Anchor of My Soul, compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609815) 2025.

Summary: A compilation of readings, quotes, poetry and works of art on the theme of trust and hope.

The year 2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has chosen as a motto for this Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope.” With so many countries, and even the creation itself, in tumult, this theme speaks to a deep need in human hearts. Always, to be sure, and especially in this moment. Appropriate to this year and moment, the editors at Paraclete Press have compiled a collection of readings including short fiction, poetry, letters, speeches, and quotes. Works of art, rendered in full color complement the readings

The work consists of three parts. The first is organized under the theme “Hope is the Thing with Feathers/A Patient Waiting.” It opens with the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name and includes O’Henry’s fine short story, “The Last Leaf.” Other works include a passage from Les Miserables, set off by Van Gogh’s Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, one of Bonhoeffer’s prison letters, an excerpt from Nelson Mandela, and another short story, this by Tolstoy.

Part Two is titled “And with No Language But a Cry/Taut Expectancy.” We read of growing hope amid a German prison camp in an excerpt from Corrie Ten Boom. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” reveals his hope for “a new birth of freedom.’ In a short selection from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard explores “the secret of seeing.” Opposite this reading, we are treated to Claude Monet’s Section of the Seine, near Giverny. Other selections include poetry from John Keats (“To Hope”), an excerpt from Anne Frank, Sullivan Ballou’s last letter to his wife during the Civil War, and Chekov’s “The Student.”

The readings in Part Three appear under the theme “Lift Every Voice and Sing/Anticipate with Trust.” Of course this includes James Weldon Johnson’s poem by this name. It has become an unofficial anthem of the Black community. Read this and you may find verses you have not heard before. There’s another story by Leo Tolstoy and Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” engraved in bronze at the base of the Statue of Liberty. A selection from the ending of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis and a quote from Tolkien appear opposite Odilon Redon’s Evocation of Butterflies.

I’ve not named all the writers or artists represented here. This book, printed on quality stock is a feast for both the eyes and the heart. It is easy to lose heart in our doomscrolls of despair. The work reminds us that there is another, deeper story that we need to hear. Instead of being mired in the “Slough of Despond,” the writers invite us to join the saints through history and the many who, this year, have embarked on a “Pilgrimage of Hope.”

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.