Women, arise! Wherever you live and however you spend your days, an exemplary book called Women Made New: Reflections on Adversity, Transformation, and Healing compiled by Crystalina Evert and dedicated to EWTN’s Mother Angelica, takes each female through many different troubling issues to a happier, God-filled life.
Scouring through its table of contents, readers will find a diverse collection of healing topics from Chapter 2, “Regret, Remorse, and Sorrow” by Mother Angelica to “Who are You?” by Crystalina Evert with a charming chapter by EWTN priest Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA. Each chapter starts with a Mother Angelica prayer and the book ends with a chapter on Inspiration from Scripture.
Fittingly, the book’s foreword by Rev. Louis M. Solcia really predicts what women readers can take away to improve their life: “The Church offers many methods for healing, from the Rosary to daily Mass and Confession,” he wrote.
He continues: “These are steps for healing:”
1. Have a routine, for without routine, we fall into despair.
2. Lift your heart to God all day with invocations.
3. Force yourself to acquire virtues, and you will obtain the essential virtue: interior peace.
The author herself describes her path towards peace with Christ by recounting her lifelong struggles, having walked away from the church in her high school days, feeling often unworthy and insecure, and leading a life of grave sin. “I dismissed God’s will and His many attempts to reach my heart,” Evert wrote. “Ignoring Him seemed much easier than responding to Him. My pride was an obstacle to His grace as I held on to the false reality that I was ‘in control.’”
Her life changed dramatically when she heard a young man talk about how Jesus had healed him from his “godless lifestyle.” Evert was so impressed by his obvious peace of mind that she was inspired to make serious life changes and journey back to God. As she wrote, “Mother Angelica said, ‘Everything starts with one person. . . . I don’t care if you’re five or one hundred and five; from all eternity, God chose you to be where you are at this time in history to change the world.”
She wraps up her chapter with these impressive words of counsel: “Remember, it’s never too late to start over. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. All that matters now is where you go from here!” And ironically, Evert married the young man whose testimony so dramatically changed her life.
In Chapter 4, “Beauty” by Father Joseph Mary Wolfe of EWTN, the priest urges readers to change how they lead their life. Starting with these words about beauty, he offers a three-part formula to help women enhance their exterior and interior beauty: “a smile, modesty, and virtue. It works.” He urges readers to live in the present because living in the past causes people to focus on their own and others’ faults, nor should readers stress about the future because God is always there for people. As Fr. Wolfe summarizes, “All you have is the present moment, so why not fill it with the love of God and the love of others? Your own heart will be lifted up. ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18).”
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Women Made New is available from Sophia Institute Press.
Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash
