Word Among Us: What is one of your favorite activities during the summer months?
Marisa Guerin: One of my favorite activities in the summer months is spending some days at the New Jersey shore with my husband and whichever other members of my big clan are also able to be there at the same time. I love relaxed beach days, happy hour gin and tonics, and potluck dinner with my family.
Word Among Us: What book are you reading right now?
Marisa Guerin: Right now I'm reading The Names, by Florence Knapp. It's a unique novel that unfurls three distinct life stories about the same child that are set in motion when he is named -- each different name leads to a different life, and the stories are told in parallel. I'm loving it.
Word Among Us: What are you looking forward to?
Marisa Guerin: I'm looking forward to traveling to Germany in September with my husband, to attend the wedding of my nephew Dave. He met his German bride while they were both walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in northern Spain two years ago. That's how his grandparents (my parents) met as well -- my American father met my Spanish mother during the Catholic World Youth Pilgrimage to Santiago in 1948!
In other news, I just finished giving a parish retreat on the wisdom of St. Therese of Lisieux, with the theme How to live with a merciful heart in a world we share with difficult and damaging people. It went very well and gave me an opportunity to draw from the teachings of St. Therese to help us live loving and nonviolent lives in these polarized times. Also, in early August I will deliver via Zoom a presentation on St. Therese with a similar theme (Love my Enemies? Really?: Real World Mentoring from St. Therese of Lisieux) to the Association of Pittsburgh Priests.