CBB Review – Blessed are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith

Today my better half, aka Mrs. Catholic Book Blogger, takes the spotlight with her review of Blessed are You. Take it away Laura!

“The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity,” as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  So when we live the Beatitudes we are like Christ.  Jesus gave us these eight ways to be blessed in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5, and they are important attitudes needed to live out our Christian lives.  So how do we go about living out these Beatitudes that Jesus himself gave to us?  Melanie Rigney’s book Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith helps reader with that momentous task.  This book takes the readers through each of the Beatitudes exploring them through the lives of some faithful women.  Some of these holy women are well-known, while others are lesson knowns, who are sure to inspire.

For this blog tour we asked to focus on specific chapter/beatitude. Chapter Six of the book covers purity and was my choice.  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  From this chapter the reader learns that purity of heart is about always trying to do what is right despite the fact   that we are continually doing wrong.  As we strive to purify our hearts, God will continue to help us moving us closer to Him and then we will begin to see him in others.

We’ll see him in the needy and those different from us like Katharine Drexel.  We’ll see Him in those in our own community and our own family like Eurosia Fabris.  We’ll see Him in those who persecute us like Marie Goretti.  The “Summing it Up” at the conclusion of the chapter sums it up best:  “How do we become pure in heart?  By obeying those two great commandments and respecting physical and spiritual purity, ours and that of others, and providing guidance and comfort to our brothers and sisters who have been robbed of it…These women’s stories show us that with purifying hearts, we will indeed see the Lord’s face however he chooses to present it to us.”

As noted earlier I was required to blog on one of the chapters in the book. I must say however that I read the whole thing….and enjoyed every chapter. The Beatitudes are guides to form our attitudes in life. Melanie Rigney has written an insightful roadmap for the journey of life utilizing faithful and holy women as our road signs. Spend some time with these holy women and the Beatitudes. You won’t be disappointed.

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