ENGL 4310

I'm trying to work through the Catholic notions for the paper I'm writing and after reading Josie's blog on Parker's Back I'm intrigued with the physical pain or suffering Parker puts himself through and how it relates to the spirit. We are told about his first tattoo and that "It hurt very little, just enough to make it appear to Parker to be worth doing. This was peculiar too for before he had thought that only what did not hurt was worth doing" (p.658). I am learning how significant this suffering would be to a Catholic. That Christ was flesh and blood, physically a man and God is a truth they are constantly aware of. I was also interested in a comment I found in Chelsea Oaks blog quoting O'Connor as saying, in one of her letters: "Sarah Ruth was the heretic--the notion that you can worship in pure spirit" (1218). The point is that as a Catholic see it, you can't worship in pure spirit, it is a physical worship as well. This is evident in the sacramental Eucharist, one of the most important Christian sacraments, where they partake of the body and blood of Christ. It adds depth of meaning to the story to me although I don't pretend to completely understand it. As readers we watch O.E. go from the garden and fall of man to the Crucifixion and his own redemption as, I believe, he receives the Grace of God: ". . . all at once he felt the light pouring through him, turning his spider web soul into a perfect arabesque of colors, a garden of trees and birds and beasts" (p.673). What I am still trying to understand is the part this physical pain plays, the suffering that seems necessary in order to receive that redemption and grace besides the suffering. There is a desire for his all along to be accepted by the very one that would reject him and a desire for him to see himself as out of the ordinary. The pictures are for him to look at until the end when, he claims, the one on his back is for him wife to look at. But even this effects him while she remains blind.