William Stringfellow
“Being holy… does not mean being perfect but being whole; it does not mean being exceptionally religious or being religious at all; it means being liberated from religiosity and religious pietism of any sort... it does not mean being godly, but rather being truly human.”An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land
Stringfellow was a "Lay Theologian", he lived from 1928 to 1985
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[First of all, thanks to all readers for the good and strengthening words they have been sending lately. I read every one of them, and am grateful to know you are "out there".
I have the honor and pleasure of, once again, working on one of Bernadette Roberts’ books. In this case, it is Contemplative: Autobiography of the Early Years, which is being prepared for publication on Amazon. We are out of stock of the spiral bound copies, so hopefully it will soon be available more widely. If you have never read the book, I hope you will. It is delightful and surprising. I am posting three quotes from it this week, and probably more next, as I go through the chapters.]
Patricia: I attended 3 of Bernadette's retreats. She was one of the most important people in my life. Were you able to attend her Funeral Mass? Which Church was she buried from? Was she laid out in a Funeral Home? Was she buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles? Was there a Death Notice? Nobody has said a word about any of this. Can you share anything about this with readers of your blog? Thanks for your time and consideration. Paul Kraus, Pittsburgh PA
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Paul - she was the most important person in my life for sure, though she would never let me say it. She did have a private funeral Mass, family only. She was a very private person, in the sense of not wanting her personal life out there. I sent out an email notice to hundreds of folks on our mailing list, and put a notice on her blog site. I do apologize if we missed you. I also ran the notice on my blog. Mysterious that it missed you. She died of ALS (the same thing Stephen Hawking had). She was at her home, with caregivers, but I believe she slipped away in the night, alone. But as she always told us, she was already gone from the day we met her. She said that at her death nothing would change for her - except the senses would "go down". A great mystery. She also told some of us, and her children, that if we wanted to find her after death, look to the Eucharist - the Real Christ.
DeleteIf you use the Archives in the Day Book, the one that shows the quotes by month, and return to the end of Nov. and beginning of Dec. in 2017, you'll find the notice and other writings.
An amazing person, one of a kind. We were fortunate to have met her.