By Vincent McNabb, O.P.

Hilaire Belloc once declared that he would travel anywhere for the chance to hear Vincent McNabb speak. High praise, considering that McNabb himself set little in store by the power and weight of words themselves. “The best or the worst of all sermons is a life led,” McNabb said. “We should measure the words by the life, not the life by the words.” The life of this Irishman, however, inspired and informed his words: remarkable for his holiness, as Belloc and innumerable others noticed, McNabb acted out his hope, faith, and charity, and these deeds quickened his preaching of the Word of his beloved friend and master, Jesus Christ.

Stars of Comfort is ample evidence of this. Selected from verbatim notes of McNabb’s retreat conferences, these thirty-six addresses form an engaging study of the spiritual life, its principles and guiding lights, its ways and means.

Sayings of our Lord must be remembered again and again, and we will find they will never come into our mind without bringing their attendant stars of comfort with them. (Vincent McNabb, O.P.)

When asked for permission to publish these retreats, McNabb agreed upon one condition: “If they would help souls.” First published in 1958, Stars of Comfort bears the imprint of their preacher’s candor and originality, delivering quietly the life-changing invitation to come and follow after Christ, the true help of souls.

Vincent McNabb, O.P. (1868–1943) was an Irish Dominican priest and scholar. Active in apologetics and catechesis, he authored dozens of books and hundreds of articles, served as professor of philosophy, and filled numerous roles for his Domini­can province. Such was his sheer presence that G. K. Chesterton once wrote: “Nobody who ever met or saw or heard Father McNabb has ever forgotten him.”

Paperback: 206pp.

ISBN: 978-1685954598