By Grief Refined: Letters to a Widow [Paperback]

Alice Von Hildebrand (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Franciscan Univ Pr (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940535750
• ISBN-13: 978-0940535756
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars COMFORTING A WOMAN'S HEARTACHE, June 8, 2006

By 

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: By Grief Refined: Letters to a Widow (Paperback)

I had the privilege and unique opportunity to attend a lecture on the Joy of Being a Woman, graciously presented by Alice Von Hildebrand. It was after she had shared her insight into the mystery of womanhood that she mentioned this slender volume among other of her works. I sincerely recommend this book to every woman who is--or considers herself to be--a widow. One does not have to be a Catholic to be able to relate to human pain and the despair of bereavement.

This modest guide to emotional self-survival will help those who are demoralized by sudden loss of--and cruel separation from--the greatest love of their lives.

The book consists of many short meditations on various aspects of grief--in the form of a correspondence from one widow to another. The author exhorts her friend, who is newly walking down this loneliest of roads, to place her faith in God, the loving father who grieves with us. The writer urges her not to succumb to natural doubts and temptations, to bear the burden by trusting in His timing and perfect grace. She exhorts her friend to rise above her own despair and reach out to others who are also in pain and in need of sympathetic succor.

The author provides examples and quotations from the lives of various Saints, church founders and Christian writers. Her style is tenderly soothing, while fully cognizant of the toll caused by the interruption of a wife's deepest feelings for her beloved partner. Wisely she has realized that it is through suffering and emotional torment that we may grow to be willing servants of the Lord--that our hearts may learn the art of Compassion. This little book offers reflective meditations which will help women who have lost their soul mates.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of comfort and help by a devout and learned widow, November 17, 2009

By 

min-bee (Nyack, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: By Grief Refined: Letters to a Widow (Paperback)

I wish the publisher would reprint this book. Alice von Hildebrand's "By Love Refined," for brides is well known and easily obtained. "By Grief Refined" is as well written, if briefer, and I stumbled upon it! I had no idea she'd written on this topic, although she became a widow in 1977 when her husband, Dietrich von Hildebrand, died.

This book is in the same form as "By Love Refined." Lily, a widow, writes to a younger widow in reply to her letters. The chapter titles indicate the subject of the new widow's letters, and the chapters consist of Lily's letters of reply. As a believing Catholic, von Hildebrand offers widows sound guidance and well-founded consolation and comfort; she refers to the loss of loved ones by St. Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and--most frequently--the widow St. Jane Frances de Chantal and her incomparable spiritual director, St. Francis de Sales.

This book certainly achieved its author's purpose: to comfort even a few widows as they mourn and learn to live through their loss with Christian hope and charity.