My father was a true Southerner, a gentleman, and a wonderful banker for nearly four decades. People liked to be around him because he was funny and because I think they knew he cared about them. His best friends were always those he served with in the Eighty First Division—-The Fightin’ Wildcats—in the Pacific during World War II. Born in Tuscaloosa, AL, he loved Southern expressions, and used them to get points across. This one was one of his favorites: Read the rest of this entry »
Laughter, one of the attributes that make us human, is seen to be more and more important to our individual well-being.
Babies start laughing when they are only a few months old, but they smile before that. Some babies can even be seen smiling in a sonogram before they are born! One might say our lives begin with a smile.
So what happens? Read the rest of this entry »
Living things are unique. No tree or flower, no bird or beast, no star in heaven, is an exact replica of another.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the uniqueness of people. There is no person completely like another. There never has been, and never will be. Even identical twins have distinguishable characteristics. So, in all of time, there won’t be another ‘you.’ Don’t you think that is amazing? I do!
The rareness of an object makes it more valuable. As human beings, we are more than objects; so if each of us is ‘one of a kind’ then each of us must be extremely valuable, and extremely loved by the Creator who brought us into being. Do we recognize our own value, and the value of each other? Read the rest of this entry »
The Bell and The Switch
As a child, I didn’t want to hear The Bell. It resonated through the pine trees of the woods where I was building the perfect straw house; it caught me dunking a glass jar in the creek to catch the biggest tadpole I’d ever seen; it caused me to brake my Blue Schwinn bike on a red dirt road after I’d peddled all the way up a hill so I could fly down it again. The Bell instructed me to stop all that. The Bell meant, “Come home.”
A child, of course, comes into the world with irritating abilities. One of them is the ability to close her ears to what she doesn’t want to hear. A child wants to finish the straw house. She wants to capture the tadpole. She wants the excitement of flying down a hill, fast as the wind. A child wants what she wants. Still, The Bell calls. And in the course of its annoying jangle, a child considers consequence. Read the rest of this entry »
Where does our moral center lie? What is our motivation when we build the ‘house’ of our self? And we do, you know, build our own house, over and over again. Sometimes it’s an honorable house, sometimes a dishonorable one. We have been given the perfect tool to build our house—God’s grace, His love–but often we use flawed tools and build a defective dwelling place for ourselves.
In my article on The Catholic Imagination, I talk about finding God’s love in the direst of circumstances, and amid the worst actions of people. In my novel, A Hunger in the Heart, each of the characters, at one time or another, chooses either the tool of God’s love, or the malfunctioning tool of a saturated self-love. Today I compare the choices of two of those characters; Fig and Clayton. Read the rest of this entry »
The Presence of Three Fathers Named ‘Patrick’
When I was in the Eight Grade here in Dothan, our parish, St. Columba, was sent a new Assistant Pastor, a tall, sandy-haired Irishman; Father Patrick Maher. Throughout my high school years, Father Maher was present. I don’t mean ‘just there,’ or nearby. He was really present. He cared. To a teenager, caring is all important. There were already strong, loving men in my family, and Father Maher was added to their fold. When I became engaged to my husband George, I told Father Maher, “He’s a lot like you, Father.” And when we married, Father Maher performed the ceremony. Father Maher was the first person who used the words I’ve kept inside me all these years. “God is madly in love with YOU.” And if we know that, we know our purpose here. To be loved entirely, calls for us to love in return. Read the rest of this entry »
Thomas Merton PrayerMY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Read the rest of this entry »
No matter her circumstances, no matter the artistic medium, all of us women possessing the gift of creativity will use it. A woman will find a way. When I was thirty, I’d had three of my five children, two girls and a boy, who seemed to want nothing more than my continuous presence. My husband encouraged me to involve myself in the community to assist his banking career. I wanted to write a novel, but that required a lot of solitude and no distraction. I was not in such a position with three little ones. I didn’t realize, then, that my family and my community were God-sent pieces of flint that would spark a different kind of creative expression through family and community service. Read the rest of this entry »
Getting up before dawn has become usual for me, a time when the house is still and the light unfolds in ever-brightening increments. One can contemplate the possibilities in a day that has never before been lived; and for the writer, a story that has never been written. I don’t miss the sleep. Over the last ten years, my routine has allowed the completion of four novels, a novella, and many short stories; but I’d like to perfect them, and I’d like to write more. This will take study of those writers who have gone before, their stories, themes, and craft– and then, more contemplation! Read the rest of this entry »
June 1, 2013
Both George and I love our DVD of the PBS Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the musical, Les Miserables, and have watched it many times. The very long novel it is based on was written by French novelist, playwright and poet, Victor Hugo. Last night, we watched the movie version on Netflix. I thought it was wonderful. Unfortunately, its themes are still relevant today, just as they were in France (and in America) in 1862 when Hugo wrote the book.
Throughout the ages, human history has been saturated with the desire to dominate and subjugate one’s neighbors .Whatever the reason for the conflict –territorial, economic, political, or religious—nations, races, and individuals have resorted to violence and warfare to resolve disputes, rather than compromise. Whether the reasons are just or unjust, the conflict drastically changes our world, but most specifically it changes the lives of the individual human beings involved.
My cousin, Father Arnold J. Benedetto, S.J., who was the head of the Jesuit House of Studies at Spring Hill College when I was there, states in his book,“The Philosophy of God,” that there is no such thing as the ‘sum of human suffering’ because no one ever suffers it.
Basically, we experience hardships alone, and in our own way, because suffering happens individually and specifically to one human heart at the time. We see footage of the Oklahoma tornadoes, the effects of hurricanes, the wars in the Middle East, cruelty, addictions, and plain disregard for others. All this boggles the mind, but the misery is translated on television by individuals speaking of its effect on them personally. And then some, out of their unique experience, try to effect change. Read the rest of this entry »
Translating a World on the Edge 