Title: Woman of God
Author: James Patterson
Maxine Paetra
Date: 8-22-24
I’ve recently become an avid James Patterson reader, so when I saw this title it piqued my interest. Even though it is fiction, it certainly is very current on events, trends, and thus very relatable to a non-fiction story.
Reflecting on the story,it really could have had so many titles:
* Why do bad things happen to good people?
* That’s Life
* Life is Hard, Get Used to It!
I start with this because the story truly is about a talented woman, Bridgette Fitzgerald, and her life journey. Just a little bit on her difficult childhood with “druggie” parents who either died or disappeared at a young age, a little more on her incredible college years, and the main emphasis on her adulthood, ages 23-60 or so. She got her undergrad degree at Harvard in 2 years and attended John Hopkins Medical School as well.
The story really is about three separate themes of her life:
* Volunteer life as a doctor in very underserved areas such as Sudan
* personal journey of suffering, whether it was her parents, two sets of husbands and daughters and all the pain she suffered with both
* Faith journey beginning as a child with her mother all the way to becoming a priest and the many challenges with God and her faith along the way
Bridgette’s volunteering was often time treacherous, overwhelming with grief while fulfilling to her. She had several near-death experiences in the Sudan, including once when she had to be revived after being shot by militants. She had other experiences as well and felt like her desire to help others often took her to risky places and clinics, even in Berlin and Boston.
Reading this book in a prison cell, partially in an extended 48-hour lockdown, provided an interesting environment to read and think, etc. Not just about the amount of evil in this world, but also how much human suffering there is just in the ordinary course of life. Injury, death, drug abuse, anti-God hatred, the list goes on and on. No one has respite from any of this, just some have more or less than others. Marcus Aurelius calls it “being out of favor” in his philosophical sense. While we all normally just live life trying to raise a family and/or having a successful career, or even ministering to others, it’s hard to take the time to reflect on all the evil or life events until they actually happen to you. But when they do it’s usually brutal!
While the first two-thirds of the book was more focused on her volunteering internationally and then returning and helping street people in Boston, the last third was about her marrying a priest and beginning in earnest her faith journey. Her husband broke away from the Roman Catholic church and started a “modern-day values” Catholic Church system which grew to 300 plus locations over 5-10 years. He then dies, and Bridgette takes the mantle of the Church, leading the fight for women priests and breaking the Catholic norms. She faces lots of criticism, even violence, but she feels called to do this, and even is invited to meet the Pope. At the end, she is shot, survives, all consistent with her volunteering experiences as well! Quite a story of helping humanity and growing one’s faith.
While on a totally smaller scale, when I get out that’s kind of what I’m thinking about, how to give back in faith. As I recently heard in a lyric, “Failure is never final with the Father in the room”. That’s my perspective as well.
The book does a nice job keeping Bridgette’s faith journey front and center, from her small prayers for her patients to questioning God after some of these terrible incidents, to eventually becoming a Priest with her husband. She even ends up becoming quite a “progressive” celebrity worldwide, which leads to the meeting with the Pope at the Vatican just before he passes. A few times over her life she has an “out of body” experience feeling or seeing God and almost speaking to Him.
In total, I thought Patterson/Paetra do a nice job integrating all three tracks of her life, especially including so many relevant cultural issues of today. As a faith-based person, I certainly was reminded to keep what I’m going through in perspective. And to remember once I’m out, life is always about God’s tests, difficulties, not just happiness, and knowing God’s love for us and our love for others truly is the only was forward in this life.
