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Mar
10
Quote a Day, day 3
2009 at 7am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
I am totally loving this week’s theme because it is doing exactly what it was intended to do—motivating me to pull my favorite books off the shelves and revisit passages that really made an impact on me. Today’s selection is from The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It is truly a book that defies summary, and I love it for its compelling story and for Russell’s willingness to take risks, to ask big questions, and even to make readers uncomfortable as she explores the meaning of faith and the nature of belief.
I’ve always loved this passage, and I hope you will, too. (This conversation takes place between one of the main characters, a Jesuit priest, and a representative from the community on the planet he is visiting. I’m telling you, you have to read this book.)
There are times, he would tell the Reshtar, when we are in the midst of life—moments of confrontation with birth and dead, or moments of beauty when nature or love is fully revealed, or moments of terrible loneliness—times when a holy and awesome awareness comes upon us. It may come as deep inner stillness or as a rush of overflowing emotion. It may seem to come from beyond us, without any provocation, or from within us, evoked by music or by a sleeping child. If we open our hearts at such moments, creation reveals itself to us in all its unity and fullness. And when we return from such a moment of awareness, our hearts long to find some way to capture it in words forever, so that we can remain faithful to its higher truth.
He would tell the Reshtar: When my people search for a name to give to the truth we feel at those moments, we call it God.
Visit Mary Doria Russell’s website to learn more and read excerpts from her books.
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Very nice.
[...] The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell [...]
I’ve posted my two part interview with Mary Doria Russell. It’s quite interesting and I’m giving away one of her books
http://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/