Excerpted in Image Magazine - No. 90 This collection of poems explores the saints of the church's history and contemporary persons who embody something of their charism. Three sections are arranged around the themes of the three "theological virtues" faith, portrayed as a source of strength in times of trial; hope, the darkest in the book, dealing with matters of the body's frailty, illness, social discrimination, and the search for a way to live within the constraints of society; and love, offering a panoply of outward-looking characters who give to others in radical or personal ways. The volume ends with a cycle of Franciscan poems that offer a model for the Christian life, not simply in terms of individual moments but also as a complete life-cycle of practice and prayer. Communion of Saints represents an unlikely achievement: deeply spiritual and delicate poems that speak directly to our modern moment. --Yehoshua November, author of God's Optimism