Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir

faith-and-doubt

• They came forward, genuflected briefly, leaned forward, and kissed the feet of the figure of Jesus on the cross. I tried to keep it as steady as possible.

  HLS-008

• No one else in the parish knew how. My father had been a member of a religious order. He explained to the pastor how they should walk in procession.

  HLS-011

grief

• My father's heart finally raced ahead of him, while my mother's had lagged behind.

  HLS-005

• Once, shortly before my father's death, he broke down in tears and said, 'You and your brother never talk about her.'

  HLS-007

• 'Stop counting, mother,' I said. She stopped on three. What were they? They were coordinates for a map I did not have.

  HLS-002

belonging

• I don't know why this place is still adequate to my desire. It's just the body into which I welcome myself.

  HLS-010