The Unclad Soul

In Roland Merullo’s lyrical novel, “In Revere, In Those Days,” we find a loving and moving memoir of the lead character, Anthony (Tonio) Benedetto. Tonio grows up in Revere, Massachusetts, in a home of love with his struggling but hard working and adoring Italian-American parents. All is well until at age 11 his parents are killed in a plane crash. Young Tonio is crushed by this tragedy and overwhelmed by what seems like life’s harsh indifference. But his paternal grandparents, gentle people who treasure Tonio, enter into his grief and envelop him in a love so rich it fortifies him the rest of his life. His uncle Peter, too, steps in to be a caring father figure. Tonio eventually finds ways out of his sorrow and out of Revere. But there are other challenges and heartaches to face. And he learns to love through them as he was loved. Here is a story of family affection and commitment, sorrow, tragedy, society’s prejudices against immigrants, the struggle to survive in low paying wor...

There is an etching by the 18 th century artist Francisco de Goya that I find haunting and relevant. The picture shows an artist, perhaps a painter or writer, slumped over his desk. His pen and sketching paper are there. His face is buried in his arms that are resting over his head. We cannot see his face in sleep. We can only see his thick black hair tousled around his head. Behind him in the darkness are flying creatures that look like fierce bats and sneering owls. Next to him reclining on the floor is a large cat with big eyes with its head erect. It looks startled. The title of the drawing is, “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.” Goya’s amazing pieces, there were 80 in all, were attempts to confront the political and religious institutions of his day, institutions that had turned cruel and oppressive and brutalized the common defenseless people of that era. His etchings were also wake up calls to fellow artists to use their talents to expose the intolerance, criminal...

Anthropologist Loren Eiseley, whose life and career was a brilliant search for meaning and whose books are a romance in language, called himself “a refugee at heart, a wistful glancer over fences.” I love that description and find so much in it to identify with. All my life I, too, have been a seeker: for love; for purpose and meaning; for affirmation of whatever skills I have learned; for an expanding awareness both in my soul and in my mind; for an embracing of wonder and beauty, of ecstasy and delight; a seeker of a simple goodness inspired by a generous heart. These remain longings of mine. I have also been a fugitive, an alien of sorts, a defector escaping the confines of suffocating rules and stifling beliefs; a person displaced in a setting of so many contradictions. I was born a captive and have struggled all these years to be free. I had loving parents and amazing grandparents.  And as a boy I enjoyed all the things boys do.  I played with toy...

Episcopal minister and author, Alan Jones, tells in one of his books about a discussion he had with the president of a fundamentalist Christian college.  They were discussing their various theological differences and at some point Dr. Jones asked the college president what was the most difficult part of his job.  The man replied, “Everyone here, faculty and students, is a born-again Christian, and we have had food stolen from the kitchens, books stolen from the library, and there’s even been a suicide.” Apparently that was the most difficult thing facing him as the president of a religious school, the violation of students and others of their Christian principles. I learned a long time ago as someone who worked for years as a leader in the church that just because a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior does not mean they have lost their humanity.  And accepting Christ, in my thinking, is not about salvation from hell or ridding oneself of selfish desires o...

There is no question that we have in this country a kind of grinding stalemate between conservative Christians and moderate thinking Christians as well as with those who may be lapsed in their faith or who have no religious faith at all. There are two characters in David Lodge’s novel, “Thinks,” who give some definition to this stalemate.  Ralph Messenger is a professor of cognitive science at an English University and is a convinced unbeliever.  He is attracted to visiting professor Helen Reed, a writer and teacher of literature who is Catholic but is only loosely connected to the Church. Ralph sees Helen across campus one Sunday morning and tries to catch up with her but she turns past a building and disappears.  Later they meet and he asks, “Where were you?” “I went to chapel.” “What for?” “Why do people usually go into a chapel on a Sunday morning?” “Are you religious, then?”  There’s a note of disapproval, or perhaps disappointment, in his voi...

I am reading Judith Guest’s monumental classic, “Ordinary People.”  It was written 30 years ago and was made into an Academy Award winning movie directed by Robert Redford.  It remains an extraordinary novel with life lessons still fresh and relevant today. Here is a journey into deeply wounding grief, into the dark shadows of shattering loss. The Jarrets are a suburban family of affluence and refinement.  Calvin, or Cal, the father, is a successful tax attorney.  He appears confident and polished but underneath the suits he wears is a broken man coming apart from sadness and crippling self doubts.  He longs for his family and himself to heal from a terrible event but he does not know how to guide the process.  He is stuck in bewildering passivity.  His wife Beth is a sophisticated, attractive woman, neatly put together in color coordinated outfits.  But she is coldly indifferent to her family, more than high maintenance, she is touchy an...

I spent last evening watching on C-Span the House Oversight Committee eviscerate the former commissioner of the IRS, Douglas Shulman. Both Republicans and Democrats took turns sanctimoniously judging Shulman and trying with all the drama of a courtroom trial of some grotesque murderer to humiliate and destroy the man. The Republicans of course love this kind of stuff.  Their questioning bordered on hysteria and orgasmic delight.  Most of it was complete buffoonery; as usual.  And the Democrats, who never miss a chance to hold hands with Republican fanatics and support them in their derangement, joined right in.  They always do this if they think doing so will impress someone out there in the voting public who thinks Democrats are passive sissies.  But of course no one is ever impressed by this display of phony outrage. Having a brain and being an intelligent, rational presence seems lost on all of those on this committee.  With the exception o...