I guess I shouldn't be too surprised to get kudos from the author of Joy Comes With Dawn. Even so, it is an honor to have my new book My Peace I Give You praised by Ukrainian Catholic Abbot Joseph Homick in a review with the lovely punning headline "The Dawn of Peace and Healing." (Although his review doesn't mention Blessed Margaret of Castello, I think I can still get away with the headline above, since that holy woman is featured in my book.)
The abbot observes:
Dawn is open (but not graphic) about her experiences of being sexually abused as a child, and while this phenomenon is all too common today, her approach to healing is quite uncommon—also uncommonly refreshing and, I’m sure, spiritually fruitful. While she did rely on psychological counseling (before she entered the Church; her spiritual pilgrimage runs the gamut from Jew to Protestant to Catholic), it was not always helpful and sometimes downright harmful. For example, a well-known New York City psychiatrist’s “therapy” consisted not in helping her heal from the wounds and subsequent inappropriate persona she adopted, but rather in trying to get her to eliminate every last sexual inhibition she might still have! She still recommends psychotherapy if one can find a good Catholic counselor, but she has recourse to another avenue of healing that many would not even think of: the saints. ...
Peace is offered by Our Lord, as is healing. It is neither an easy nor a quick process, but one’s attempt at recovery does not have to play out in interminable psychotherapy sessions, re-living past traumas or settling for soul-numbing medications. There’s a light from Heaven that brings understanding as well as peace and healing. There’s a way into the wounded heart, a way that leads to the Pierced Heart of Christ, a way upon which Our Lady and the saints can lead us, if we invite them into our struggles, our pain, and our hope. Dawn Eden sets this out clearly and cogently, and her own life is a testimony that one’s life need not be permanently wrecked by past experiences. [Read the full review on Abbot Homick's blog.]
