A couple of weeks ago I read the Lisa Genova novel Still Alice (Gallery Books, 2007, 2009)
about a fifty year old college professor who develops early onset Alzheimer ’s
Disease. The book has become better known
since a movie by the same title based on it was released last year with
Julianne Moore winning a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the title
character.
I have not seen the film, but I did enjoy reading the
book. Anyone who has had a loved one
suffer with this disease (as my mother did) will find much with which he can
relate. I would also commend it to
ministers to help them understand and care for those who suffer with this
disease, other forms of dementia, or any cognitive impairment, and their
families.
One interesting scene reminded me of how such trials raise spiritual
questions even in those who live otherwise secular lives. When Alice is coming to terms with the
diagnosis, she makes a few feeble attempts to ask spiritual questions about her
condition. While out for a walk she
enters an Episcopal church near her home and sits down in a pew from where she
sees a banner which reads, “GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP
IN TROUBLE.”
The narrator then describes:
She couldn’t be in more trouble and
wanted so much to ask for help. But she
felt like a trespasser, undeserving, unfaithful. Who was she to ask for help from a God she
wasn’t sure she believed in, in a church she knew nothing about?
She closed her eyes, listening to the
calming, oceanlike waves of distant traffic, and tried to open her mind. She couldn’t say how long she sat in the
velvet-cushioned pews in that cold, darkened church, waiting for an
answer. It didn’t come. She stayed
longer, hoping a priest or parishioner would wander in and ask her why she was
there. Now, she had her
explanation. But no one came (p. 98).
This reminded me that we have opportunities to evangelize and
minister to persons who are facing trials, including the trial of Alzheimer’s
Disease.
JTR
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