Book Review: “After Suicide:” There’s still hope

Initially, when asked to write a book review on Chris Alar’s “After Suicide,” I had concerns as to whether I could relate to the content well enough. I have not had a family member or loved one commit suicide.
 
However, thanks be to God, I read the book subtitle, “There’s Still Hope for Them and You.” This one statement gave me the courage to dive in and write this review.
 
While this book was written by a Catholic priest with contribution from another Catholic priest, and perhaps, for the target audience of those who have experienced the loss of a family member or loved one to suicide, I believe the content offers hope for all, given that, as humans, we all experience loss and the grace of hope is a gift all can utilize.
 
The content of the book is neatly organized into two major divisions. Part 1 is titled, “There really is hope for them,” and Part 2, “There really is hope for you.” While there are only 205 pages to read, there is much to ponder and pray on throughout the book.
 
The author does a great job of connecting the “real” teaching of the Church with the message of Divine Mercy and his own experience of losing his grandmother to suicide while offering the reader ample opportunity to gain hope for dealing with traumatic and unsettling loss of a loved-one.
 
While there is ample theology relating to suicide and hope for dealing with loss presented throughout this book, for me, most of my attention and pondering was attracted to the Divine Mercy.
 
The Divine Mercy is a devotion to Jesus Christ associated with the apparitions of Jesus to Faustina Kowalska and God’s loving message of “Divine Mercy” for mankind. While serving as a Polish nun shortly before WWI, Saint Maria Faustina (Kowalska) was instructed by Jesus to record messages of mercy in a diary. These messages were chronicled by her in notebooks and the words contained within are “God’s loving message of Divine Mercy.”
 
In hope of encouraging others to read “After Suicide” I share three short messages from Jesus as recorded in Saint Faustina’s “Diary:”
 

• “My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of fathers to them and that it is for them that the blood and water flowed from my heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. I desire to bestow my graces upon souls.”
• “Call upon my mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion.”
• “O soul steeped in darkness, do not despair. All is not yet lost. Come and confide in your God, who is love and mercy.”

 
Father Alar, in the preface of this book, suggests, “After Suicide, connotes a topic that is perhaps both daunting and unsettling. Dealing with the aftermath of a suicide is difficult. … It is for this very reason that the authors of this book hope to encourage in you an ‘epiphany of hope.’”
 
In my opinion, there is plenty of hope that can be gained by reading this book and, I for one, experienced such an epiphany.
 
John H. Dolezal is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.