I'm sure what actually happened is that Kevin Orlin Johnson got a "Google Alert" that his name was mentioned and he came here to read what I had to say and was horrified.
Uh-oh. The nun strikes again!
This is Kevin Orlin Johnson, author of Rosary: Mysteries, Meditations, and the Telling of the Beads. No such passage occurs in my book, to the best of my knowledge! Please either cite the page number or remove this false reference! Thanks!I hope Mr. Johnson will accept my swooning apology. He's referring to yesterday's post about the term "Knock Wood" coming from the persecution of Irish Catholics. I thought I had read it in his book.
That book, "Rosary: Mysteries, Meditations, and the Telling of the Beads" is just the best book you can read about the rosary. It's informative and inspiring. It is a truly wonderful guide to meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, in down to earth very human terms. He really gets across the whole idea of the rosary: a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of His Mother.
Once when I was traveling by plane, I was seated next to a woman who was praying the rosary because she was afraid of flying. I really think she felt as though if she put her rosary down the plane would crash. I was glad she was saying the rosary, but I felt sorry for her being so scared, so I started talking to her about this book. I happened to have it on me, and that's how I ended up giving away the first copy I had. I had it right in my bag there to give to her. Well...not right in my bag. It was in the overhead bin and I had to trouble everyone to wrestle it out.
I bought another copy, because I wanted to have the book as a reference. He has in there a fabulous history of the "Hail Mary". I wanted to read it over and over.
OR maybe he didn't have that in there....Lord have mercy.
Anyhow, I gave that copy away, too, so I can't check. That copy went to one of our 'separated brethren', one of those people who just has to go on and on about Catholics 'worshiping' Mary and statues and all of that craziness that makes me so tired. I threw the book at him.
I didn't throw it. But the book had quite an effect on him, because he's since only asked sensible questions.
Good work Kevin Orlin Johnson!
The question remains. Where did I read that story? I'm going out on a limb here. I think it must have been in "A Concise History of the Catholic Church" by Thomas Bokenkotter. That's a great book, too. I was reading it around the same time I originally read the rosary book, so maybe that's why I was confused.
Or maybe I'm simply a confused old....is there a female word for 'codger'?
14 comments:
Any pictures of swooning nuns?
I still loved it. Perhaps this gives hope to all the medieval traditions Umberto Eco enjoys teasing (in Baudolino, for instance, lots of relics are created by a tall-tale-teller).
Sister, if I come across any passage (as I have not yet) about knock knock and rosaries, I will let you know as I am about two hundred pages into the Concise History of the Catholic Church.
Just simply say you are confused. I can't fathom giving yourself a "name" in poor taste. At least you admitted you were in error and wrote a retraction of sorts.
Bless you!
Have you ever tried Google Book search? Type in "knock wood" or "knock wood Catholic" and see what comes up.
Hi, sister! I absolutely adore your blog and have to tell everyone about it (usually two or three times)! I have a question for you that I feel would be very apt considering your vows. How much is too much to have in the eyes of God? I mean, I'm a middle class American, with all the trimmings that go with; I cannot stand the thought of starving children, homeless people, and other worthy causes worldwide, and although I do give to solicitors in the mail and at church, I can't help but feel that God is still very upset with me, with all of us, for not doing more. Is it okay to be living a comfortable life while people are dying? And yet I don't feel there's much I can do, as those people aren't actually within my direct reach. What do you feel we should be doing? The spiritual and corporal words of mercy spell it out fairly well, but to what practical extent? My husband feels that with a family of 8, we can't do anything drastic and St. Francis-like, which I agree with; however I do feel that something's missing. No one obviously needs so many things as we have, and interestingly, usually all of our belongings only serve to clutter up our lives and take time to clean! Any thoughts? Thank you for your inspiring and hilarious blog- I look forward to it daily! God Bless you!
-Martha Mary (seriously).
Wow, what's up with Mr Kevin Orlin Johnson (will that get him another google alert?) and all those exclamation points!! Has the man never made an honest mistake? Sheesh. ;-)
Now, now. There, there. I'm an exclamation point user myself.
I agree with Elena - Mr. Kevin Orlin Johnson (there goes that google search again...) should have just been happy with the FREE ADVERTIZING he just recieved and ignored the silly mistake. Tell him the cost of removing the "false reference" is a donation to the church!
I agree with Elena, never heard of the guy before you misquoted him. He should be glad for the endorsement.
I've put his book on my Amazon.ca wish list, just because you mentioned that it's good. I'll buy it (eventually) even if there is no knock wood reference!
There, there, Mr K. O. Johnson. :-)
Yes, and yes again, Elena!! It wasn't so much the exclamation points per se, as the TONE of his missive (i.e., as me sainted mother said: it's not what you say, but how you say it)! Sr. MM, you're so gifted and humble to boot--Bless you!!!! (Exclamation points intended)
I agree. Never heard of him until now. A sizeable donation is in order.
I have to agree with the above writers. I'm sure his book is excellent (you wouldn't be pushing it otherwise), but he could use a good dose of humility. The snotty tone was completely unnessesary. I think I'll just check the book out at the library instead of adding to his coffers.
theintrepidpie and elena are right - hit him up for some cash, then take the post down!
kelly
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