So, yesterday I copied that section of "The Story of a Soul" and today in class gave it to this second-career student in my doctoral program who studies Islamic mysticism and who practically shit herself when for the class we're taking Origen referred to his own personal mystical experiences as an aside to his prologue to his commentary on the Song of Songs, but as soon as she saw it was "The Story of a Soul", she got this weird look on her face, like it took her back to some funny place, and after she read it during break, she seemed more nonplussed that touched, and you could tell her mind was elsewhere.
Anyhow, after class she told me that in going to pre-Vatican II Catholic school, from ages 9-13 she funneled her pre-pubescent sexual energy into reading lives of saints and martyrs and wanted dearly to be a saint, and being a martyr would have been great too, and that she read "The Story of a Soul" at the age of 12 and it brought her back there, and though she admired Ste. Therese of Lisieux for her ecstatic love of God, she just couldn't get her mind around that whole thing in relation to her own experience.
She also said that she can't do martinis tomorrow, but we'll do martinis one night soon, though she's not sure when, and it'll be just one for her.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Sounds like she'll never join you for martinis, she's too freaked out.
No, she will. She wants a martini, but she gets too stressed out with schoolwork.
Post a Comment