Courtney McGrailWalk with Me into the Light: Some Comfort on the Journey through Grief
by Margaret T. Naughton
(Sacred Heart Messenger Publications, €3.99)
This brief brochure is intended to provide immediate comfort to the grieving in a difficult time of transition. The loss of a loved one can be a very traumatic experience, one of the most traumatic we can endure.
The sense of loss can be overwhelming at times. There are, of course, many books intended to help the grieving, but Margaret Naughton’s pages have the great benefit of being short and to the point, in recognising the pain and suffering, but also in marshalling the comforts that the sense of God’s love for all can encompass. She takes readers through the “five stages of grief” as set out by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross enabling the reader to gain a perspective on their situation.
An essential, practical little book for those facing death and its aftermath, with a message of love and comfort.
Let God Fight Your Battles: Being Peaceful in the Storm
by Joyce Meyer
(Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99)
Joyce Myer is a popular American writer with an established reputation. Here she explains that though we all face may difficulties, “the battles” of her title, God does not intend us to live through these alone. In the midst of all the turmoil, so to speak, reinforcements are at hand, ready to be called upon. She shares practical advice, biblical insight and personal illustrations to show how we can bring ourselves to accept God’s help.
The major part of what she says focuses on a sense of worship, on a relationship with God. Though aimed at a wide Christian audience, many Catholics will find her insights an enhancing supplement to what they already believe.
Waiting for God: From Trauma to Healing
by John O’Brien OFM
(Create Space/Amazon UK, £10.00; Kindle edition, £7.50)
The author joined the Franciscan Order in 1975 and studied philosophy and theology. He has been an ordained priest since 1985 and has worked as a teacher, chaplain and advisor in Ireland. He has recently begun a new vocation in Italy. This little book is inspired by this new experience drawn on the journey of experience in Dante’s Commedia.
Fr John believes that many people find themselves trapped in mental anguish, perhaps from a mental or spiritual wound in their past life. This book recounts a journey from the darkness of the forest to the splendour of light.
“By being with people and witnessing to their loneliness, a communion is created in which people can come to accept themselves,” he writes. “We can journey to the light of love, the ‘love that moves the sun and all the stars’.”