Author Kevin Rush wishes you Merry Christmas with 25% off his latest books
We’re coming up on Thanksgiving, and in no time we’ll be preparing for Christmas. There is much to be thankful for this year (including, perhaps, the preservation of our beloved Republic), but even so, our posture should be prayerful anticipation rather than premature jubilation. As we do every year in Advent, we must reflect on our shortcomings, our flaw and failures, and marvel that in spite of it all, God our Father wishes to shower us with mercy. May His mercy draw us closer to Him and farther from the abyss of “fundamental transformation” we’ve been toeing of late.
On the point of gratitude, I am very thankful for the loyal readers who’ve supported my modest efforts to tilt the cultural axis back to quality entertainment that uplifts and edifies. Your willingness to purchase, read, and post reviews of my books has kept me going, despite the Sisyphean existence of the independent author. In the spirit of gratitude, I want to offer you these links for Christmas discounts of my most recent books, Harvesting Eden and The Wedding Routine 2: Destination Lyon.
Hardly a warm-and-fuzzy Christmas story, Harvesting Edenis a rough-edged fable that employs fantasy and sci-fi motifs to illustrate the dangers of contemporary, secular society, where today’s fleeting feelings are weighed more heavily in the balance than 5,000 years of hard-won wisdom.
As 16-year-old Tara Hartzwell mourns the loss of her twin sister, she’s ready to throw her own life away, until the appearance of a mystery girl plunges Tara into an intragalactic struggle, that teaches her there is no peace for a creature at war with its Creator. But now that I think of it, Harvesting Eden might be a classic Yuletide tale, in the tradition of A Christmas Carol. “God bless us, everyone!”
Readers of The Wedding Routine, which I released three years ago, will recall that Christmas played a prominent role in the climax of that story. I won’t give anything away for those of you who haven’t started the series, but Celia and Emile are back in The Wedding Routine 2: Destination Lyon. Yes, it’s a destination wedding for our two lovebirds, but not without the screwball complications that make for an entertaining RomCom.
Destination Lyon is also my personal love letter to the city I visited in fall of 2019. It’s filled with cultural and historical references woven into the narrative, as the reader encounters this beautiful city through the eyes of its natives and Celia’s crazy New Jersey relatives.
Again, not to give too much away, but as Celia finds her dancer’s feet getting a bit cold, she’s pretty much on her own. She has no luck seeking advice from her uncles or even her mother, who seem to be going through simultaneous midlife crises, which their experience in Lyon helps them happily resolve. Destination Lyon neatly sets up The Wedding Routine 3, which I hope to compete in a timely manner.
Order your books today and save $3.50 off the cover price
To get your discounted copy of either book, just click on the link in the second paragraph above. They take you directly to IngramSparks, the printer. Once again, thank you for your support, and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
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As Catholics remember Our Lord’s Passion, we must deeply consider the significance of His Five Wounds
Tomorrow, the Christian world will mourn humanity’s violent abuse of its Savior, the Son of the Living God. Catholics are instructed not to shy away from the gore of history’s most nefarious homicide. Contemplating Christ’s suffering in minute detail is intended to strike our hearts with the contrition necessary to amend our lives to save our souls.
In my adult life, I have embraced the opportunities that Good Friday presents for reflection on this historic event. Christ’s goodness, humankind’s depravity, and my culpability come into sharp focus. The rituals, including meditations on the Seven Last Words, Stations of the Cross, and Veneration of the Cross, are important exercises for making this distant event immediate in our spiritual lives.
But, not everyone can spend three plus hours in Church on a Friday. If you are looking for a novel approach to memorializing Christ’s Passion that will fit into a busy schedule, I offer this Rosary meditation I wrote a few years back. It’s written to be said in a group or family setting, but anyone can do it individually. Knowledge of How to Say the Rosary is a prerequisite.
Good luck and God bless.
Opening prayer
Hold the crucifix:
Leader: Lord, gazing at Your image on the crucifix, I prepare to contemplate Your sacred wounds.
All: Open my heart to a deeper understanding of Your corporal and spiritual suffering freely undertaken for the salvation of my soul.
All: I believe…
On the first large bead:
Leader: “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” (Matthew 26:48)
All: Lord, grant that my lips shall never betray You.
All: Our Father…
One the first small bead:
Leader: “Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’” (Matthew 26: 69-70)
All: Lord, grant that my lips shall never deny You.
All: Hail Mary…
One the second small bead:
Leader: “When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ And again, he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’” (Matthew 26: 71-2)
All: Lord, grant that my lips shall never deny You.
All: Hail Mary…
One the third small bead:
Leader: “A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.’ Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know the man!’ And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, ‘Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Matthew 26: 73-5)
All: Lord, grant that my lips shall never deny You.
All: Hail Mary…Glory Be… Fatima ejaculation (O, my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls unto heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.)
The First Decade: The Wounds on Jesus’ Back as He Is Scourged at the Pillar
Leader: “So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15: 15)
All: Lord, open my heart, as I contemplate the wounds to Your shoulders and back, willingly suffered at the pillar for my salvation.
Leader: Jesus, You called Your disciples by saying, “Follow me.” Did they study Your back as You walked throughout Galilee? As You climbed to Jerusalem? Did they measure Your shoulders, comparing Your width to their own? You warned, they too would have to “pick up” a cross. Did they picture a cross on Your shoulders and imagine themselves doing the same?
Your suffering at the pillar is prefigured in Your words and deeds. When You said, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” to chastise Peter, You placed the Evil One figuratively at Your back. But it wasn’t until You were securely bound to the pillar that his claws could strike.
When You cleared the Temple of the merchants profaning Your Father’s house, You quickly fashioned a whip out of cords. As our sins are a profanation of our inner temples, scourging is a punishment we have earned. But You have willingly taken that punishment upon Yourself for our sake. And even after the scourging has torn Your shoulders to shreds, You are still determined to bear the cross of our salvation.
The Second Decade: Jesus Receives the Crown of Thorns
Leader: “The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.” (Mark 15: 16- 20 )
All: Lord, open my heart, as I contemplate the wounds made on Your holy brow.
Leader: Lord, when You were born, wise men gave You a gift of gold, fit for a king. But You set riches aside, choosing to serve rather than be served. As You told a young, would-be disciple, “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” That was the burden on Your kingship, as You traveled the countryside in search of the lost sheep of Israel. Then, as Your hour drew close, as You prayed for the strength to do Your Father’s will, You sweat forth drops of blood. That would have been a sufficient crown for a Suffering Servant King. But so that the scriptures might be fulfilled, You submitted to mockery and abuse, even to letting them place a crown of thorns on Your head. Lord, open our hearts to understand how our sins mock Your kingship, wounding Your dignity and ours.
The Third Decade: The Nails Are Driven Through Jesus’ Hands
Leader: “So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.” (John 19: 16 – 18)
All: Lord, open my heart, as I contemplate the wounds made by piercing Your sacred hands.
Leader: Jesus, we imagine the first time You used Your hands, tightly gripping Your mother’s finger as You lay in the manger at Bethlehem. We picture Your hands growing strong under St. Joseph’s tutelage, as You learned to use his carpentry tools. You used Your hands to bless and to heal. Your hands blessed and broke the bread with which You fed the multitudes. Your hands broke the bread and lifted the cup when You instituted the Eucharist. Your hands, kind, strong and open, are now pierced with iron spikes, fixing Your arms to the cross. Lord, help me to understand how my sins frustrate the work of Your hands, and how I might better imitate Your generous actions.
The Fourth Decade: The Nails Are Driven Through Jesus’ Feet
Leader: “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left.” (Luke 23: 33)
All: Lord, open my heart, as I contemplate the wounds of Your pierced feet.
Leader: Lord Jesus, like us, You kicked inside Your mother’s womb. Like us, You had to learn to walk. You took Your first steps in Egypt, and later walked to the Promised Land. During Your three-year ministry, You walked all over Galilee, into Samaria, and down to Judea. You walked on the Sea of Galilee and You climbed the mountain to Jerusalem. You sent Your disciples out on foot, and later humbled Yourself to wash their feet. What was the meaning of that gesture? Of course, You were teaching them to serve, but You were also cleaning the soil of Judea off their feet, signaling that they would walk to the ends of the Earth in answer to Your Great Commission.
Then, on the day of Your Passion, You walked the Via Dolorosa, and climbed uphill to Calvary. By right, we should throw ourselves at your feet, wash them with our tears. But too often, by our words and our deeds, we act as the pagans who nailed your feet to the cross.
Lord, on Calvary, Your feet were pierced and fixed to the wood of the cross. There Your travels ended, or so it seemed. But even crucifixion could not stop You from going where You would, and we know You are with us today.
Leader: “Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and they be taken down. So, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may believe. (John 19: 31 – 35)
All: Lord Jesus, open my heart as I contemplate the wound created when the lance pierced Your side.
Leader: Lord, as we picture the abhorrent violence done to Your sacred heart, within the breast where Saint John just hours before had laid his head, we contemplate the temporal and mystical meaning of this wound. The soldier’s lance pierced Your side, perhaps puncturing the pericardial sac, where fluid had accumulated, and Your heart. Thus was released the clear liquid John describes as water, as well as Your precious blood. In this moment, the prophesy of Zechariah was fulfilled: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born.” (Zechariah 12:10) And again, “there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanliness.” (Zech. 13:1). Lord, help this image of Your final wound elicit our compassion and our heartfelt appreciation for Your saving gifts: the waters of Baptism and the precious blood of Holy Communion flowing for our salvation.
Leader: “The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.’
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’
Let us pray.
All: Lord, grant that by meditating on Your sacred wounds we may come to appreciate the suffering You endured for our salvation, as well as the truth of Your Resurrection. Confirm us in our resolve to repent of our sins and strengthen our faith so that we may ever be steadfast witnesses to Your divine love. Amen.
Leader: O Holy Mother Mary, no witness to Our Lord’s Passion suffered so intimately with Him as did you. Please add your prayers to ours.
The plausible connection between a predator priest and a convicted killer
I remember the Preppy Murder case quite clearly. It happened at the end of August, 1986. I was a 26-year-old aspiring actor/singer, working in Manhattan five days a week at a Murray Hill restaurant, The Back Porch. The Mets were tearing up the league, and one of their star pitchers, Ron Darling, who lived in the neighborhood, occasionally dropped in for a meal. Then on August 27, the news came that a pretty uptown girl, 18-year-old Jennifer Levin, had been strangled in Central Park. Her alleged killer was 20-year-old Robert Chambers, an Upper Eastside teen with movie star looks and the cold, dead eyes of a psychopath.
Chambers claimed he had accidentally killed Levin during “rough sex,” but forensic evidence indicated a vicious beating and strangulation. The press painted Chambers as a bad seed, a privileged youth from a broken home, who gravitated towards drugs and supported his habit with burglary. Chambers came across as a soulless psycho who threw Levin’s life—as well as his own—away like so much trash. I remember seeing him on TV in an infamous video clip after he’d been released on bail. He was partying with friends. Looking stoned, he grabbed a small doll and twisted the head, while diabolically groaning Levin’s name. When the doll’s head came off in his hands, he muttered, “I think I killed her.” I was thoroughly repulsed; to me, Chambers was the epitome of the spoiled brat of the Silk-Stocking class.
I was tangentially familiar with his ilk. I had attended high school on the Upper East Side, at Regis, an elite Jesuit institution with a difference. It had been founded as an all-scholarship Catholic school for the academically talented sons of working class and immigrant families. My classmates and I commuted to the Upper East Side daily, most of us knowing we didn’t belong there. The Preppy Murder Case, as it was called, reinforced my notion that Robert Chambers and I came from different worlds. However, a recent video investigation from Church Militant reveals there were several points of intersection: Irish heritage, the Catholic church, and the lurking presence of pedophile, predator priests. Please watch the video below. (Here’s a link if the video doesn’t appear.)
I want to be clear that I have never been assaulted or molested by a priest. But I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who were. While at Regis, I was aware of one priest who groomed boys for sexual violation, and punished boys who rebuffed his advances. He just happened to be in charge of admissions, which enabled him to corrupt the selection process to meet his grooming goals. I have since learned of one more priest, who was credibly accused of sexual assault and was later laicized. The Jesuits knew the second priest was a problem before posting him at Regis, because he had been credibly accused of sexual impropriety with male students at McQuaid high school in Rochester, NY. But instead of drumming that predator out of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit mucky-mucks from the provincial hierarchy, those in the know, attended the ceremony at Regis when this predator priest took his final vows.
My life has not been directly affected by priestly misconduct, except perhaps that I didn’t get the guidance I needed in my formative years, because too many of my would-be mentors were distracted by their pursuit of sexual gratification from my peers. My reason for writing this post is compassion for my wounded friends and my still-simmering anger at a corrupt institution that not only turned a blind eye towards sexual predation, but knowingly promoted the worst of the worst to positions where they could do lasting harm to innocent young people.
Christine Niles reporting for Church Militant makes a compelling case that Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of a youthful Robert Chambers inflicted psychological pain that erupted, resulting in the death of Jennifer Levin in 1986.
I encourage you to watch the Church Militant video in its entirety. The circumstantial evidence forms a compelling case that Theodore McCarrick, while a priest and bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, abused Robert Chambers, setting him on a path of self-destruction that ruined his life and ended the life of Jennifer Levin. The sins of the father were visited upon the son. The Bible says this phenomenon can last for three or four generations. Various organs of the Catholic Church have acted corruptly to ensure that intense pain would pass down for generations. It needs to end.
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P.D. James emasculates a planet in Children of Men; Cormac McCarthy seeks salvation on The Road. By Kevin Rush
Released in 2006, but set in 2027, Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian thriller, Children of Men is frenetic and at times intense, though ultimately incoherent and unfocused. In a near future where all women have become infertile, a disenchanted bureaucrat or journalist—it’s not clear—falls in with a band of violent extremists who needs his help to smuggle out of the country the first woman to become pregnant in a quarter century.
I saw this film when it first came out and didn’t much care for it. Cuarón was too busy weaving in themes of the Iraq War to focus on the central premise of the film: How would the world react to a global crisis of infertility? The fact that the human race is headed for extinction is incidental to Cuarón’s film, because, following 21st century trends of globalist adventurism, illegal immigration and terrorist reprisals, we’re going to kill each other anyway. Cuarón was also so seduced by the potential of emerging film technology to drop an audience into the middle of a video game, that he didn’t bother to immerse us in a story. Owen’s central character is mostly a hostage or bystander, dodging whiz-bang effects and only once rising to—not quite heroic, but stealthy—action.
The 1993 novel by British writer P.D. James is much more cerebral and clearly plotted than the film. Set in 2021, (how’s that for dystopian?) the premise remains the same, but the story is focused on the effects of the central phenomenon: infertility. The problem is not that women are barren, but that men cannot produce viable sperm. James’ dystopian future is a world of emasculated men, of which her Theo is emblematic. Though his name means ‘God,’ he is thoroughly impotent. Mourning the tragic loss of a child (an intense event rendered mundane in the film) and a subsequent divorce, Theo occupies a position as a university academic. And as if academics weren’t inconsequential enough, Theo hasn’t any students to teach. Although he’s mostly isolated within his shrinking community, the men around him are similarly useless.
James’ narrative does not match the film’s break-neck pace, as she paints her world in meticulous detail. Yet, that world is capable of erupting in sudden, senseless and brutal violence, even among those who are ostensibly trying to save it. In this way, James’ novel is a study on the consequences of eroding masculinity. Not peace and harmony as the “new man” advocates of the 70s promised, but downward spiraling disorder. This is a lesson for our age, where traditional masculine virtues are disdained, enabling the rise of venal, vain and scheming individuals, who have brought us to our current state of kakistocracy and civil unrest.
Ms. James does not provide an epigram indicating the source of her title. IMDB cites Psalm 90, which reads in pertinent part:
“Thou [God] turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.”
James is more than hinting that our straying from the natural order has led us to ruin.
In my search for a possible source of the title, I came across this quotation attributed to Helen Keller, which I also found apropos:
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
Seeking illusory safety emasculates men who must strive, even at great risk, to remain vital. A society cheering the bravery of boys who steal track medals from girls needs to be reminded of the necessity of authentic masculinity. Children of Men jogs that memory, and for this I give it a mild nod. It’s thoughtful and creative, though in the final analysis, I think the awesome concept deserves both a better book and a better film.
Similar to Children of Men, The Roadbegins after an unexplained catastrophe has permanently altered the world. In The Road, we assume a nuclear war scorched the Earth, killing all plant and, eventually, animal life. All that’s left are a handful of human survivors, running short on food and time. In this setting, a terminally ill father takes his young son on a trek down a road towards the sea.
Released in 2009, The Road went nowhere. Despite a strong cast, which included Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce, and bolstered by newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee, the film suffered from B-movie scripting and pedestrian direction. The script relies on voiceover exposition that reveals the horrors to come, robbing us of the surprises that were so devastating in the book. John Hillcoat, an Australian director mostly known for pop music videos, just doesn’t seem to have been up to the subject matter. I’d say he was painting by numbers, but like a child’s watercolor, all tones merged into a dull grey. His defenders might say that’s the world he was required to depict. Fair enough. Yet Cormac McCarthy depicts that world vibrantly and urgently in his novel, and Hillcoat was not able to transfer those emotions to film.
So, here’s where I confess I read the book before I saw the film. And I’m glad I did. Because, while the movie is not bad, the book is a masterpiece of American literature. Not that I thought it would be. When the book first came out, I passed on it, wondering why someone of McCarthy’s immense talent would care to revisit a tired scenario of the 1950s and 60s. But The Road is not a retread of On the Beachor Cat’s Cradle. It is a unique tale of a father’s love for his son, and his determination to protect him from rampant evil, preserve his innocence, and provide him a dignified life even among the ashes of civilization.
McCarthy’s book, which has been hailed as a great Catholic novel, brilliantly depicts the salvific purpose of remaining virtuous in a realm where evil is more seemingly advantageous. And unlike Hillcoat’s frontloaded film, McCarthy lets no detail of his world drop until the precise moment when it will have its most devastating emotional effect. The Road is a great story greatly told. These days, many people joke about hoping for the sweet meteor of death to snuff out what’s become of our world. The Road teaches us to be careful what we wish for, but also to make the most of it.
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You can freely support the success of my new book, The Wedding Routine, by entering our Goodreads Giveaway now!
Author Kevin Rush serves up a heartwarming romantic comedy just in time for Christmas
If you’re looking for a fun and uplifting read during the holiday season, you’ve just found it. Here’s the description from the back cover:
To Have and To Hold…for the Next Two Minutes!
Celia Cleary is a champion ballroom dancer who makes her meager living choreographing wedding dances. But when her uncle, a Catholic priest, implores her to “Help these couples commit to their marriage,” Celia is adamant. “I am not anyone to be giving relationship advice.” Now, with her love life in tatters, her studio on the brink of bankruptcy, and her three Christmas wedding couples barely on speaking terms, Celia must reassess her mission. Her business has been all about the two-minute routine: a picture-perfect image to cherish forever. But maybe forever needs a little bit more.
As always, Kevin Rush delivers unsparing reality, rapier wit, and a Christian heart that ensures an emotional payoff. Funny and heartwarming, yet grounded in the bittersweet angst of single life, The Wedding Routine is an uplifting tale of love for Christmas and any time of the year.
“The Wedding Routine is real, raw and heartwarmingly funny. In the “song and dance” of life, this lovely story teaches how to lead with your heart. It showcases how helping people not only benefits those receiving, but is therapeutic for those who give.”
— Laura Orrico, TV and Film Actress and President of Laura Orrico Public Relations, LLC
The Wedding Routine is available right now in paperback at Amazon. There should be no supply chain problems, because the books are printed in the good ol’ USA. If you prefer a Kindle edition, you’ll have to wait a bit, because we’re running a Goodreads Giveaway for the e-book format. You can take a chance on the Giveaway starting Sunday 11/28 at noon. The Giveaway will end a week before Christmas, so this lovely story will help you get into the holiday spirit.
Independent authors need your support!
As an independent author, I’ve got no publisher, distribution or promotion machine behind me. I rely heavily on word of mouth and social media postings. If you agree there’s a place in our culture for this kind of literature, and you want to help me reach my audience, here are a few steps you can take.
It’s the season of giving, so why not buy a few copies to give to the readers in your life?
Share this post and future promo posts on social media.
Get the word out to friends who might be interested, especially avid readers and book club members.
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Thank you for your generous support during this busy Christmas season.
I hope that reading The Wedding Routine will make your holidays a little brighter, funnier, and heartfelt. Given what we’ve all been through for the last 20 months, we can use the laughter, the tears and the irrepressible optimism this book delivers.
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Author Kevin Rush reflects on a favorite book of his adolescence
After my rant on another space against what Halloween has become, I thought I’d revisit what Halloween once was. A kid’s day of campy fright and copious candy? Of course, there was that, but there was also a sense of horror, closer to its original meaning. The word has Latin roots, stemming from the verb “to bristle,” as in hair standing on end, due to dread—and get this—veneration and religious awe. This is what separates classic horror from conventional slasher films. Horror is not just the fear of temporal harm or torment. It’s the dread of a supernatural force that attacks us on the spiritual level.
For me, nothing I’ve ever seen or read captures that definition so completely as Bram Stoker’s celebrated horror novel, Dracula. The horror Stoker depicts isn’t simply creepy or scary, it’s cosmically consequential. Deranged murderers wielding machetes or chainsaws are frightening, but they cannot touch their victims beyond the grave. Mourners can bury them believing they’ll rest in peace. But Stoker’s novel is horrifying, because he threatens the notion of eternal rest. Stoker creates a world of perverse religious veneration, where the Count is a false god, collecting souls as well as strewing corpses. Dracula is whom Jesus warned us to fear in Matthew 10:28: “…do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
I first read Dracula the summer after sixth grade. I was proud of myself for tackling such a huge book and the elevated language of Victorian England. It was corny for sure, but the melodrama was seductive. I also loved the form; Dracula is an epistolary novel whose story unfolds through diary passages and letters, depicting the points of view of various characters. As a kid who imagined he might someday write books, this model, artificial as it was, intrigued me. And gaining comprehensive vampirical knowledge from an authoritative source was pretty cool, too. Regarding Drac himself, what grabbed me most was not the relentless evil of the villain, but that all hope in overcoming that evil lay in the sacred instruments of the Catholic faith.
I decided to re-read Dracula to see what I’d think about it 50 years later. I found flaws in plotting and characterizations that I hadn’t noticed at 12 years old, and was much less patient with Van Helsing’s hugger-muggery and the lengthy, lugubrious passages reciting the characters’ inner turmoil. But bright as ever was the ardent hope that—through the instruments of faith, including the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist—these outmatched characters could triumph over a Prince of Darkness.
The story begins with Jonathon Harker in Transylvania on business. When the old innkeeper learns he’s headed for Castle Dracula, on the Eve of St. George’s Day, when “all the evil things of the world will have full sway,” she places a Rosary around Harker’s neck “for your mother’s sake.” The peasants cross themselves with dread and mutter words he takes to mean Satan, hell, witch, were-wolf and vampire. Later, as a guest in Dracula’s castle, Harker cuts himself shaving. His blood incites lust the Count cannot control. If not for the crucifix hanging from his neck, his host would have made short work of him.
It’s worth emphasizing that the crosses in Dracula are not the bare Protestant variety we see in the movies. These bear the corpus of Christ, which makes them, to Harker’s enlightened Church-of-England mind, “a symbol of idolatry.” But Stoker goes further in employing the Body of Christ, actually using the Eucharist as a defense and barrier against the Un-dead. Van Helsing, a Catholic Dutchman, crumples a host into a wad of dough to make putty to seal a vampire’s tomb. He gives his team of vampire hunters a piece of the host to guard their bodies. He also plants consecrated wafers in the crates of soil Dracula has imported, so the vampire cannot retreat to them for rest. This may seem like desecration, but Van Helsing says he has “an indulgence” for this necessary work.
Details of the story illustrate that Count Dracula poses a much greater threat than your garden variety homicidal maniac. The mad-house inmate Renfield devours insects alive because he craves life, but firmly denies any interest in consuming “souls.” That’s the purview of the twisted one he calls his “Lord and Master.”
Professor Van Helsing explains “When [the Un-dead] become such, there comes the curse of immortality; they cannot die but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying evils of the world.” This curse is the mirror opposite of the blessing of eternal life given the saints who intercede in this world for the cause of holiness. A victim’s soul is imprisoned unless, through “true death,” it can be set free. Catholics can understand “true death” as death to sin, the conquest of which leads to eternal life. Afterwards, “Instead of working wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilation of it by day, [the victim] shall take her place with the other Angels.”
Yet, even before death, a soul under the sway of a vampire is “unclean.”
Yet, even before death, a soul under the sway of a vampire is “unclean.” Mina Harker is brutally violated and, through no fault of her own, placed in immortal jeopardy. A touch of the sacred host to her forehead burns, leaving a shaming scar. In our current culture, this unfairness would prompt ceremonial book burning. But Stoker is willing to write for a world that is not always fair, and which requires heroic action, rather than student walkouts, to right an obvious wrong. To save a soul in jeopardy, we must place our own souls in jeopardy. Life doesn’t get more consequentially Christian than that.
As the Catholic Van Helsing explains, “Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shames; through doubts and fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man.”
Though rarely recognized as such, Dracula is one of the great Catholic novels in the English language. I got severe pushback on that statement from someone whose opinion I respect. He asserted that Dracula does not edify, but at best encourages a superstitious faith. But that’s only true if we start to believe in vampires. Stoker is hardly encouraging the reader to take Van Helsing’s prescriptions literally. But taken as a metaphor, the Dracula tale strips away the mundane reality that clouds our vision and serves up the existential truth of human existence: we are in a life and death (undeath) struggle of good versus evil. In this way, Bram Stoker’s Dracula serves the true purpose of horror: to scare us straight and put us on the earnest path toward heroic virtue and perhaps even holiness.
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Disclaimer: Links in this column may be affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link, the author receives a small commission on purchases for a limited time at no additional cost to you. These commissions help ensure future posts. Thank you.
Help author Kevin Rush launch his next book by marking it “Want to Read” on your Goodreads account.
The Wedding Routine is a romantic comedy about Celia Cleary, a young ballroom dance champion from New Jersey, who makes her living choreographing wedding dances. Her business is failing, and her own romantic life is out of step, until she falls for a handsome French chef, who, much to her dismay, resolutely refuses to dance. Quick witted humor, well-drawn, relatable characters and the warm Catholic spirit of an old Bing Crosby movie combine for a smart, enjoyable, and uplifting read. But to get this book to the public, the author needs your help.
Also by Kevin Rush
Independent authors face an uphill battle getting their books to their intended audiences. That hill is even steeper for Catholic authors hoping to tilt the cultural axis back towards positive values, virtue, and decency. But there are tools at our disposal, and a powerful tool is Goodreads.com.
Owned by Amazon.com, Goodreads is a forum used by 125 million readers to find their next book. When a book trends on Goodreads, it gets noticed. So, how do we make it trend? You can help by following this link to The Wedding Routine and marking it “Want to Read.” You can also ask me a question about the book. When enough Goodreads members do this, the website includes the book in its internal promotions and emails, which generates valuable free publicity.
YA novel by Kevin Rush
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting more about the book, including how you can enter a Goodreads Giveaway contest to win a free copy.
Please take a few seconds right now to visit Goodreads and mark The Wedding Routine as “Want to Read.” Thanks so much for your support.
Disclaimer: Links in this column may be affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link, the author receives a small commission on purchases for a limited time at no additional cost to you. These commissions help ensure future posts. Thank you.
The Lance and the Veil: an adventure in the time of Christ, tells the story of how Veronica and Longinus made their way to Calvary, witnessed Our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross and experienced the glory of His Resurrection. Its depiction of their journey through a sinful world to salvation is an inspiring tale that can enhance our Lenten journey from the dust of Ash Wednesday to the Redemption of Easter. Many Christians, especially Catholics, have read this book as part of their preparation for Easter. In fact, it was originally written as a Lenten companion, in 40 chapters, one for each day of Lent, each with a short reflection, and published on the website, Making Lent Meaningful.
When it came time to publish the novel in book form, I removed the reflections and had to cut two chapters due to page limitations. But, as Lent 2016 approaches, I know there will be many readers who will want to make The Lance and the Veilpart of their Lenten experience. So, I’ve posted the reflections and lost chapters here.
I wish you a rich journey towards Easter. May every blessing of this holy season be yours.
A pleasant surprise from a reader with the nomme de plume “Red Cat”, posted August 19th on Amazon:
“I loved this book with the central character, Veronica, as heroine. From her teen years to adulthood, I connected and empathized with her. Her journey is thrilling as the author uses great creativity and finesse to introduce well-known biblical heroes and villains. I was captivated and astonished, filled with anticipation as to whom she would meet next. Mr. Rush also invested greatly to educate the reader on all things Roman, adding vivid imagery to his story. In addition to enjoying an adventure, the reader gains an education. This is a “must read” for high school and university religious curriculum and lovers of historical fiction. 5 stars!”
KAPUSO MO, JESSICA SOHO (One at Heart, Jessica Soho) is GMA Network Inc.’s top-rating primetime News and Public Affairs program in the Philippines. It features socio-cultural stories, current issues, and special events worldwide. Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho is also hosted by multi-awarded broadcast journalist, Jessica Soho, and airs locally every Sunday at 7:45 p.m. on Channel 7 and abroad through GMA Pinoy TV Channels. For our July 19, episode, we are doing segment about Moriones, a festival in the Philippines based on Roman soldiers and St. Longinus. In line with this, we would like to borrow the video from your channel entitled: St Longinus: Executioner, Convert and Martyr. Please be assured that will air the video with ‘courtesy of The Lance and the Veil(Youtube channel)’. Thank you very much and we hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Arvin Fajardo
Program Researcher
Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho
How fun! Of, course, you don’t have to go to the Philippines to see the video. We’ve got it right here:
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