Living the Mystery of Merciful Love (Emmaus Road Publishing)

Navigating the Interior Life is one of my favorite Catholic books of recent memory. It not only introduced me to a great author in Dan Burke, but it also taught me to be a better Catholic. In addition to doing these two special things in my life, it also launched a a series, which has focused on important saints. The first two saints were St. Teresa of Avila and St. Peter of Alcantara. The most recent one focuses on St. Thérèse of Lisieux and is called Living the Mystery of Merciful Love.

Living the Mystery of Merciful Love is a 30 day retreat in book format. However, unlike other retreats, where you escape from the real world, this book encourages you to incorporate it into your daily life. The first day uses the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love as the focus. This is an important document that was penned by St. Thérèse and one that the individual will renew each day in this 30 day retreat. This oblation or act of giving oneself to God is only three pages, but it is beautiful to read, because we can see this little saints love for God and her desire to bring all souls to Him so that they may love Him as deeply as she does. The other 29 days are specific letters, which St. Thérèse wrote to her sisters. The subject for these letters include suffering, scrupulosity, love, and heaven.

Reading through these letters, you can see a woman who was wise beyond her years. Her words of wisdom contain both a love for God and her fellow man. Dan Burke and Anthony Lilles provide excellent commentary on her letters that only enhance her spiritual advice. They also provide great insight into how to apply her words to your daily life. This is a great addition to a wonderful series that continues to get better with every book published. Lent is well underway, but with this book only being 30 pages, you still have some time left to pick up this book and journey your way to Easter.

This book was provided to me for free by Emmaus Road Publishing in exchange for an honest review.