Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims [Paperback]

Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda (Author), Shawn Biner (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

'This is one of the most helpful and inspiring books we have read. If these three young adults killed in the Oklahoma bombing are examples of youth today, the future of the Catholic Church is not in doubt. Julie, Valerie, and Mark were not people of great deeds, but people who were great in their faithfulness in the ordinary events and encounters of life. This is their legacy.' --Mark and Louise Zwick, founders and directors Casa Juan Diego, Houston Catholic Worker

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

María Ruiz Scaperlanda has received nine CPA awards in the last four years, including three for her coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In 1997 she received the Goldia D. Cooksey Memorial Award for Critical Essays and Creative Writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Sheed & Ward; 1 edition (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158051023X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580510233
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,061,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Their Faith Touched Me, January 17, 2001

By 

"helen_osman" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims (Paperback)

Reading about three young people who were killed in a terrorist act doesn't sound very inspiring. But Their Faith Has Touched Us isn't about terror or tragedy. Instead, it's about how each one of us makes an incredible difference, no matter how old we are, what we do for a living, or even how long we live. Without getting bogged down in sentimentality or saccharine, Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda paints a vibrant story of love and passion for life with the lives of these three young people.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small Things With Great Love, December 29, 2000

By 

Mary J Gardner (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims (Paperback)

As I sit here to write a short review of this book, I realize that I will be sifting through these stories and recollections for some time. Initially you may want to read this book to gain an insight into the Oklahoma City bombing and the extent of its tragedy: these are only three of the 168 lives lost that day, a multiplication of loss that leaves one reeling.

But Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda's book is not only about loss--it is not even mainly about loss. Instead, it is a telling of the gifts these three young people were to those around them. This gathering of recollections is, in turn, a gift to all of us beyond the circle of Valerie's, Mark's, and Julie's immediate influence.

Through this book, Valerie's, Mark's, and Julie's lives speak a profound truth to us: it is not always our calling to do great things, but we are all called to do little things with great love. In this book, friends and family treasure the "little" things these three did in their daily lives. Their stories come together in a beautiful mosaic of caring and compassion.

Inevitably, readers will find themselves wondering: what impact do we have in the lives of others? In the rush of our daily lives, how might we do little things with great love? If we were to die today, what would the people in our lives cherish about us?

Our reflections and answers to these questions are the gifts that Valerie, Mark, and Julie still offer us. I thank Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda for being a channel for those gifts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gift to Us All, November 24, 2000

By 

Mark Gardner (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims (Paperback)

It is so easy to avoid real life today, losing ourselves in the latest fiction or subject of interest, but when we do choose to encounter it, the rewards are usually great. So it is with Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda's gift to us all, "Their Faith Has Touched Us." For those who are willing to make the journey, Maria brings to life the beauty of three young Oklahomans who were killed in the tragic bombing of the Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Through the eyes of those who knew and loved them we too learn to know them and to sense the deep loss. It is a sad and hopeful book at the same time, inspiring true respect for the people, faith, and values that helped form three such memorable, and missed, individuals. Some books we read for distraction, some we read for information, and some we read because they enrich us at our very core. Maria's book we read to be enriched.