{"title":"Suffering and Grief","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"why-all-people-suffer","title":"Why All People Suffer: How a Loving God Uses Suffering to Perfect Us","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSuffering is one of the most challenging and inescapable mysteries of life even for the innocent. Thinkers have long been vexed by the idea that a good God permits suffering, and it has been a stumbling block for many souls striving to live lives of faith.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBut what if we ve been looking at suffering improperly all this time? What if, instead of serving as evidence against God, suffering represented the very proof of a loving God?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn this transformative and enlightening book, Dr. Paul Chaloux adjunct professor of theology at the Catholic University of America demonstrates that suffering is not retribution from an angry, vengeful God but the saving action of a loving God who directs us away from evil and toward eternal joy in Heaven.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEducated in his own school of suffering, Dr. Chaloux explains the four tasks of suffering that are essential in the economy of salvation and why, if suffering were to be abolished, no one would be saved. Using well-known stories from Scripture and the lives of the saints, he explains numerous other aspects of God s use of evil and suffering in His plan for our salvation, including:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"a-unordered-list a-vertical\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHow suffering is not a punishment from God but a gift to the guilty and the innocent alike\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhy suffering is not evil but rather an evil-detector\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhy suffering needs to be harsh and persistent to protect and perfect us\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHow to recognize and respond joyfully to God s call in the face of loss, disability, injury, illness, and death\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHow we are acting as messengers of God when we witness to our own suffering\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Fidelity Books and Pieties","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46320772874521,"sku":"WAPS","price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0706\/0989\/5705\/files\/41qUFW4UJSL._SX322_BO1_204_203_200.jpg?v=1692145026"},{"product_id":"jeromes-tears","title":"Jerome's Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe mystery of death strikes at the core of the human soul. We instinctively recoil at the pain of losing loved ones, and as we grapple, we are quick to seek remedies to console ourselves. There is no one better suited to assuage our grief than the translator of the Bible, St. Jerome (ca. 347–420). This book presents ― for the first time in English ― a fresh translation of seven of his most moving letters that sought to soothe his friends who suffered the loss of spouses, children, relatives, and loved ones.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYou will be struck by the relevance of St. Jerome’s words to your experiences of grief today. You will learn how to find peace after the death of a dear one as St. Jerome, with palpable emotion, points to the hope promised in Christ’s Resurrection. You’ll also learn to transform your loss into a new opportunity to follow the Lord more closely through deeper Christian living, a union that St. Jerome explains powerfully to his friends.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis book begins with an introduction that presents the challenge of providing solace to the suffering along with a summary of St. Jerome’s long life and of his theology of consolation. Each of the seven letters is contextualized with a brief paragraph about the people and the situation at hand as well as key themes for the contemporary reader’s focus.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese precious letters reveal the compassionate heart of this enigmatic and eminent Church Father. By reflecting on the words that he used to hearten his spiritual children, you will be comforted in your own grief and fortified to support others in theirs. In these invaluable letters, you will encounter:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"a-unordered-list a-vertical\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA mother whose daughter led a worldly life until just a few months before her death\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn elderly bishop mourning the death of his young priest nephew\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn influential and holy widow and widower grieving the deaths of their spouses\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA wealthy man who lost two of his little daughters and his wife in close succession\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEarly Christians who converted, led lives of heroic charity, and became saints\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSt. Jerome also encourages those who remain in their grief to consider the blessings they received from the lives of their loved ones and to look forward to a happy eternity together with them in Heaven. After reading his letters, you will never think of death in the same way again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fidelity Books and Pieties","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49506760425753,"sku":"JTEARS","price":38.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0706\/0989\/5705\/files\/81TQrweWcuL._SY425.jpg?v=1724464405"},{"product_id":"spes-nostra-profound-words-of","title":"Spes Nostra: Profound Words of Encouragement \u0026 Consolation ..for Weary Members of the Mystical Body – July 31, 2025","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"a-spacing-none a-text-normal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(149, 153, 158);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpes Nostra: Profound Words of Encouragement \u0026amp; Consolation ..for Weary Members of the Mystical Body \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"a-spacing-none a-text-normal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(149, 153, 158);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback – July 31, 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-cel-widget=\"productSubtitle\" data-csa-c-id=\"msboaf-s7e64a-mef9am-rvyyqk\" class=\"a-size-medium a-color-secondary celwidget\"\u003eTaken from sixty-nine canonized saints and ninety holy priests, religious, and lay people, each one of the more than 800 passages in this book comprises \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-cel-widget=\"productSubtitle\" data-csa-c-id=\"msboaf-s7e64a-mef9am-rvyyqk\" class=\"a-size-medium a-color-secondary celwidget\"\u003ea most potent salve with which to treat and heal the wound of weariness. That salve is \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ehope\u003c\/span\u003e. \"The Christian motto is Hope!\" declares St. Theophane Vénard. \"Hope on! Hope ever! O Christian hope, how beautiful thou art! How thou dost satisfy the heart of man, the creature of a day, and yet created for an eternity of bliss!\" We are not made for this world. We are here for a brief moment only, a day \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ein via\u003c\/span\u003e. Heaven awaits us, and we would do well to remember the fact more often. \"Dear mystery of [heavenly] glory!\" Fr. Faber exclaims,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Why do we not call thee to mind more often than we do? Surely we stand in need of it. How weary we grow in well-doing. What a strange life is the spiritual life; to overcome one obstacle is only a guarantee that a worse one will be given us to overcome; labor leads to labor and away from rest. A temptation vanquished is only the miraculous multiplication of temptations; and the devils, like the flies, come in greater crowds the more we beat them away. How long can we go on? It seems desperate, an affair of moments, like the struggles of a drowning man to keep himself on the surface. The longer we persevere the more impossible does perseverance seem. Of many things it may be true that the first blow is half the battle: who will dare to say it is so with the spiritual life? Yet sometimes we turn from the thought of glory as if it were a selfish and unworthy thought, a not loving God for His own sake, nor an exclusive seeking of His sole glory. But is this wisdom? Is this humility? Not such was the lowly wisdom of the Psalmist, \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eI have inclined my heart to perform Thy justifications for ever, because of the retribution!\u003c\/span\u003e Set but the thought of Heaven to fight with the sight of earth, and we ourselves in our inmost souls shall have peace to think of God. (\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Blessed Sacrament, \u003c\/span\u003e103-104)\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWould we but think on Heaven, how well we would realize-\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003edefeatism is not an option.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fidelity Books and Pieties","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51764204306713,"sku":"SNPW","price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0706\/0989\/5705\/files\/510fYs-e85L._SY445_SX342_FMwebp.webp?v=1765711463"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.fidelitybooks.com.au\/collections\/suffering-and-grief.oembed","provider":"Fidelity Books and Pieties","version":"1.0","type":"link"}