Excerpt: In the Name

Emily squeezed her friend's hand and shoulder, sure that in this moment Marisol was her friend, even if she wasn't normally a member of Riverside. And that was okay. That meant that yeah, even though they worshiped differently, Marisol really was saved, really did see Christ as a salvation, even if she was a Catholic who saw things differently than she did.

Emily took charge of Marisol that day, took care of her, and took her back to the dorm room. She made sure that Marisol got into bed, and made sure that she slept. Emily waited up for a bit to make sure sure actually fell asleep – it didn't come easily, and so Emily administered some low level sleep aid. “How about some Benedryl?” she asked.

Marisol said, “My eyes hurt, and my soul,” she said. Emily got the benedryl. “Thank you for bringing me tonight,” she said. “I don't think I could even be awake... I don't think I could even be existing right now if it weren't for that. It was so peaceful, even though the world itself is so fucked up now.”

Emily handed Marisol the benedryl and the water to take it with. “Hey, don't use that language,” said Emily. “Remember what we learned in Media studies? How ugly that word really is?”

“Yeah,” said Marisol. “I know.” She was quiet for a moment. “You know, I... as a Catholic, I didn't know how to deal with this situation. I mean, I work at the soup kitchen every week and I care about my fellow man and do what I can for the least so that I can serve Jesus and God and everything, but I never would have thought to gather with others and pray. I've always seen religion as such a... personal thing, it's why I didn't know what to do when I found out you were an Evangelical, besides show you that I thought I was following God the best I could and hope that that convinced you to let me keep my personal faith, you know? I don't know if personal faith is the way to go with this, or if you have to be loud with it, but I know that I was helped by being with your friends tonight.”

Emily smiled. “I'm glad,” she said. “How would Catholics pray at a time like this? I know a lot of your prayers are written by other people, you know?”

“I prayed this way earlier,” said Marisol. “I'm not sure if you were there, but... there's one prayer my grandmother always told me to say when I heard ambulance sirens, because it asks for the intercession of the Virgin Mary for protections – she prays with us, and we don't pray to her, you know?”

Emily didn't quite understand, but she knew that now was not the best time to bring that up. “Sure,” she said.

“Yeah, anyway, it goes like this.” Marisol took a deep breath, and folded her hands. “In the name of the Father,” she said, touching her forehead with her right hand. “In the name of the son.” she touched her breast, above her heart. “In the name of the holy spirit,” she touched her left shoulder and then her right. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

Emily had had her head bowed while Marisol prayed. And looked up when Marisol did the cross thing again. “That's lovely,” she said, knowing how much emotion, how much was unsaid in those words that Marisol said. “I especially like the part about praying for us now and at the hour of our death. It's kind of like a prayer chain, but with lots of people who had come before us. People who were especially close to God.”

“Exactly,” said Marisol. “And sometimes we pray with other people too. Remind me,” she said, and then was interrupted by a yawn. Emily was glad that she finally seemed to be tiring. It would be an exhausting sleep, but it would be sleep. “Remind me to show you the Rosary. And contemplative prayer. Not everything is so chatty as how you pray, but you know, sometimes it's good to talk to God like he is your best friend. I don't do that often.”

Emily nodded and squeezed Marisol's hand again. “You try to sleep.”

And soon, Marisol did sleep. Emily climbed into bed, too, and prayed, asking God to protect Marisol, and herself, and both of their families, prayed that Marisol's father not be sent to New York, but to protect him if he did go, and that everything would be normal, and everyone would be safe, all within God's plan for their lives.

She knew it was a little bit of a pipe dream, but she couldn't help but worry about the world. She wasn't quite as keyed up as Marisol, but for some reason, she felt less of a stake in how the world changed. And it had, it had changed quite a bit.