Eternal Life

Here is the one book you need to grasp the illimitable joys of Heaven - and to discover how to get there. You will learn here what Scripture unveils and what the Church's greatest saints have written about Heaven and its joys, as well as the reason you'll experience bliss, happiness, delights of every kind, satisfaction of all desires, joy unbounded, and pleasure in Heaven.

While any true understanding or appreciation of the joys of Heaven is impossible to us, this book unpacks the many hints of Heaven from Scripture and the saints to provide abundant matter for your meditations. You'll learn that Heaven consists almost entirely of spiritual ideas that cannot be grasped without meditation -- and even then only by one who is not preoccupied with this world and its goods.

Fr. J. P. McCarthy does more than explain what Heaven is - he provides clear guidance on what you can do to secure it. You will learn what to pray for, how to flourish in the virtues of faith, hope, and love, how to experience the depths of God's love for you, and how to be filled with the fortitude you need to live for a happy eternity.

By reading and meditating on these pages, you will grow in your knowledge of God and will soon contemplate the mysteries of the Holy Trinity in a deeper, more fruitful way. You'll also learn:

What the "lesser joys of Heaven" are

Why love is the only theological virtue you can take from earth to Heaven

What it means to store up treasures in Heaven

What the Beatific Vision means

Best of all, you will discover your true home in Heaven, where you will be welcomed into the friendship of loved ones, the angels, and saints, who await your arrival. You will abide in the total bliss of God's love for you in the eternal wedding banquet and enjoy the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Catholic theologian Paul Chaloux's follow-up to Why All People Suffer focuses on the natural and spiritual concerns encountered in dying and death. Theologically rich yet easy to read, this book is emotionally charged and will speak to the needs of your heart, whether you are facing terminal illness, caring for a dying loved one, or grieving a loss. Dr. Chaloux uses his own experiences in dealing with Parkinson's disease and the dying and death experiences of his family members going back four generations to help make sense out of and answer the natural and theological questions most people have concerning death and dying.

The first section of the book lays out the theology of suffering and death. You will learn how they are critical to Providence, God's great plan for the universe, and why everyone must suffer and die. You will also see how even the most horrific deaths can be used by God to bring about salvation for those who suffer those deaths and for others.

The second section explores death and dying from the perspective of the dying, giving helpful advice on what to do with your remaining time and energy to maximize building love and growing in your relationship with God and others. Dr. Chaloux skillfully discusses both spiritual preparations and practical decisions, from healthcare choices to final wishes, providing a checklist of seven items that the dying should consider.

The third section focuses on dying and death from the perspective of a surviving relative. It explains typical causes of death, the five needs of the dying, and the role of caregivers, with particular emphasis on "tough" cases such as dementia, suicide and the loss of a spouse, a parent, a child, or another close relative.

Significantly, you will find why recalling the attributes of God will help you trust in His love for you. You will also discover:

A review of the Four Last Things and why they make life meaningful

Why suffering is an important part of the dying process and why all people must die

The four tasks of suffering that bring you from sin to salvation

How to gain the only currency that transcends Heaven and earth

How redemptive suffering and death are gifts that can lead to mercy and joy

Dying without Fear will enlighten your perspective about suffering and death and about the relationship between God and man, so that you will truly be able to approach the final things without fear and to assist your loved ones in attaining peace on this journey.

Are loved ones reunited in Heaven?
The saints say "Absolutely!"

In wise and consoling letters written to a mother sorrowing over the death of her child, Fr. François René Blot, S.J., here summons the Church's greatest saints who testify with one voice that death's wound, though grievous, separates us but for a short while from those who die before us.

Acknowledging that profound sorrow at the death of loved ones is appropriate (after all, even Jesus wept for the death of his friend Lazarus), Fr. Blot nonetheless gives us reason to be joyful even in the midst of our sorrow: in heaven our loves and friendships will finally be free of the many hindrances -- small and large -- that keep them from being perfect in this life.

Moreover, the saints say, in heaven we will love and know the love of countless souls we never met on earth, our Guardian Angel, and all the choirs of angels! Soon after it was written, a Catholic Cardinal called this book "a pearl set in the fine gold of the doctrine of the Fathers" and a newspaper declared that it "deserves a distinguished place in all Christian libraries and should be on the table of every pious family that faithfully preserves the memory of its deceased members."

Let the saints' testimony in these beautiful pages assuage your grief and renew your hope! Let them increase your gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ whose death on the Cross opened heaven for us, and made these heavenly reunions possible!

This book addresses important moral questions people commonly face when they or their loved ones experience life-threatening injuries, end-stage illnesses, or advanced old age. Due to modern medical technology, patients and their family members often confront such questions as: What medical procedures are morally required, and what procedures are optional? Is providing food and water to a patient an optional medical treatment, or is it basic care necessary for all human beings? What roles do conscience, quality of life, pain, and financial burden play in end-of-life decision-making? With a clear, concise question-and-answer format, this book provides moral answers to these questions, and many more, in the light of Catholic teaching based on Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Without knowledge of medical science or familiarity with common medical terminology, people can be misled or confused by authoritative-sounding medical assertions, even immoral ones--thus the need for this easy-to-use guide. In these pages, readers can quickly find the most pressing end-of-life questions along with answers consistent with the moral teachings of the Church. The book uses practical reasoning to reach proper moral conclusions based on correct moral principles. Timely and highly practical, this book addresses issues everyone will eventually face, showing that making good moral decisions leads to happiness now and at the hour of our death.

"The holy souls are eager for the prayers of the faithful, which can gain indulgences for them. Their intercession is powerful. Pray unceasingly. We must empty purgatory!" - St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Tireless advocate for the holy souls in purgatory, Susan Tassone, invites you to join her in the call to action from St. Pio to empty purgatory. Become a prayer warrior on behalf of the suffering souls and bring comfort to them and to yourself along the way.

Tassone provides an unprecedented treasure trove of spiritual tools - including devotions, meditations, and wisdom from the holy souls and patron saints of souls in purgatory - that you can use to take an active role in this vital and rewarding vocation. Sharing her deep understanding and personal connection with the centuries-old tradition of praying with supernatural charity for the holy souls, Tassone will inspire you with her passion and educate you with her meticulous research. In addition, she provides an avenue for the attainment of spiritual gifts for acts done for the souls that cry out for relief.

It will be seen that the following Manual of Devotion consists of a series of chapters or instructions upon important points of Christian teaching, which are called "Considerations."These Considerations are written for the purpose of pricking or of wounding the conscience, it may be in many points, that so it may be thoroughly aroused and awakened; of exciting, that is, compunction of the soul, real remorse of conscience for past as well as for present coldness and dryness. It must be a very hard heart, indeed, which is not moved by these "Considerations"so touchingly simple are they, so plain, and so wholly true. They deal with such doctrines and facts as have an universal application, which admit of no dispute, and which are always confirmed by some passage from Holy Scripture. It must be allowed, on all hands, that it is necessary for the soul to be aroused to feel its own needs, to regard its own wounds, that so it may be directed to a source where these needs can be supplied, and these wounds be healed. One great aim of this Treatise, is to arouse, as well as to direct the mind, to lead it to consider its own wants, and to seek by prayer to have those wants supplied. The book is essentially a guide to prayer. It represents, from its beginning to its end, the continual outpouring of heart before God; an outpouring that is of times expressed in the very same words which imply, at the same time, a new phase of thought. Regarded as a Manual of Mental Prayer, each of these "Considerations" has a technical and special signification. They treat of life and death, of the value of time, of the mercy of God, of the habit of sin, of the general and particular judgments, of the love of God, of the Holy Communion, and of kindred subjects equally important. The "Consideration,"as here used, implies far more than a mere inquiry. Its equivalents, the Italian Consideration, and the Latin Consideration, do not fully express its particular meaning in this Treatise, where it stands for a reflectional meditation. It calls into play the exercise of the memory, which puts together all the circumstances of the subject under notice; it excites the imagination, which represents, as in a picture, all such circumstances, bringing them vividly before the mind's eye; and, lastly, it urges the will so to fix and detain these things in the soul, that, by its own effort, it may unite itself with the will of God, so that God's will and the will of man may become one.

This book was written to impress upon its readers many truths about Purgatory -- first, that it exists; second, that the souls detained there suffer long and excruciating pains, and that they desperately need our prayers and sacrifices; and that we ourselves should strive mightily to avoid Purgatory. Confirms in the reader\'s heart a healthy and holy respect for the sufferings endured by the Holy Souls, such that he will always remember them in his prayers. Impr. 169 pgs, PB