, the publisher, is offering a generous discount on Real Life with Mary: use coupon code RealLifeBC at checkout to receive 20% off the cover price of this book! This offer expires June 21, 2025.

Order your copy of our Book Club selection

Real Life with Mary would make a great Mother's Day gift for women in any stage of motherhood!

When does the book club meet next?

Our own Allison Gingras will host the Book Club sessions on both Facebook and YouTube. You can choose to watch the sessions live at 10:30 AM Eastern on the last three Fridays in May — or view them later, at your leisure. We'll post these the following week on CatholicMom.com and also share audio versions of these discussions on future episodes of the Catholic Momcast.