Anne Rice: 'Called Out Of Darkness'

By -
"The story has a happy ending because I have found the Transcendent God both intellectually and emotionally." Anne Rice

Something prodded me to buy Anne Rice's memoir, 'Called Out of Darkness: A spiritual confession.' So, I did. It has been my experience, that when I ignore those proddings -I lose out big time!

I marched into the store and as soon as I had the book in my hands, I fell into the nearest chair and began reading. An overwhelming feeling of joy washed over me...In fact, I felt so happy I began to cry, right there in Barnes and Nobles.

As I think about that moment, I remember feeling an immense sense of gratitude to Anne and to God. To Anne for her humbling honesty and her openness to the guiding grace of the Holy Spirit...To God for creating such a beautifully gifted human being, with a brilliantly pulsating heart.

Here she was-this enormously popular and successful secular author, hearing a call from God...and risking everything, to answer it. Here was the vampire lady from New Orleans, speaking and writing about Jesus and Mary, the Saints and her sins. Now that was a story!

You see for me, there is nothing more thrilling than a conversion story. There is nothing more mysteriously exciting than the awakening of a soul to the universal Love of God. That pivotal point when a person accepts that God exists and we exist because of his Love.

When Anne Rice made a decision of the heart to let faith in, to Love God, through the Catholic Church of her childhood, the heavens clearly heralded her return. Another lost lamb, returns to the fold and then turns her enormous talent into something wonderfully otherworldly for the rest of us to enjoy.

I was never drawn to the vampires, but I have always been drawn to Anne Rice. I have always felt a strange sense of something special stirring within her...and that it would only be a matter of time...

I am so happy for her...and so grateful that she has sacrificed her privacy, to give others the enormous gift of her spiritual wisdom and her childlike faith. I am so excited that she feels the power of God's transformative Love and the joy that it brings, even under the most challenging circumstances.

There is nothing better than a Love story...But a Love story between Jesus Christ and Anne Rice...Now that, in my not so humble opinion, is a story of biblical proportions...and will hopefully, become the subject of a great motion picture!

Anne Rice has given me wonderful joy and a renewal of hope...And as I see it, that is a rare gift and the purpose of the rest of her story.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SUBLIME AUDACITY!

By -
Image
I have all the signs and symptoms of something I just learned about today...Sublime Audacity. That's right...I have the audacity to believe-that anything is possible-anything at all-with God. In fact, I believe that there is one cure for all the world's ills...and that cure rests with -and in God. In a world of material wealth, individual desires and carefully orchestrated managed care...When people search the world over for the answers that never come, the healings that rarely happen and the hope that always gets dashed by the next person...I believe that there is only one steady stream of consciousness that always gets it right...and that is God. I've personally experienced it time and again and every time I look elsewhere or seek some other solution, I always come crawling back to the staying power of my higher power...Because let's face it...Once we have the audacity to tell anyone-anyone at all that God is responsible for all the good in our lives or the Love that ...
Read more

OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

By -
Image
High atop a hill in Hanceville Alabama, broken hearts are being healed and hope is being restored. Our Lady of Joyful Hope is a community of young men who are finding new freedom through a life of authentic truth. Once lost in the darkness of addiction they are now living in the light of Christ who is transforming them from the inside out...And their families, if they are open and willing, are being transformed right alongside them. Recently, I spent three days with this community, listening to the young men, their parents and to the foundress, Mother Elvira, who flew in from Italy for the anointing of the new community house and the celebration that followed. Mother Elvira's life story is on par with Mother Teresa. She is an Italian nun who heard the call from God to snatch souls from Satan by delivering young men and women from the demonic grip of addiction. She gave up everything familiar, walked straight into the wilderness and wound up becoming a living legacy for desperate fa...
Read more

CONFESSIONS OF FATHER JOE BENSON

By -
As we sat in silence, meditating...I nudged my friend Terri, "What do we have to complain about?!" I whispered. There he hung, pain stricken, vulnerable in his nakedness, sharp thorns cutting into his head, pleading eyes fixed on the heavens. What I thought, on God's green earth, do I have to complain about?! That's probably why they do it...place the life like crucifix dead center-above the altar, just above the Blessed Sacrament, right where you can't miss it...just to remind us-things could be worse, but they're destined to get better-if we keep our eyes focused-on the solution. Another friend-likes to remind me-he's not on the cross anymore...So why do we keep him there? Every one's got an opinion, but to tell you the truth, I need to be reminded of the sacrifice...and every painful moment in between. Puts my problems in perspective...helps me see clearly...gives me strength to proceed. We went to first Friday adoration in the upper ninth ward.....
Read more