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Flannery O’Connor on the Glorified Body

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From 1955 until her death, Flannery O’Connor maintained a correspondence with Betty Hester, a personal friend with whom she discussed various issues including God, the Church and theology. The following quotation is from a letter to Hester written days before O’Connor’s passing at the age of 41, on August 3, 1964. For me it is the virgin birth, the Incarnation, the resurrection which are the true laws of the flesh and the physical. Death, decay, [and] destruction are the suspension of these laws. I am always astonished at the emphasis the Church puts on the body. It is not the soul she says that will rise but the body, glorified. — Flannery O’Connor ________________________________________ St. Augustine's Prayer to the Holy Spirit Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.

Flannery O’Connor on Protestantism

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" The Catholic finds it easier to understand the atheist than the Protestant, but easier to love the Protestant than the atheist. The fact is though now that the fundamental Protestants, as far as doctrine goes, are closer to their traditional enemy, the Church of Rome, than they are to the advanced elements of Protestantism. You can know where I stand, what I believe because I am a practicing Catholic, but I can’t know what you believe unless I ask you.… As far as I know, it hurts like nothing else. We are at least together in the pain we share in this terrible division. It’s the Catholic Church who calls you 'separated brethren,' she who feels the awful loss ." Flannery O’Connor from a July 1959 letter to Dr. T.R. Spivey Flannery O'Connor, Friend of God, Pray for us!

Flannery O'Connor on Life

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Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you. — Flannery O'Connor

The Misfit In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

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In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the Misfit is the embodiment of evil. His chance encounter with a Georgia family culminates in the execution of the grandmother after she reaches out to touch him. O’Connor uses the Misfit to show how grace and salvation are available to both saint and sinner alike. Whether we accept these is another matter. The Misfit exercises his free will to do evil. Instead of sparing an old woman, he brutally murders her. Rejecting the grandmother’s kindness, he chooses violence over virtue – symbolizing our fallen humanity. Despite being a cold-blooded killer the Misfit by his own words has contemplated Jesus’ resurrection and power over death. The Misfit has asked the same questions many Christians pose. His curiosity about Jesus and ultimate rejection of Judeo-Christian morality (that rooted in the natural law and the teachings of Christ), mirror the view of religious skeptics and others for whom religion has little value. I

Flannery O'Connor on Catholicism, the Priesthood and the Catholic Church

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Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified by all of us, by her members most particularly, because she is a church of sinners. Christ never said that the Church would be operated in a sinless or intelligent way, but that it would not teach error. This does not mean that each and every priest won’t teach error, but that the whole Church speaking through the Pope will not teach error in matters of faith. The Church is founded on Peter who denied Christ three times and couldn’t walk on the water by himself. You are expecting his successors to walk on the water. From a letter by Flannery O'Connor in response to a friend's criticism of the Catholic Church's shortcomings.