Recent braille additions

And So I Walked: Reflections on Chance, Choice and the Camino de Santiago by Anne Gardner (B2037, 3 volume): For Anne Gardner, the Camino de Santiago was more than a pilgrimage—it was a journey of transformation. With humor, grit, and raw honesty, Gardner takes you along the sacred and soul-baring path that tested her strength, renewed her spirit, and reshaped her understanding of what it means to move forward. Part vivid travelogue, part deeply personal memoir, And So I Walked invites you into an unforgettable adventure that explores resilience, faith, and the quiet revelations found in every step. Through breathtaking landscapes, candid encounters with fellow travelers, and moments of profound self-reflection, Gardner delivers a story that will inspire and move you.

The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border by Cristina Rathbone (B2038, 3 volumes): The Asylum Seekers offers a rare narrative account of the horror of the US-Mexico border. Borders run through author Cristina Rathbone too, whose mother was a Cuban refugee. So she travels to Juarez, unsure what to do but determined to learn. Weaving intimate portraits of individuals with broader stories about the community, reporting from the border as a whole, and reflections on the meaning of faith in a place of suffering, Rathbone tells the story of Mexican asylum seekers living in a makeshift tent camp at the foot of a bridge. Life in the camp is both hectic and harrowing. Families arrive. Families leave. Families get through to the US. Families are returned from the US. Women weep, children squabble, and grown men sob over photographs of their murdered sons' mutilated bodies. Here too, however, are beauty, and empathy, and hope. Over time, a leadership team emerges. The community begins to convene daily meetings, establish systems of distribution for donations, and start classes for the kids. Serving as an unofficial chaplain, Rathbone is there through it all: listening, receiving, assisting, and most of all learning about what authentic faith looks like under conditions such as these.

Mary's Mantle Consecration: A Spiritual Retreat for Heaven's Help by Christine Watkins with foreword by Monsignor James Murphy (B2039, 2 volumes): This is a Marian consecration that people don’t want to see end. Healing miracles, reunited families, and Catholic conversions are resulting from this self-guided retreat. Mary’s Mantle Consecration, endorsed by Archbishop Cordileone and Bishop Cotta, offers an outpouring of grace upon your life and loved ones. St. Pope John Paul II said that his consecration to Mary was “a decisive turning point in my life.” It can be the same for you. Mary’s Mantle Consecration comes to us in tumultuous times. Today it is important that we consecrate ourselves to the Mother of God—entrusting our lives to her protection, guidance, and care, and inviting her to conform us to the likeness of her Son. There is so much need and brokenness in the world, in the Church, in our families, and in our hearts. By preparing for consecration through the power of the Rosary, a little fasting, and a two-minute reading of a beautiful daily meditation on a virtue or gift of the Holy Spirit (people’s favorite part), we can expect heaven’s help.

Memorare to St. Joseph (BC6030, 1 volume): The Memorare to St. Joseph is a prayer that asks for the intercession of St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, in times of need. It expresses confidence in his powerful ability to help those who seek his aid, based on the belief that no one has ever been left unaided when appealing to him. The prayer encourages people to turn to St. Joseph with faith and humility, asking him not to disregard their petitions.

Patron Stories (BC0009, 1 volume): 39 of our patrons tell how they came to know Xavier Society for the Blind, what it has meant to them and how it has enhanced their spiritual life and growth.