Beatrice Institute Podcast Prevailing Spirits: Place, Loss, and Hope with Jessica Mesman
Jessica Mesman is founder of the blog Sick Pilgrim and coauthor of Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship in Letters. Her essays have been published in US Catholic, Lit Hub, Elle, Vox, America, and Christianity Today. Jessica joins Elise to discuss writing as a form of accompaniment and how the experience of mourning shaped her, both as a Christian and as a writer. They talk about the Catholic practice of memento mori, the unique way horror movies can convey truth, and how to live a Christian life when you can’t let go of grief.
How place shapes you
The unique religiosity of New Orleans
Horror movies and haunting
A Christian look at grief
Memento mori
Why remembering the dead is a work of mercy
Wrestling with the darkness of the human experience as an Easter people
St. Therese of Lisieux
What makes a good friendship
Writing as accompaniment
Links:
The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology by Douglas Christie