A Human Future seeks to bring together some of the best humanistic and spiritual thought in ways that contribute to building a compassionate Canadian society. Feedback on our last issue, on health care, led us to think about the point of origin for systemic transformation, and that has led us to review Radical Gratitude, a timely new book by Mary Jo Leddy. The book does not attempt to offer a comprehensive model for societal renewal, but to provide a fresh and accessible starting point outside familiar political and economic thought structures.

Mary Jo Leddy is a font of wisdom distilled over years of helping hundreds of refugees through post-traumatic stress and through the dehumanizing maze of red tape and bureaucratic abuse that so often makes their settlement and recovery even more difficult. Her beautiful new book, The Other Face of God: When the Stranger Calls Us Home--part poetry, part theological reflection on the discovery of life’s meaning-- offers a practical spirituality that can sustain us in our day. -ed.