Jean Heimann’s “Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir”

I’m pleased to participate in Jean M. Heimann’s blog tour for her new book, Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir. I encourage you to follow along for the last two days of her blog tour, which includes an opportunity to win a paperback copy .

Monday, May 23–Virginia Lieto, Review, Virginia Lieto Book Giveaway!Tuesday, May 24 — Tony Agnesi, Review, Finding God’s Grace in Everyday Life .

Learning to Love with the Saints is the inspiring personal witness of how Jean M. Heimann was wooed by Jesus to return to the Church after being raised Catholic and then leaving her faith for fifteen years. In this riveting memoir, Jean tells the story of growing up in the Midwest in a French-Catholic family during the tumultuous times of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War and mass misinterpretation of Vatican II in the Church in the ’60s.Jean grew up in a stable home environment with devout, hardworking Catholic parents. As a young adult, she deeply desired adventure and romance and yearned for love; however, she searched for it with unsuitable partners. Her life took some treacherous turns as she entered into marriage with a drug-addicted abusive man, which was soon followed by divorce, causing her to leave her Catholic faith.

Throughout her life, Jean faced numerous sufferings and trials: unemployment, loss, divorce, chronic illness, financial difficulties, and emotional heartaches. In spite of personal and professional accomplishments and successes, she describes feeling empty inside. In this intimate account, Jean shares her fears, her pain, and the graces she received from God to rise above her circumstances. She reveals how she came to see her own value in the eyes of God, to surrender to Him and to embrace His tender love and mercy.

Jean expertly weaves Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Scripture passages, brief biographies of the saints, and poignant quotes from the saints into her story to illustrate how the saints served as spiritual guides who interceded for her, resulting in some astonishing miracles. Through all these trials, it was the saints who restored her faith, kept it alive and helped her discover the meaning of true love. jean2b6332bx2b1073

Seven Saints for Seven Virtues, Jean has had her work published in a variety of Catholic periodicals, some of which include: National Catholic Register, Catholic Exchange, Canticle Magazine, and St. Anthony Messenger/America. Visit Jean at her award-winning blog, Catholic Fire http://catholicfire.blogspot.com/

To receive a review copy of Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir or to obtain an interview, contact mercypress3@gmail.com

MY REVIEW: Learning to Love with the Saints is not an autobiography nor is it a religious essay but rather a unique synthesis of both. Jean Heimann does not simply quote the saints, scripture and the Theology of the Body because the lives of the saints and Catholic spirituality have formed her, becoming part of her inner spirit. As a result, she seamlessly integrates her own life story with quotes as well as personal insights into suffering and the Love of God.

I watched my dad fall to his knees and hug the large cross, tenderly kissing the feet of Jesus. Then, in an instant, my mom was reaching out, bending low, nearly falling off her wheelchair to her knees, to embrace and reverently kiss the feet of the life-sized corpus. It was at that moment that I recognized where the void was in my life. Jesus had been missing! Only His love could fill that hole.

Her voice is authentic and her words ring true without artifice, enticing the reader to seek intimacy with God for themselves. It is a gripping read.

To purchase the book on Kindle, click here.

To purchase the paperback book on Amazon, click here.