I
could say that Bill Kassel’s novel is a “can’t-put-down” opus. I mean, it’s got
everything a good read should have. Suspense. Humor (and I’m talking about
laugh-out-loud humor!). Tragedy. Sorrow. Joy. Education (you really learn stuff
you didn’t know before). Even a bit of romance. And more. It’s got everything a
can’t-put-it-down can offer. And yet…
I
put it down. Reluctantly, but often. Why?
To pray.
Because
“My Brother’s Keeper” – a novel told from the point of view of Saint James the
Just – is more than just a novel to revel in. It’s a work to pray over.
I
found myself laughing, crying, and praying with this book. I stopped in my
reading and gazed on – oh well, many things. A crèche I keep in my reading room.
A crucifix, of course. But also some wonderful mind-images of a laughing Mary
with her Son. A painting of Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus. That
wonderful picture of Elizabeth greeting Mary by Carl Heinrich Bloch (you know
the one I mean).
Unapologetically
Catholic, the novel nevertheless is equally unapologetically Jewish.
How
can this be, you ask? Kassel so sensitively and deftly weaves the similarities
between the two groups — there is no question that Jesus lived His life on
earth as a devout Jew, as did his family members and followers — that this
reader, anyway, was left deeply pondering the pointlessness of the separation
between Judaism and Christianity.
And echoing the prayer
of Jesus…
“Father,
that we may be one.”
