Mary Marrocco

Mary Marrocco

Dr. Mary Marrocco is an associate secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches. She is also a teacher, writer and lay pastoral worker. Her column, Questioning Faith, features topics about the teachings of our church, scriptures, the lives and writings of the saints and spiritual writers and theologians. She can be reached at marrocco7@sympatico.ca.

Driving with a young friend, I was not surprised that she had the car window completely down and her face turned towards the breeze on one of these finally-gentle days of spring.  I enjoyed her enjoyment of the sweet fresh air sweeping in. 

It’s normal to return anger with anger, bitterness with bitterness, cunning with cunning.  

An article defending the widespread practice of abortion for babies with Down syndrome disturbed me.  

What’s the best way to wake a sleeper? Throw cold water? Tickle the feet or play loud music?

One Sunday morning in church, I wondered why the person beside me was breathing so loudly. Did he have some terrible lung ailment? Was he about to expire? It sounded almost like… snoring. 
Oxford is a beautiful town, by nature and centuries of human living.  Exploring there once with friends, we saw a memorial, arrestingly inscribed: “To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome.” 
What’s the best Christmas gift you ever received?
Visiting a cousin, Joe, who lives far away, my family and I received a tour of his most unusual home. 

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

In an emergency ward, in another country, I lay on a table awaiting the physician. Lightning flashes of pain shot through my body, weak from days-long inability to take in water and food.