NBS recommends timeless truths

MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA

By Paulo Coelho

P549

MANILA, Philippines - July 14, 1099. Jerusalem awaits the invasion of the crusaders who have surrounded the city’s gates. There, inside the ancient city’s walls, men and women of every age and every faith have gathered to hear the wise words of a mysterious man known only as the Copt. He has summoned the townspeople to address their fears with truth. The people begin with questions about defeat, struggle, and the nature of their enemies; they contemplate the will to change and the virtues of loyalty and solitude; and they ultimately turn to questions of beauty, love, wisdom, sex, elegance, and what the future holds. “What is success?” poses the Copt. “It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.”

Now, these many centuries later, the wise man’s answers are a record of the human values that have endured throughout time. And, in Paulo Coelho’s hands, The Manuscript Found in Accra reveals that who we are, what we fear, and what we hope for the future come from the knowledge and belief that can be found within us, and not from the adversity that surrounds us.

THE GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL: PUTTING ON THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST

By James Bryan Smith

P250

So begins James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Life.  The problem is, he tells us, we have bought into false notions of happiness and success.  These self-centered decisions lead us further into vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, worry and judging. Eventually we find ourselves living a beautifully packaged life self-destruction.  Following the Sermon on the Mount, this follow-up to The Good and Beautiful God guides us to look behind these character flaws and to replace our false beliefs with Jesus narratives about life in the kingdom of God.

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF SAINTS

By Lina B. Diaz De Rivera

P195

This slim volume will acquaint the reader with great saints who were also human and very much like us in many ways. As Archbishop Socrates Villegas says, “(This book is) about holiness, about happiness, about ordinary things done with extraordinary love. It is easy to read. It is inspiring for the soul. It is uplifting for the heart. It is a light through the valley of monotony and boredom.” Featured here are St. Joseph, St. Peter of Galilee, St. Luke, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Gianna Beretta Mollo, Blessed Pope John Paul II and St. Pedro Calungsod.

CROSS ROADS

By WM. Paul Young

P595

Anthony Spencer is egotistical, proud of being a self-made business success at the peak of his game, even though the cost of winning was painfully high. A cerebral hemorrhage leaves Tony comatose in a hospital ICU. He awakens to find himself in a surreal world, a living landscape that mirrors dimensions of his earthly life, from the beautiful to the corrupt. It is here that he has vivid interactions with others he assumes are projections of his own subconscious, but whose directions he follows nonetheless with the possibility that they might lead to authenticity and perhaps, redemption. The adventure draws Tony into deep relational entanglements where he is able to see through the literal eyes and experiences of others, but is “blind” to the consequences of hiding his personal agenda and loss that emerge to war against the processes of healing and trust. Will this unexpected coalescing of events cause Tony to examine his life and realize he built a house of cards on the poisoned grounds of a broken heart? Will he also have the courage to make a critical choice that can undo a major injustice he set in motion before falling into a coma?

PROOF OF HEAVEN: A NEUROSURGEON’S JOURNEY INTO THE AFTERLIFE

By Eben Alexander

P585

Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.

Then, Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human—shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander’s eyes popped open. He had come back.

Alexander’s recovery is a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself. This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.