Sacramental Letters

Sacramental Letters is a spirited exploration of the sacramental themes that underlie some of our more profound literature. While it is a serious literary study, it is also a religious journey into the meaning of the sacraments and the underlying grace that imbues our world. From a uniquely Catholic perspective, the author offers new and challenging insights into the works of Albert Camus, Flannery O'Connor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Merton, Graham Greene, Annie Dillard, and Richard Rodriguez. Readers will explore the themes of sin, guilt, redemption, grace, suffering, and sanctity, as they are revealed through the sacraments of the church and in the creative craft of each writer. Sacramental Letters challenges the Christian disciple to gain a new perspective, a new way of seeing, and to engage the world with compassion, responding to the longing each one of us has to love the world as Christ loves us. This is an indispensable itinerary for any spiritual traveler, Catholic book club, or religious classroom setting. ""Sacramental Letters is a beautifully written and extraordinarily helpful book. Relying on modern authors and the sacraments of the Church, Nina Butorac encourages us to retrieve a vivid, sacramental experience of the world that our secularized, disenchanted imagination has all but grayed out."" --Jack Whelan, Instructor, University of Washington ""A work of very high educational value. It is also a profoundly inspirational reading experience."" --Lawrence Carmignani, University of Washington ""In a voice that resonates with the reader, the author takes complex literary works and builds, chapter by chapter, upon the themes of the seven sacraments, making the reader feel as if they've been accompanied on a pilgrimage to a deeper appreciation of the sacraments and our place in the world. Sacramental Letters is impeccably orthodox."" --James Felak, Professor of History, University of Washington Nina Butorac is a Catholic writer and artist living in Seattle. As Outreach Director for her parish, she has taught classes on the Sacramental Imagination, Philosophy, Catholic Social Teaching, the Primacy of Conscience, and other Catholic curricula. Now retired, Nina dedicates her time to writing, painting, and advocacy for justice.