Love Is Stronger Than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls
Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault was a 50-year-old priest when she met her soul mate, a hermit named Brother Raphael Robin (Rafe). They had only three years on earth together before Rafe died suddenly of a heart attack. Accounts of these earthly days together are as intense and emotionally wrenching as any love affair could be. And yet their relationship was always graced with a higher goal--creating spiritual love over romantic possession. After Rafe died, Bourgeault was content to let him rest in peace as she began her journey of grief. But weeping outdoors on a snowy night, she felt certain that Rafe's spirit was beside her. "Although I was still crying, the emotional sting started to lose its force, and a new and tingling presence began to work its way up in me, literally starting from the tips of my toes," she recalls. "I knew in that moment I was sustained by an invisible and intensely joyous partner." From then on, Bourgeault continued her love affair with Rafe. Building on this unusual, interactive love-after-death experience, Reverend Bourgeault has assembled some exquisitely reassuring thoughts and anecdotes on eternal love and the impermanence of death. This memoir could be inspirational for grieving lovers or anyone who wants to further explore the mysteries of love, death, spirit, and reincarnation.--Gail Hudson