Two Saints, One Mission
New book explores the faith and friendship of John Paul II and Mother Teresa
SAN DIEGO: Where sin abounds, there does grace abound even more (Rom. 5:20). In the darkest periods of human history, God has sent his brightest lights: favoring his people with great leaders who, like prophets, speak and live with such holy zeal that they inspire the Church and the world to new conversion, fidelity, and charity.
In Icons of Mercy, the new book by Catholic Answers Press, we meet two prophets of God’s abundant love who faced down the evils of the twentieth century with just that sort of contagious zeal: Pope St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Calcutta.
It may seem that there are more differences than similarities between the magnetic, globetrotting philosopher-pope and the stooped nun whose days alternated between austere religious prayer and serving the poor in squalid slums. But, as Catholic journalist and papal historian Patrick Novecosky shows, their differing ministries served the same basic mission: witnessing God’s abundant mercy to a world wracked with violence, misery, and falsehood. In doing so, he presents not just a vivid retelling of key events (and some lesser-known anecdotes) from the biographies of two great saints, but a compelling call for all Christians to follow their example and be agents of God’s loving truth themselves.
“As time passes, it becomes easier to forget or to minimize these two giants of the Faith,” says Todd Aglialoro, director of publishing for Catholic Answers Press. “Or, if we remember them, to put them in simplistic categories: John Paul the saint of doctrine; Mother Teresa the saint of corporal works. But the truth is more complex, and Icons of Mercy beautifully lays out how the two saints both complemented and reflected each other in their immense love for souls.”
About the Author:
Patrick Novecosky is a Catholic author, journalist, and speaker