BOOK REVIEW: The act of praying can lead to real change

Every Saturday, Sister Cecilia enters the lottery, and prays for a win large enough to guarantee the Order of St Philomena’s financial security.

Anne Booth’s novel Small Miracles describes the experiences of the three remaining nuns in the Catholic order in the early 1990s. We also meet the over-worked local priest Father Hugh, anxiously seeking funding to repair the church roof. The lives of other colourful local characters, each with their own challenges, are interwoven into the story.

Small Miracles is at times a little sentimental, but as I persevered I found myself uplifted and encouraged. Some of the characters are deeper than I at first imagined.

The novel addresses many issues – disappointment, loss, doubt, grief, questioning God, wrestling with a role which doesn’t seem the right fit for you. But its fundamental theme is the transforming love of God.

I love the nuns’ personal prayers – muttering away to God about ordinary, everyday things, off-loading their angst, even ranting at heaven. Sometimes the answer comes in the very act of praying as they realise that it is they themselves who need to change, rather than someone else.

And I love the novel’s reminder that the happiness and laughter of people of faith is infectious: a taxi driver’s day is transformed; a fellow passenger’s likewise by the irresistible example of three joyful nuns.

I especially love the descriptions of people’s encountering something of the reality of God. A blackbird singing, the sound ‘ordinary’ and yet ‘extraordinary’: ‘the pure wordless incantation of Joy, of life, flooded her soul, her senses, for three eternity-crossed minutes.’ The experience of mass lifted a nun ‘out of her worries and did her good.’

And someone describes an occasion when she felt ‘unconditionally understood, forgiven and loved.’ She says: ‘It made me think that God maybe didn’t think so badly of me. Not only that, I knew that he loved me.’

One of the pitfalls of writing fiction about miracles is that the cynic in us can say ‘It’s just a story!’ In the course of Small Miracles, some difficult situations are resolved, and individuals find inner healing and freedom. There are, actually, some rather big miracles. We know very well as Christians that only at the end of time will there be a resolution of all the world’s problems, will ‘all be well and all manner of thing be well’ as Julian of Norwich put it. Until then, tears and sorrow remain.

But against this background many Christians have stories of miracles – of unexpected, good, wonderful, new things happening in response to prayer.

And were Sister Cecilia’s lottery prayers answered? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

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