Mystics and Miracles - True Stories of Lives Touched By God
By Bert Ghezzi
In 1435, St. Francis of Paola was busy overseeing the construction of his first monastery, when tragedy struck a laborer was crushed to death. St. Francis knelt over the mans body, touching him with herbs. The man stood and returned to work unharmed. This miracle and many others are the focus of Mystics & Miracles.
Through twenty-four intimate biographies, author Bert Ghezzi introduces us to the diverse personalities and extraordinary lives of the men and women known as mystics. Mystics are ordinary people who have been touched by God and introduced to the mysteries of Christ's death and resurrection. They are true wonder-workers who fulfill Jesus prediction that his apostles would perform greater works than he.
From visions and healings to prophesies and miracles, mystics are a direct connection between the human and the divine. Ghezzis stories touch us by revealing this humanity and making the mystics real.
AWARD WINNER! Mystics & Miracles won top honors in 2003 Independent Publisher Book Awards, category Religion. Mystics & Miracles is also nominated for Foreword Magazine's Religion Book of the Year Award.
Pages: 208, Size: 6 x 9
Reviews
In the world's famous cathedrals, their carved countenances stare down upon worshippers. In the annals of church history, they heal the sick, mend broken lives and talk to forest animals. But in Bert Ghezzi's new book, saints are also very human figures. Ghezzi profiles 24 of these famous figures in his new book, Mystics and Miracles: True Stories of the Lives Touched by God
We meet lesser-known luminaries of the saintly world including Lutgarde of Aywieres, an accidental 12th century saint who ended up in a convent after her father squandered her dowry. And we meet some of the church's best known saints including Teresa of Avila, beloved for her deep mysticism, insight and honesty.
Ghezzi, vice president and editorial director of the nonprofit publisher Servant Publications, admits he finds these spiritual giants more attractive when 'their mortality plainly shows.' Take Teresa of Avila, for example, whose life was marked by ecstatic visions, but who also relished earthly pleasures.
'I could be bribed with a sardine,' said Teresa who had little time for self-righteous folk. 'From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord deliver us,' she once declared.
The author of an earlier top-seller on saints, Voices of the Saints, Ghezzi writes regularly for Catholic publications and is the editor of The New Jerusalem Bible: Saints Devotional Edition. He defines a mystic as someone who has been introduced to the mysteries of Jesus' death and resurrection. In that sense, all Christians are mystics.
The 24 saints he profiles are distinguished by the intimacy of their union with the divine. So close was each to God that divine power flowed through them. Their lives were marked by regular invasions from the supernatural including visions, healings, prophecies and stigmata.
'Mystics,' says Ghezzi, 'are lovers' who embrace God with their whole heart and soul. He explores the depth of what this means in his introduction to Part 3 of his book: 'Frank Sheed, the great Catholic apologist, defined sanity as being in touch with reality,' Ghezzi writes. 'On that ground he diagnosed most people as technically insane. He argued that because we confine our vision to the material world, we remain blind to the vast spiritual realm in which we live.'
Ghezzi would agree and uses his book, a well-written account that will appeal most to people of faith, to drive home that point.
'Thank God for mystics,' he writes, 'who see reality more completely than the rest of do. Their closeness to the Lord allows them to move beyond the veil that shrouds us in the darkness of mere earthly things.'
- 6/14/2002 By Cecile S. Holmes, c. 2002 Religion News Service
'I can bear witness to the authenticity of Ghezzis book, having known one of these wonder-working mystics and friends of God he writes about. In an age burdened down with skepticism and timid faith, here is a book for the devout believer to enjoyto laugh with Christ and His saints in the face of evil and to undo it.'
- 1/28/2002 By Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, author of The Journey Toward God
'Bert Ghezzi has a remarkable insight into the relevance of the saints for today. Mystics and Miracles can increase our faith and deepen our hunger for God.'
- 1/28/2002 By Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries and host of televisions The Choices We Face
'Year in and year out, Bert Ghezzi combines a wonderfully engaging style with real spiritual substance that feeds the soul. Mystics and Miracles is a rich and faithful collection of profiles in holiness from one of the brightest talents in religious publishing. I highly recommend it.'
- 1/28/2002 By Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Denver
'Bert Ghezzi has rescued mysticism from the myth of trendy spiritualities. In Mystics and Miracles, he shows us how God breaks suddenly and powerfully into the lives of ordinary peoplelike you and meand changes them forever. If your prayer leaves you longing for more of God, read this book, slowly.'
- 1/28/2002 By Mike Aquilina, editor, New Covenant
'Bert Ghezzi presents engaging and personal stories of famous mystics such as Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, and lesser-know saints such as Lutgarde of Aywieres and Francis of Paola.... Ghezzi shows that these were ordinary people whose total openness to God and whose decisions to follow Christ caused them to stand out in their faith.'
- 2/15/2002 By Spiritual Book Associates Book Club
'Ghezzi (Voices of the Saints) here offers simple but engagingly written accounts of the lives of twenty-four saints of considerable variety...Highly recommended.'
- 3/1/2002 By Library Journal
