To begin the first selection of Recommended Books, I would like to briefly explain my first choice, A Memory for Wonders: A True Story by Veronica Namoyo Le Goulard.
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As a reminder, this first selection of books are based on the initial period of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and represents the “Inquiry” stage, focusing on the basic questions of life. This book by Le Goulard is a perfect way to start exploring this stage, experiencing her amazing life from a communist atheist to Catholic nun.
Fittingly, I was skeptical of this book at first, not quite sure if it was worth my time. It didn’t take long for my expectations to be blown out of the water.
Here is a perfect summary of the book from the publisher:
Here for the first time is a captivating autobiography of a French girl raised in the wild Moroccan frontier by her communist parents who fled France and vowed that “no one would speak to her of God and influence the development of her mind with oppressive superstition.” Everything in her education, environment and training was targeted toward making her a perfect product of Marxist atheism. She sucked anti-Catholicism with her mother’s milk. But God had other plans for Lucette. Emotionally neglected by her parents, Lucette became a “difficult child” leading a colorful life full of mischievous adventure all the while experiencing an unutterable loneliness. But the Hound of Heaven was gently pursuing her. At the age of three, upon witnessing the overwhelming beauty of a sunset after a violent sirocco sand storm, she gained the unshakable certainty that this beauty was created, and that there was a God. She began to pray. That was the first link in a chain of remarkable events that grace alone could forge, which led her to embrace the faith and become a Poor Clare nun in Algiers. Disowned by her parents, she put all her trust in Him for whom all things are possible. Her faith was rewarded with a dramatic answer to the prayers of her heart. Lucette, now Mother Veronica Namoyo, is an Abbess and foundress of two flourishing monasteries in Africa.
“This compelling book is bound to touch many souls, and is an eloquent testimony that grace, love, prayer and sacrifice can conquer the world, because they can conquer man’s rebellious heart.” – Alice von Hildebrand, Author, By Love Refined
The autobiography is truly captivating and at times, almost unbelievable. It displays perfectly the emptiness and loneliness we all feel when we stray away from God and try to fill our hearts with other things.
This book could be summed up in the famous words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
I heartily recommend this book for everyone at any stage in the journey. You may be a curious Christian, questioning atheist, or a life-long Catholic. Wherever you are, the story of this woman is bound to inspire you to search the depths of your heart and find what you are looking for.
