Book Review Remember Your Death Memento Mori Lenten Devotional

Remember Your Death Memento Mori Lenten Journal Theresa Aletheia, FSP. paperback $16.95 kindle $13.99 224 pages Writing books reviews for quilt related books is always fun. I look for that one thing and focus on that. Often this starts with the dedication and moves to a quilt, project or technique that resonates and the review comes together. There were a few times when writing for the Magazine that I asked one of the other editors for guidance or to write the review as something wasn’t quite sitting well with me. With one particular book I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t enjoying this book in the discussion with the other editor she loved it. As we discussed this further we realized it was a matter of learning style, of what we each wanted and needed in a quilt book. Authors write about their particular passion, what they teach, how they learn, and how they live quilting. I had my Sweetie get me the Remember Your Death Lenten Devotional by Sr. Theresa Aletheia. I started following her on twitter probably about this time last year when noticing retweets of her #mementomori posts. They fascinated me as they focused on understanding that we truly have no idea when our death will come and that living our life, discovering more of who we are in God, embracing and using our God given gifts makes a difference in the how of living. The death of our physical bodies will happen, we don’t have a choice in this matter. We might be able to put this off through taking care of our physical health, going to doctors, and embracing their gifts (medications, therapies, assistance, care) but we will die. We will take our last breath. So when Sister asked for book reviews the other day I thought let me peek at this and see what I think. I was going to wait until Lent to savor this journey. I read a few of the reflections and wrote the review on amazon starting with comments on a recent essay by a woman who’d learned that she had a short time to live. We all want death to come when we’re 100, old, and have lived our life. This young woman lived her life, finding her gift, and making the best use of it. In the last few months of her life she took the time to do several things she wanted to do, and working with a family member accomplished a goal. What I noticed in her essay is that she lived. She lived. What I read in Remember Your Death is a call to live, here, now, growing closer to God, and to one another. On one particular day I read: Mt. 5:48 Holiness can seem like an overwhelming task, especially when we consider the entire length of our lives. But we could die tomorrow. So, better to approach perfection in love, one moment at a time. “Jesus help me be a saint in this confirmation.” “Jesus help me be a saint as I get my kids ready for bed.” “Jesus help me be a saint as I greet that person who was rude to me yesterday.” Jesus’ way of perfect love is not easy to imitate, but it’s not as hard as we think. Holiness is only a weighty burden when we mistakenly think it’s all u to us. It’s not. Our perfection in holiness is up to God. We only have to cooperate, and even that is grace. This whole moment of reading reminded me that: * each one of us has a unique relationship with God * when we invite Him into whatever is going on in this particular moment the grace is right there * pursue your gifts, let God transform them, be transformed by them * oh this list but we don’t need more lists Let’s for a moment remember that this physical life comes to an end, our bodies one day will be resurrected, and we will live in the fullness of life With God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Whether you practice Lent or not Remember Your Death Memento Mori is a good book for your reading list. Just like practicing quilting, the process of quilting is good for you. During Lent I’ll share more about the experience of remembering my death, and as always I’ll share more about the experience of quilting. God bless, Teri