After Suicide: There's Hope for Them and for You - Fr. Chris Alar, MIC and Jason Lewis, MIC

by Fr. Chris Alar, MIC and Jason Lewis, MIC

Do those who take their own lives automatically lose their salvation? How can we help those who have lost a loved one to suicide? Addressing the hard issue of suicide simply and pastorally, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, draws from the teaching of the Church, the message of Divine Mercy, and his own experience of losing his grandmother to suicide in order to offer readers two key forms of hope. With co-author Jason Lewis, MIC, Fr. Chris reveals that there’s hope for the salvation of those who've died by their own hand, and there’s hope for the healing of those whom they’ve left behind. This book is a must-read for all those trying to make sense out of such a difficult subject. Remarkably, the spiritual principles of healing and redemption apply not only to a loss from suicide, but by any means of death.

Alar and Lewis offer a fresh and compelling take on how to view prayer. Based on the fact that God is all-knowing (omniscient) and all-powerful (omnipotent), they explain how God’s eternal being “outside of time” enables one’s prayers to be effective to any point in time, including the past. This gives hope to all who have lost a loved one — that we can make a difference in the salvation of someone we love with our prayers and offerings, even years later, to assist them at the moment of their death. Supported by saints, theologians, and the liturgical prayers of the Church, these teachings, when applied, can result in amazing grace and the salvation of millions of souls who may have otherwise been lost.

The night before Fr. Alar invited me to write an endorsement for this book, I was told about three people who had committed suicide in our local community just last week. This book couldn't be more timely, and it couldn't come from a better priest. Father Alar understands well the pain and anguish surrounding suicide, and he effectively applies the soothing hope and healing balm of Divine Mercy to that wound.
-- Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, author, 33 Days to Morning Glory and 33 Days to Merciful Love