Finished the novel Saint Maybe (1991) by Anne Tyler. Recommended by Eugene Peterson in Take & Read. Born in Minneapolis, went to Duke. Like Godric and The Diary of a Country Priest, another book about saints, or those trying to navigate life with only the weapon of meekness.
I finished Godric (1980) by Frederick Buechner. From the first sentences, the writing is extraordinary. It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. It is Buechner’s imaginative retelling of the life of a holy man (1065-1170) of whom there are historical accounts. A theme is bodily lusts.
I finished the 1936 French novel The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos. I would have appreciated a sketch of some plot points to better appreciate it so spoilers ahead. It is about a 29-year-old priest whose parishioners don’t attend mass and the children tease him. Meanwhile he is suffering with stomach cancer. But eventually most are won over by his meekness. It is a thought-provoking meditation on how to pastor and more generally how to live as “innocent as a dove” (Matthew 10:16) in a cruel world.
And chapter 6 “Contemplative and Active Life” in The Scandal of Holiness (2022) by Jessica Hooten Wilson on The Diary of a Country Priest is very good. She emphasizes the priest modeling a life of prayer. And she quotes Hans Urs von Balthasar, Bernanos: An Ecclesial Existence.