Jean Heimann's "Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir"
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; 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 gripp