Customer Reviews

365 Saints: Your Daily Guide to the Wisdom and Wonder of Their Lives

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author has a wonderful light-hearted style that makes you think of saints as real human beings. True, the stories are short, and they leave you wanting to find out more. If you liked this book, try "CALLING ALL SAINTS" by Br. Tom-Nicholas: he has a similiar, heart-warming style but with more in-depth details and length.

This book is to be used as a daily guide to helping you looks at aspects of your own life - not as an in depth history of the saints, as one reviewer commented. The author uses an examples of a different saint each day to bring the "lessons" home.

I think this is a fabulous book which I have read over and over since I first received it as a gift many years ago. I plan to make this a regular on my gift giving list.

Yes, this book has a saint for every day of the calendar year, however, most of the information for each day comes from the author's reflection or questioning of the reader, rather than from the life of the specific saint. I was hoping for a little more biographical or legendary material. Actually I was hoping for a LOT more than what this book provides.

I liked the author's upbeat intro, designed to break down any suspicion or boredom one might feel in the face of this material. But the body of this work seems overly reductive. The book is infused with a new-agey focus and an excessively chirpy tone. Despite my attempts to give the author the benefit of the doubt, I found myself increasingly unable to trust her conclusions (lessons she draws includes clinkers like, "I am not growing older, I am growing better" and "how important is food in my life? Do I use food or do I let it use me?") The saints might have a hard time recognizing themselves in these pages.

This is a wonderful book, showing that holiness can exist in people how triumphed over their faults. It takes the Jesus image we all want to be, and relates it to people who seem a little more real. It's a wonderful reminder of what we all can accomplish, and what's really important in life.

I found this book interesting and it was an easy read. Every page has a date on it including a small paragrah on a Saint specified for that day.

I liked the fact that each day has a thought or insight to ponder and apply to your every day life, but I noticed the bulk of information was the author's thoughts and opinions.

I was looking for more information on the Saints, and from this book you really only get a few tidbits (i.e. two sentences of where they are from and what they are known for). Then the author describes how you can emmulate that person.

Not very educational and not really what I was looking for...but if you just want a daily dose, then this is for you.

The book, 365 Saints, is not what I expected to read. It only gave a brief description of the saint, and not the full story. It also asks questions, and gives answers on how we need to live our lives more completely. In other words, to live like a saint. I was rather dissapointed with this one.

I read a passage of this book daily and find it to be very inspiring as it provides food for thought and promotes self reflection. The book provides a bio of the patron saints for each day of the year and thought provoking questions about how you can apply the experiences of the saints to our own lives

I bought this book in 1997 when my faith wasn't as strong as it is now. A couple of my friends did as well. I love the brief stories of men and women that were not always spectacular people that lived holy lives as I thought Saints had to be. They were everyday, normal people that found their calling. There is a Saint and a story for each day. At the bottom of each page is a question to relate to your own life and a sort of moral to think about as you face each day. It was beautifully written and inspired me to live a more meaningful life

I agree with the other reviewer's comments about the New Age twist in this collection of Saints. Beware anything that is in the realm of pagans in the pews. Whether one agrees with the Catholic practice of canonization ... upono independant investigation ... most saints lived lives that reflected the Judeo-Christian theme of purification. Their lives were NOT easy ... no mantra .. no crystals ... no horoscopes ... none of these woo-woo practices ... yet they became a saint. My point is ... this is good for reference on basics about a particular saint's life ... but the blood, sweat, and tears of a sacrificial life is the truth of why these people reached the station they did.

An from a Hindi-Buddhist perspective (Prince Siddartha was a Hindu before founding Buddhism) both Krishna and Buddha lived lives that also were a testament to the shedding of ego through sacrifice and going through certain spiritual tests. Moses was exiled. Jesus was crucified. The Dali Lama is unable to return to Tibet homeland. Who said it was easy? Not the true religions but the woo-woo wacko New Agers who want the result of soul growth but won't do the work to achieve it.