{"id":19505,"date":"2014-10-02T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T07:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=19505"},"modified":"2014-10-02T00:01:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T07:01:43","slug":"where-author-richard-rodriguez-sees-the-face-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/where-author-richard-rodriguez-sees-the-face-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Author Richard Rodriguez Sees the Face of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Richard<\/a>
Richard Rodriguez signed copies of Darling<\/em> at Sagrada. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you believe in God?\u201d Kaya Oakes wanted to know. The question was her opening salvo to fellow author Richard Rodriguez on a sunny September afternoon in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, California. <\/p>\n

\"Author<\/a>
Author Kaya Oakes signed copies of Radical Reinvention<\/em>. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The occasion was a public conversation cum<\/em> double-whammy book signing sponsored by the Sagrada Sacred Arts bookstore.<\/p>\n

Oakes<\/a> would be signing copies of her Catholicism-to-atheism-and-back-to-Catholicism memoir, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church<\/i><\/em>. And Richard Rodriguez, also a Catholic, would be signing the paperback release of his 2013 essay collection, Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I believe in God?\u201d Rodriguez mused. He didn’t seem to want to answer the question on its own terms. Instead he said, \u201cI feel a commitment to Jesus and the life of Jesus,\u201d then he proceeded to tell a story about Mother Teresa.<\/p>\n

During\u00a0 her 1987 visit to San Quentin State Prison just north of San Francisco, Rodriguez reported, the diminutive Mother Teresa addressed a group of painfully respectful death row inmates. \u201cIf you want to see the face of God,” she told the men, “look at the prisoner standing next to you.”<\/p>\n

Then she added, “I see the face of God when I look at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later,\u00a0 Rodriguez, Oakes, and their audience strolled the few blocks from Faith Presbyterian Church, where the conversation took place, to Sagrada Sacred Arts bookstore on Telegraph Avenue.<\/p>\n

There, surrounded by candles, crystals, meditation bells, icons, and, of course, books, Rodriguez signed copies of Darling<\/em>. When my turn came to to get my book signed and chat with the author, the conversation turned philosophical, and Rodriguez repeated Mother Teresa’s words, \u201cI see the face of God when I look at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was touched. I studied Rodriguez\u2019 lovely Mexican American face for a moment and thought, \u201cYeah. If God had a face, it would look pretty much like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Thoughts From Richard Rodriguez:<\/h5>\n