A review: Hope for Hard Times

Got troubles of epic proportion?  Got hard times that are downright biblical?  Need help?


In Hope for Hard Times, author, television host, and professor of theology, Dr. Scott Hahn provides a renewing Scriptural prescription for hope in the midst of woes.  This short new book from Our Sunday Visitor, part of the "30-Minute Read" series, traverses the well-worn path through trials and sufferings as trod by the saints before us.  


Hope for Hard Times by Scott Hahn outlines the deep spiritual truth that our happiness and our hope are anchored in a love more timeless thank our current situation... our hope is found and fixed in God's fatherly love.


Indeed, Hahn writes:

"God has spent thousands of years showing the world time and again how he brings the greatest good from the greatest evil.  The Crucifixion was the most horrific sin mankind ever committed against God. Yet it brought the greatest good: our salvation."

Using realistic examples from Scripture, the saints, and the sacraments, Hahn shows us how to re-set our spiritual compass to our true north: the redemptive and empowering act of hope that transforms our ills.


And yes, you really can swallow this book whole in 30 minutes, but you'll only feel its effects once you apply it. As with any supplement, take only as directed.


This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Hope for Hard Times .

A review: Pure Womanhood

Crystalina Evert’s little booklet, Pure Womanhood, from Catholic Answers, is pure straight talk to a modern woman in need of a little mentoring when it comes to her love life. And maybe even a little common-sense mothering for younger girls whose parents may have not have fully prepared them for the real world of casual sex.

When it comes to self-esteem, sexuality, boyfriends, romance, chastity, and modesty, Crystalina covers it all with intellectual and spiritual honesty. Pure Love takes direct aim at combating the lies women tell themselves over and over again about love, and illuminates the truths that should rule a woman’s conscience.

Need the top tip-offs to know when “its over” with him? How about how to stop making excuses for staying with someone who takes but doesn’t give? Can a woman recover from her past, and still find the love she so deeply longs for? It’s all here.

No matter what your past, Pure Love takes a woman from where you are right now, and helps recover a positive view of yourself, pointing you in the direction of the real love a woman deserves.

With a velvet touch, and yet a sober look at the often messy love lives of modern young adults, Crystalina reveals the secrets of a Christian woman who finds reasons within her own dignity to strive after purity in love and in life.  As she talks about her own sexual mistakes and miscues, Crystalina guides women out of the jungle of feelings of inadequacy and rejection, and shows them how a Christian can recover from bad choices and start over toward a life of wholeness and holiness.

My favorite quote from the book is this handy rule of thumb:

“Purity never ruins loving relationships. If the relationship is based on lust, purity will end it. But if the relationship is based on love, purity will save it.”

Pure Love is a 46-page primer on getting it right, even when you’ve blown it. And it gives you a new mindset, so that, ultimately, you can be free of the useless counterfeits that are pretending to be love, and moves you toward finding the true love that stands the test of time.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Pure Womanhood.