“A Passage and a Gift”
In his “Beliefs” column in today’s New York Times, Peter Steinfels writes of a new book, Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion. Its author is Antonio Monda, based in New York, as cultural correspondent for the left-leaning Italian newspaper, La Repubblica.
In his book Signor Monda interviews a number of prominent cultural figures about their beliefs. Steinfels highlights the following exchange between Monda and the 83- year-old Grace Paley:
[Monda] asked Ms. Paley, “Do you think that life after death exists?”
She replied, “Obviously no,” adding, “And an 83-year-old is telling you this, aware that she doesn’t have much time to live.”
And then, turning the tables on Mr. Monda, she asked, “And what is there for you after death?”
He replied, “The true life.”
“And what,” she came back, “is the life that we’re living at this moment?”
He answered, “A passage and a gift.”
The exchange serves as an apt prelude to tomorrow’s Gospel.
Beautiful
Wow!
That’s definitely an answer to reflect on!
Monda gave a great answer, and to her credit, Paley didn’t write his answer off completely.
And why would Hillary Clinton decline to be interviewed about God and religion by a correspondent from a left-leaning newspaper? Hmmm. I’ll have to think long and hard about that one.
I did not see Peters’ column but I have some words on the Bonda book and my judgment is: slight and not very interesting. Alas, my remarks are somewhere in the Commonweal offices being edited for the Book Notes.