Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith

by Melanie Rigney

Melanie Rigney uses stories of the saints, our sisters in faith, to help readers grow in their spiritual lives. Some of these saints are familiar—Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Bernadette of Lourdes, Elizabeth Ann Seton—while others are not so well known—Maria Karlowska, Claudine Thevenet, Josephine Bakhita, Elizabeth of Portugal. They come from different places and different times, creating an intimate portrait of the universal Church. Yet the lives of each of these women illustrate the qualities of the Beatitudes—what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “the heart of Jesus’s preaching” (1716)—in a down-to-earth and human way. Through the lives of these exemplary women saints and the qualities they espouse—meekness, mourning, poverty of spirit, justice, mercy, purity of heart, peace, righteousness—women will find ways to live more fully the Gospel values of Christian life.

Genres: Catholic

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2015

About the author

Author of several books of interest to Catholics. The latest is: 12 Unforgettable Men of the Gospels: Reflections & Portraits of the Apostles (Twenty-third Publications. Earlier: Unforgettable Women of the Gospels: 8 Unnamed Women in Scripture and Their Encounters with Jesus (2024); Menopause Moments: A Journal for Nourishing Your Mind, Body and Spirit in Midlife (2021); Radical Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century (2020); Brotherhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration (2020); Woman of Worth: Prayers and Reflections for Women Inspired by the Book of Proverbs (June 2019); Blessed Are You: Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith (2015); and Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration (2013) . I'm also a frequent conference and meeting speaker.

I'm a regular contributor to Living Faith, the Catholic devotional, and Women in the New Evangelization.

From 1998 to 2003, I was editor of Writer's Digest magazine and also served for a time as editorial director for Writer's Digest Books.

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter focuses on one of the Beatitudes. After a brief introductory explanation of that Beatitude, short profiles of 4 female saints (or women in the canonization process) follows. Each saint story is accompanied by 3 suggestions for individual reflection or action. This is easy to read, perfect for a quick devotional. The women profiled and the suggested actions are well balanced and sufficiently diverse that most readers should find something to inspire. 2.5 stars

[Patricia Mckenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sequel to the Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration. If you love saint stories like I do you will love this book. But do you know what’s even better is that these stories are aligned with the eight beatitudes. There is an introduction related to each beatitude, then stories of four saints who embody these virtues. Then there are bonus short stories if you want to know more. There is a good mix of saints that are well known like Maria Faustina Kowalska, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Therese of Lisieux and ones that you are newly introduced like Claudine Thevenet, Eurosia Fabris, and Lura Vicuna in Blessed Are You.

I especially connected with the stories of Jeanne Jugan, Germaine Cousin, and Anna Schaeffer. Jugan was selfless in taking care of others. Cousin was strong in persistence and forgiveness. Schaeffer underwent great physical trials and showed grace in her response. These saints demonstrate spiritual poverty and great love.

Melanie Rigney is especially good at making the stories of saints accessible to the readers with descriptions that we can identify with in Blessed Are You. The format was predictable but was comforting and allowed this to sink into the background and the reader to focus on the Saint stories. There are 64 women saints in the book and an unpacking of the beatitudes. There are reflection questions at the end of each chapter that challenge the reader to take action in living out the beatitudes.

I would recommend this book to you for learning about the beatitudes, introduction to many interesting saints, and how to apply these to our lives. Melanie Rigney writes in an easy to follow conversational tone. The saints are a good example of how to live our lives and persevere in time of trouble but I also appreciate that the saints are women allowing an even better identification with their stories.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Melanie Rigney connects lives of the saints as well as some contemporary holy women on the road to sainthood with the Beatitudes. This book is more than a biography or collection of lives of the saints: there's lots of practical advice for application of heroic virtue in our own lives. Highly recommended.

[Kathy Heare Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uniquely written that shares stories of spiritual woman from the past.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to see if it was something I could use in my Catholic women's group. We are just finishing "When Women Pray", which all my sisters have enjoyed. In this book, Melanie Rigney has taken the Beatitudes and paired them with many different women saints, to help us discover supreme blessedness. I have always had a difficult time with the Beatitudes, and so I thought this would help me get a better understanding of "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."Matthew 5-5., and so on. You get the picture.
The book is chock full of our wonderful women saints and blesseds, and if you are not familiar with them, this is a great way to get a sampling of many holy, devout, and very real women, and perhaps this book can help you begin an in depth journey of some of your favorite women in our Church.

[Bonnie Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite saint books. I read it straight through when I first got it and appreciated each saint's example of the beatitudes. Now, I regularly grab it to look up the saint or reflect on a particular beatitude again. Blessed Are You includes some favourite saints and some new saints. It's a book I frequently recommend to my friends.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed reading about the many saints included here, I think I would've gotten more out of it if instead of more examples the author has delved deeper in one or two for each chapter.

[Letitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to read this for Lent and liked it so much I finished it well before Easter. I was so inspired by these women! Each one's story opened up a bigger worldview of living a life devoted to God while serving as many as possible. Some well-known, many I was unfamiliar with but now have been touched by each of their lives.

[Janka H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gracious, kind and both deeply human and deeply faithful book exploring the Beatitudes through the lives of 64 women, Catholic saints (or, hopefully, the future saints).

If you are not a Catholic, i also would like to invite you to read the book - there is no complicated theology or preaching, just the lives of our fellow sisters in the womanhood, girls, adults, married ones, cloistered ones...but all of them trying to please God by their lives.

These women lived their lives (as the whole or partly, after their conversion of the heart and since that moment on) on fire to live the life according to Jesus´s teachings on the mountain. The authoress explores every one of the beatitudes by short explanation of their meanings and then she follows in this exploration through the lives of four women per one beatitude. Every part about the saint´s life is followed by the reflections to use in you life. Every chapter is followed by the short introduction of other interesting women and a lovely summary of the chapter´s content.
I especially love the reflections and the summaries! They are well-thought and obviously well-prayed-about, as I got inspired practically by every one of them.

What an extraordinary wealth we have in the lives of these women! Some were heroic in the larger-than-life meaning, some "just" lived their everyday lives with great love. But every one of them can teach us something about how to live our Christian calling to love.
The boo is also a beautiful and gentle invitation for us to do the same.

Recommended book!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know about you, but Jesus' teaching on the Beatitudes always seemed a bit intimidating ... like it was the advanced course in Christian living that I'd never reach. In her book, "Blessed Are You," Melanie Rigney definitely debunks my false perception of the Beatitudes—thank God! She reminds her readers that the Beatitudes are simply "the heart of Jesus' preaching" (CCC 1716). And isn't that where we want to be anyway? In the heart of Christ?

Rigney explores the eight Beatitudes by introducing us to women saints who exemplified the Beatitudes during their lives. Four saints per Beatitude. As Rigney unfolds each Beatitude, through the lives of these saints, it becomes clear that there is not just one way to approach spiritual poverty, meekness, mercy, or peacemaking. The diversity of the saints in this book allows readers to connect with one or another in very personal ways. In addition, Rigney gives us practical, tangible ways to apply the Beatitudes to everyday life.

"Blessed Are You" gives a hopeful, encouraging message to follow the Lord, right where you are at this moment ... and to lean on your sisters in faith to inspire you along the way.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very informative book and I enjoyed reading it.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that one must read slowly, not because it's a hard read but because there is so much stuff to think about.

[Tricia F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational book about the lives of 64 women saints, with reflections that get the reader to think how they can live a life of the Beatitudes.