“Spare Us Yet: And Other Stories” by Lucas Smith

Faith meets reality. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out as you expect it to, or as you think it should. 

Growing up in a culture that’s saturated Catholic (like New Orleans was), even we non-Catholics were aware of the impact and reach of the church. Ash Wednesday felt weird when you were one of the few in public school with a clean forehead. You lined up for your polio vaccine (sugar cube style) at the local Catholic school. Most of the weddings and funerals you attended were Catholic, and you typically found more food at funerals than wedding receptions. Almost all your neighborhood friends were Catholic. You took you SAT tests at the Catholic high school. Catholic was familiar; Catholic was normal.

 

Perhaps this is why I felt completely at home with Spare Us Yet, the collection of short stories by Lucas Smith. To call them Catholic stories would be an act of misdirection. Certainly, they all have the sense of faith, and a few even concerns priests, religious holidays, and observances. But they are not stories of faith as taught in seminary or theology textbooks as they are stories of faith lived out in day-to-day life.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

One Final Newspaper Roll Call – Neil Chatelain at Emerging Civil War.

 

You Can Have This Heart to Break – Patti Callahan Henry at Stories Are My Thing.

 

Hypergraphia: On Prolific Writers and the Persistent Need to Produce – Ed Simon at Literary Hub.

 

When the Stranger Becomes the Scourge: Lessons for Localists from Wuthering Heights – Raleigh Adams at Front Porch Republic.

 

“There Will Never Be Another Battle” – Kevin Pawlak at Emerging Civil War.