- Feb 5, 2002
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In the mid-20th century, a British woman went to Confession one day in a (not unusual for her) state of exhaustion and depression.
“What will help you,” the priest said to her in the confessional, “will be a book by Caryll Houselander called This War is the Passion. You probably won’t understand all of it, but read such-and-such pages.”
Unbeknownst to him, the woman on the other side of the screen was Caryll Houselander herself.
“What did you do?” asked her friend Frank Sheed, whose wife, Maisie Ward, tells the story in her book Caryll Houselander: Divine Eccentric.
“Read it, of course,” Caryll answered. “I always do what I’m told in confession.”
By that time, Caryll’s fame as a spiritual writer had perpetuated an endless stream of people flocking to her for help and advice. It was her gift for easing anxious minds that spurred the priest to recommend her own book to her that day in the confessional. Her profound insight came the hard way, earned through a lifetime of struggling with what she called “neurosis,” an illness that gave her tremendous empathy and understanding for people who, like her, also suffered from scruples, anxiety, depression, and other related symptoms.
Because she had experienced their struggles firsthand, Caryll was able to counsel the scrupulous and anxious with remarkable results. Even doctors sent their patients to her, and she helped to heal them, though she had no medical training at all.
Continued below.
catholicexchange.com
“What will help you,” the priest said to her in the confessional, “will be a book by Caryll Houselander called This War is the Passion. You probably won’t understand all of it, but read such-and-such pages.”
Unbeknownst to him, the woman on the other side of the screen was Caryll Houselander herself.
“What did you do?” asked her friend Frank Sheed, whose wife, Maisie Ward, tells the story in her book Caryll Houselander: Divine Eccentric.
“Read it, of course,” Caryll answered. “I always do what I’m told in confession.”
By that time, Caryll’s fame as a spiritual writer had perpetuated an endless stream of people flocking to her for help and advice. It was her gift for easing anxious minds that spurred the priest to recommend her own book to her that day in the confessional. Her profound insight came the hard way, earned through a lifetime of struggling with what she called “neurosis,” an illness that gave her tremendous empathy and understanding for people who, like her, also suffered from scruples, anxiety, depression, and other related symptoms.
Because she had experienced their struggles firsthand, Caryll was able to counsel the scrupulous and anxious with remarkable results. Even doctors sent their patients to her, and she helped to heal them, though she had no medical training at all.
Continued below.
Confession for the Anxious: Caryll Houselander’s Advice, Part I
In the mid-20th century, a British woman went to Confession one day in a (not unusual for her) state of exhaustion and depression. “What will help you,” the priest said to her in the confessional, “will be a book by Caryll Houselander called This War is the Passion. You probably won’t understand...
