Walk in Her Sandals

A lovely little book to walk you through Holy Week, or any other time of the year. I will be returning to this one.

I chose this book to read and review because I thought it was the next book in the series by Stephanie Landsem whose books I find amazing. Although she has a short story included, this book is a devotional study for Catholic women to participate in during Holy Week.
This tome is filled with inspirational stories and insights by a number of prominent Catholic women. It follows Christ’s journey and how various women from the Bible were affected by their meetings with him during this tumultuous week. It also shares stories of modern women and how the scriptures comfort and guide them in their life’s journey.
I did enjoy reading the moving stories gathered and also the scriptures that were included. The book is directed towards Catholic women though and not being Catholic, I had a hard time understanding some of their references to customs in the Catholic Church.
I requested and received this book for review from NetGalley.

This book is an invitation for all women to “heal Christ´s body” by embracing our “feminine genius”. I love the dynamic of the book: each chapter has a feminine gift to ponder, Scripture passage, a fictional history that helps us imagine ourselves at the Gospel´s scenes, a testimonial of great women about the gift we´re pondering about and many practical tips to help us live out that gift. Sometimes we feel the urge to do something about our faith, to help Jesus someway, and don´t know how. Here I found some wonderful ways to do this.

I know it isn’t Advent yet, but plan now to get some of your favorite girlfriends together this Lent to read this book!

Walk in Her Sandals is a deep and unique look at Christ’s Passion and the events after His death from a woman’s perspective. Each chapter contains numerous reflections on various aspects of Holy Week and beyond. There is something for everyone in this book. There is a fictional retelling of the events of the Passion told from the perspective of a woman who watched it all unfold. There are reflections connecting these foundational events to aspects of our feminine genius. There is a guide to pray through important scripture passages using the ancient practice of lectio divina. There are good reflection questions to discuss as a group. The book features authors that most Catholic nerds are familiar with like Teresa Tomeo, Lisa Hendey and Pat Gohn as well as many more authors that you will want to learn more about.

I was a little surprised to see that one of my favorite parts was the fictional retelling of the Passion. I’m usually not a fan of that kind of thing (funny, because I do enjoy writing it, but that’s another story). Stephanie Landsem clearly did her research bringing stories such as the Last Supper and Pentecost alive. You could really sense that these women could have actually been there, were actually the kind of people you would have expected to see there. I had never heard of her before and I’ll have to look her up and try some of her other books.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to pick this book up again as part of a book club. That would be awesome! I’ll have to tell you about it when I do. Not to say that the book isn’t good to read on your own. I certainly enjoyed it.

I got the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review through my membership in NetGalley. Thank you Ave Maria Press! This book just came out yesterday and is available from your favorite bookseller now.

I marvel at how a book with ten authors can come together so beautifully and approach common themes from such a variety of gifts and perspectives. Walk in Her Sandals combines devotional reading and Scripture with Biblical fiction, thoughtful questions and suggestions for putting faith into practice into one beautiful whole.

“Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover in order to transform the central feast of the Jewish faith into that which all Passovers since the first one pointed to: freedom from sin and the power of death to be the children of God” (loc 387).

Especially designed for Lent, the book focuses on events in the last week of Jesus’ life and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Stephanie Landsem, author of the Living Waters series of biblical fiction, contributes stories that show women of Jesus’s day confronting their fears and faith in ways that mirror our own needs. I especially liked her vivid fictional accounts of the resurrection of Christ and of Pentecost. Sarah Christmyer’s “Enter the Scriptures” (a regular feature of the book) gave me new understanding of the pre-Christian meaning of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks when the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the temple. Later this feast came to commemorate as well the gift of the Law on Sinai. What a time for God to establish his new covenant with the first-fruits of his church!

The format of Walk in Her Sandals works well for either individual use or small groups. The authors are Catholic and their intended audience is Catholic, but as a Protestant I found very little with which I didn’t identify. There is something here for every woman seeking godliness. Catholics are evidently more theologically literate than Protestants; the authors use terms like “Paraclete” (Holy Spirit) without explanation. They also give more credit to Jesus’ mother and more credence to tradition than you would find in a Protestant book. If you grew up Catholic and didn’t meet the Lord personally until later in life, you will probably be uncomfortable with this book, but if you are open to learning from various traditions of our faith that seek to delve deeply into Scripture, you will find much to appreciate.

[I received a free copy of this book from Net Galleys in exchange for my honest opinion.]

I loved this approach to meditating on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t know how to adequately put into words how much I liked this book.

Each chapter begins with a setting of the stage, delves into the Scriptural account, moves into the potential narrative story of one of the women followers of Jesus, speaks of a feminine gift relative to the chapter, reflects on the meaning of the previous sections, leads one through lectio divina on the Scripture passage, contains questions for group discussions or journal entries, and gives two ways to continue growing in faith through the new evangelization.

I recommend this book, without hesitation, to all Christian ladies who want to grow closer to the Lord through meditation on His Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

This book covers so much and I firmly intend to reread this during Lent. In fact, I have discovered just today that Kelly Wahlquist will be giving a retreat weekend in Montana a few weeks before Easter. I have to say that I am very excited and hope to be able to attend.