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Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, by Kathleen Norris. Riverhead Books,
1998.
Kathleen Norris presents eighty short chapters, each dealing with a
large vocabulary of words important to Christians. Some are scary, some are comforting, some are merely coming from a curious mind, some are intimidating, some confer blessings and grace.
Drawing on her Christian background, but not necessarily a church-qoinq background, Norris attempts to strengthen her own faith through her writings, and to explore facets that may be new to her readers. She blends history, theology, story, and memoir into this book. Each short chapter examines a particular aspect of a Christian lexicon, and in the exploration, Norris comes to
a gradual personal conversion. The author attempts to present religion in a language often called alien and impenetrable, but she also shows the richness of many ancient traditions. Norris says that she hopes to present these eighty topics “with a proper sense of humility before the great mystery of language, this human venture that begins with the ear and the tongue and reaches for the stars.” She wants her readers to be aware of recognition, delight, grief, and even distress at they follow her
through this remarkable lexicon.
(Thanks to Sr. Irene Harman OP for this review.)
Paperback. Hardcover. Kindle.
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St. Thomas of Villanova: September 8. 1488 - 1555.
Saint Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from the town where he was raised. He received a superior education at the
University of Alcala and became a popular professor of philosophy there.
After joining the Augustinian friars at Salamanca, Thomas was ordained and resumed his teaching–despite a continuing absentmindedness and poor memory. He became prior and then provincial of the friars, sending the first Augustinians to the New
World. He was nominated by the emperor to the archbishopric of Granada, but refused. When the see again became vacant he was pressured to accept. The money his cathedral chapter gave him to furnish his house was given to a hospital instead. His explanation to them was that “our Lord will be better served by your money being spent on the poor in the hospital. What does a poor friar like myself want with furniture?”
He wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate, mending it himself. The canons and domestics were ashamed of him, but they could not convince him to change. Several hundred poor came to Thomas’s door each morning and received a
meal, wine, and money. When criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of, he replied, “If there are people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door.” He took in orphans and paid his servants for every deserted child they brought to him. He encouraged the wealthy to imitate his example and be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly
possessions.
Criticized because he refused to be harsh or swift in correcting sinners, Thomas said, “Let him (the complainer) inquire whether Saint Augustine and Saint
John Chrysostom used anathemas and excommunication to stop the drunkenness and blasphemy which were so common among the people under their care.”
As he lay dying, Thomas
commanded that all the money he possessed be distributed to the poor. His material goods were to be given to the rector of his college. Mass was being celebrated in his presence when after Communion he breathed his last, reciting the words: “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
Calendar of Saints
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