Daria Doering

Saintly Solutions

by Father Joseph Esper

I CAN’T SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK!  I started reading it at a time when I knew there were serious flaws in my attitude, only I couldn’t figure out exactly why, or what to do about them. I’m also poor at reading the Bible and other spiritual books.  This book was exactly what I needed!  Each day I would read about the worst problem I was having (starting with IRRITATION!), and the stories about the saints who faced those same problems were outstanding.  It helped me immensely.  The list of problems covered is also very well thought out and realistic.  I hope to progress to reading books written by the saints, but reading Fr. Esper’s excerpts was much easier for me at this time.

One of the things I love most about this book is Fr. Esper’s selection of topics: irritations, anger, depression, unpopularity, gluttony … how amazing to find a book with topics I can relate to so well!  But read the “table of contents” page because he covers a very wide range of topics.  Some of my favorites thus far have been “irritations” and “gloominess.”

Lastly, I’m amazed that Fr. Esper is sufficiently acquainted with such a wide number of saints as to be able to quote so many of them on each of these somewhat obscure topics.  What a treasure trove of education and inspiration!  This has truly helped me more than years of therapy!