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Be Not Afraid: Overcoming the Fear of Death, edited by Johan Christoph Arnold. Plough Publishing, 2002.
This is a book about the kind of fearlessness of death that comes
despite the normal fears one has, no matter how deep the faith, Since only deep faith can admit fear, one can move on to understanding that God can work through our tragedies as well as our joys. This book addresses the paradox of our abuse of the great gift of free will, and God at work out of Love’s plan for the universe. The author maintains that God does not cause the death of the child, but God comes into all things, no matter how terrible. “God can help us bear them, and even be part of
them.” The author’s aim was to write a book that honors life, and in honoring life to honor death. In chapters entitled for example: losing a baby, anticipation, readiness, fear, beyond medicine, suffering, faith, courage, healing, caring, dying, grief, resurrection, the author tells how ordinary people found the strength to conquer their deepest fears. Stories of wise teachers, such as Dorothy Day and Dickens, offer the assurance that even in an age of anxiety, one can live life to the full and
meet death with confidence.
- Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review.
Paperback, Kindle
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St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) January 8.
Some saints show
marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.
Around the age of 40 she recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the
Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.
Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was
alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.
At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered
after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title "Teacher of Theologians." She was beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013.
americancatholic.org site
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