The Heart Hath Its Reasons
Catholic Novella in Sundry Shales of Love
by
Bernard Scott
After a string of corrosive affairs, a troubled, uncommonly attractive woman, Monica, comes to the attention of a young priest. In trying to help, he finds himself becoming too drawn to her. An older priest comes into the picture and, indirectly, saves the day.
This is really a tale about how grace enters into and mysterious heals disordered affections of the heart. But the healing does not come about by slamming the door on human affections just because they are disordered in some way. There is a blessed lesson to be learned, one involving an act of holy trust.
Excerpts
The individual chapters in this novella can stand alone as independent stories, but they nevertheless constitute a literary whole and deal with the unfolding of the same main characters
3 - Homily ForOne
4 - Monica
2 - Greatly Reduced
Commentary
One Reader's Comments: "I couldn't put this novella down. It is such a gentle handling of real emotions and situations. I felt immediately connected to Monica, and was interested in following her story. All the other characters were also very alive, and I especially enjoyed the conversations among the priests, especially the point that the happiness/forgiveness Gospel is what we usually hear, but our soul thirsts for the deeper truth which precedes forgiveness. The priests usually leave out sin, hell, and contrition and repentance because they feel we can't handle it, it's too harsh so they tell us about God's love and forgiveness. I could relate to Monica's issues with it. How can I accept the love and forgiveness without first purging the sin and its resulting disorder in my behavior and personality? That was a great point! We do want to hear about hell and about how to avoid it, and THEN the incredible love and mercy of our Heavenly Father. We have to understand Holy Fear.
"I thought the character of Father Felix was endearing and I fell in love with his gentle soul that was suffering from his past fall. Through him we get to see inside the heart and mind of a priest who experienced human temptation and has paid a high price, and continues to suffer the scourging of unkind and unforgiving looks and words of the people. It's a great example of true contrition and embrace of the suffering which is a consequence of sin. It points out that sin leaves its mark, and we have to carry it even though we have received God's love and forgiveness. It makes sense. That's what Monica was asking for, the complete truth, not just a part. When Fr. Felix was able to give that to her then she was able to embrace God's healing forgiveness and change her life! I loved Fr. Felix and how he used his pain to heal others in pain. He understood our frailty and propensity to sin, including how sensitive the priesthood is and how equally human the priests are! They fight the same battles but their repercussions are so much worse.
"I thought the author handled the topic beautifully, showed different angles of relationships and situations. I was impressed with how the author was able to build strong characters in just the few words that short stories require, but at the same time convey such deep struggles of the human soul."
--N. K., Tampa, FL.
