Grasping the Heart
Saturday 15 September 2007
by Margaret Nuzzolese
Dear Marko (definitely my favourite of the nicknames),
“I knew it was coming, I just kept putting it off.”
I´ve been trying to collect my thoughts and feelings to express to you for about 7 weeks now. Although, my lack of “right words” will hardly demonstrate that. My name is Margaret Nuzzolese and I am currently living in Nicaragua with Jesuit Volunteers International. I finished The Book of Mev, and well, since your email address is in the back, I just had to email you. James Meinert, who I would certainly nominated as The Book of Mev’s Best Advertiser, recommended that I read it, and after hearing anecdotes about your class, and spending lots of time with the SLU women presently on the trip, I have finally stirred up the humility to just write you…
I think your book is absolutely extraordinary. Extra, beyond all things, ordinary. I think it is a most fascinating account of such an authentic and holy love. A passionate, self-giving love that so many in this world DREAM about experiencing. I was amazed by your sheer vulnerability to express some of the most personal stories of your life. Moments of such life-giving joy, and heart-wrenching sorrow. Mev and Mark, inside and out. What a gift it was to meet you and Mev through your story and to be so inspired. By love and by faith. By such passion for social justice, for speaking out, and speaking from within. By your sense of community, what was shared and what continues to be shared. Truly, Mark, your book and thus, this part of your life, have grasped my heart in a way that no other book has.
It could have to do with my place in life right now. After time in El Salvador, I now live in Nicaragua. I spent all of Tuesday morning connected to Mev, taking the SLU ladies around my work site. I’ve been hearing sensational stories of St. Louis and Karen House. I’ve been encouraged to read some Living Buddha, Living Christ. I studied at Boston College and just loved hearing about the adventures in Cambridge. I’m not a photo journalist, I don’t know what Jon Sobrino would tell me, but I completely identified. I can’t really put my finger on why. For me, it was just totally about love. And I’m just a really big fan of that!
So I want to thank you. For letting me, and so many others, into your lives in this gorgeous way. From the collection of Mev’s journal, to your love letters, and deepest most honest thoughts, to the readings of what was going on elsewhere, much of which has deepened my motivation to learn more of the Elsewhere in the Worlds. The quotes, the dialogues, the faces. Thank you for everything you went through, which I imagine included moments of great pain and sadness, to write The Book of Mev. To recall those conversations, those memories and to share them as a testimony. A tremendous testimony to the marvels of Mev Puleo, to you, to you both as a couple, to the struggle that IS one, and to God, really. What a blessed experience it has been, having this Book be a part of my life.
I hope you are still very much in love with your life.
In amazement and admiration,
Margaret
http://margienuzz.blogspot.com/