WHEN THE HOLY WEEK ROLLS along, I often curl up?whether I am on a beach, in the privacy of my home, or in a plane somewhere?with books to feed my heart and soul, those that help me mull over the more important things in life.

Let me share with you my reading list for this forthcoming season:

?Glimpses of Heaven? is an incredible compilation of stories put together by Trudy Harris, RN?a hospice nurse for many decades now, and former president of the Hospice Foundation for Caring.

The book is a collection of 44 real life stories, personal accounts of people whom Harris has accompanied at the end of their lives. The book is helpful to those caring for the dying and those who have recently lost loved ones.

Among the questions she answers in the book are: What do you say to a loved one who is dying? How can you make a dying friend feel safe? Does a dying person really see angels, hear music, or see friends and family members who have already died?

It is a thought-provoking and touching book that will bring you comfort and maybe even make you shed a happy tear or two.

?The Heart of Healing.? Over the last year or so, I have been ministering and praying for the father of a dear friend who is stricken with cancer. I wanted so much to be able to do right by him, to provide the words and the comfort as he traveled (and continues to travel) through this terminal disease.

Ardy Roberto?s ?The Heart of Healing? provided me with the much-needed inspiration and gave me a truckload of ideas on what to do and what to say at a critical time of illness.

Roberto?s book teaches us how to be more compassionate, supportive and caring while at the same time giving the reader invaluable tips for the journey toward healing. He knows the terrain well since he personally took care of his wife, Tingting, as she struggled with lupus.

Roberto uses the acronym HELP?Hope, Encouragement, Love and Prayers?to put in a nutshell the attitudes and actions outside of doctors and medicine that he thought Tingting needed to get well.

?Those attitudes and actions formed a daily priority list, reminding us that healing depends not just on medicine but also on the things that feed the spirit, mind and heart.?

The book is a must-read for anyone who desires to give a sick loved one the very best care. It reads like a guidebook on what to do and what not do, while at the same time providing inspiration and much-needed comfort for those roller-coaster days.

?Heaven?s Butterfly.? Let me now make a plug for a little book my daughter Pia and I wrote.

?Heaven?s Butterfly??a children?s book with beautiful illustrations by Panch Alcaraz?tells the story of our life in the first year after my son Migi died in 1998. The story is narrated from Pia?s point of view as a 7-year-old trying to cope with the loss of her 4-year-old brother.

Written in a language that every child (ages 7-11) can easily understand, the book is our way of sharing our story with the world in the hope that it will bring comfort to other grieving children and families.

Time and again, I have seen a child?s grief simply swept under the rug or not given importance, perhaps because the adults caring for them do not really know any better. I have seen countless men and women who carry the pain of a childhood loss in their hearts so many years after the death had taken place.

The book we wrote also provides tips for parents, teachers and caregivers on what to do when a death takes place in a family. This is the type of book that needs to be read by the parent with the child because the child may have many questions regarding illness, life and death that a parent can use as a teachable moment.

?Heaven?s Butterfly? is the first in a series of books under the Special Topics series of Anvil Publishing.

May the Holy Week provide you and your family with many moments for bonding and personal introspection.

E-mail the author at cathybabao@gmail.com.