Pathways Of Trust: 101 Shortcuts To Holiness

Rating:
Summary: Keep This One On The Nightstand
Review: Hampsch peppers his 101 shortcuts with analogies, stories, and unique characterizations of God and the afterlife to encourage readers to trust, trust, trust. In Belief and Trust, he writes of God as the Divine Weaver, fashioning a tapestry of our lives that we may view only from the wrong side now, but will see in its fullness as a splendid objet d'art when we are in heaven. The section on Persistence and Trust begins with a vision of a hypochondriac's epitaph: "I told you I was sick." The reflection on Petition and Trust presents a four-year-old praying for a new baby brother so she and her mother will have something to surprise Daddy with" when he comes home from two years overseas. In a reflection on frugality, which doesn't seem a particularly apt title for the content, the author equates some humanly incomprehensible losses to God's "backclipping," a linguistic term to describe shortening words, as "math" for "mathematics." He suggests, for example, that the Lord may permit a child to be killed by a reckless driver to save that child from growing up to meet death "as a hardened unrepentant criminal."

I include this last example as a caution to those who do not share Hampsch's view that God is directly involved in every aspect of their personal lives. Otherwise I can't see why anyone wouldn't be happy to have Pathways on the nightstand to pick up and open to any page for a short meditation.

Rating:
Summary: Pathways to Trust, a path to holiness
Review: In the first of his 101 "shortcuts" to a trusting relationship with God, John H. Hampsch establishes the idea that love and trust are mingled, with the ultimate spiritual goal being to lead a life of holiness. Pathways of Trust offers 101 one to two page chapters, each its own unique pathway or shortcut. The reflections provided are brief, yet insightful, containing relevant scripture references for the various sentiments related in each chapter to the ultimate goal of building trust in God. In a world filled with stress, difficulties and circumstances that may cause us to question and become skeptical, Pathways to Trust serves as a helpful companion to recognizing God's ultimate goodness and love.