What Rose Mary Sees

What MaryAnn Sees, a photo by []Aaroneous Monk[] on Flickr.

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What does Rose Mary see when she is looking up with eyes closed, palms together in front of her face, like a child in prayer? Do the heavens open up as she rocks back and forth murmuring to herself during the Liturgy or is she escaping some private hell conjured by mental illness? The third heaven of St. Paul or the third hell of Dante, literally or in metaphor?

She is a mystery.

Her stories have elements of the impossible or, at the very least, the highly improbable. When she turns her head away she forgets you are there, seeming to attend to other matters. No matter how many times you introduce yourself she looks at you as if it is a first meeting, that you are a new visitor to her church. She teaches humility like few can.

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