Remembering Flannery O’Connor’s Entry into Heaven

Flannery O’Connor was called home to God 60 years ago today after her long battle with Lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and can affect multiple organ systems. She is seen walking in special crutches, so she can get around.

The famed author made a significant contribution to American literature with two novels and thirty-one short stories. What defines her faith is more than her writings It is her devotion to the Eucharist.  Father Bryan Kuhr, a pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Milledgeville, GA.

“For Flannery O’Connor, the Eucharist was the center of her life. She was a daily Mass-goer, and that source of grace helped her carry that cross.” Father Kuhr recalls.

Last year, Father Kuhr increased his efforts to encourage his parishioners to be devoted to the Eucharist like O’Connor has.

O’Connor grew up at a time when the South was mainly known as the “Bible Belt”. It is there that Catholicism was in the minority. Even Lorraine Murray recalled that O’Connor found the denial of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist “disturbing”.

In her book, The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey, Murray shared an occurrence where O’Connor wasn’t afraid to correct the ignorance of those who do not know about Catholicism. O’Connor was at a dinner party where the hostess, novelist Mary McCarthy, referred to the Eucharist as “a pretty good symbol,” to which O’Connor responded, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it!” She added that the Eucharist “is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

Her devotion to the Eucharist can be traced to her short story, A Temple of the Holy Ghost. It tells the story of a mean-spirited little girl who is transformed during adoration. The story demonstrates that O’Connor used Catholic characters and themes.

“It’s the only story in which it’s so clear, O’Connor’s belief in the Eucharist,” Murray said.

60 years later, O’Connor resonates with all of us. Since her death, there have been biographies, short stories collected into one, selected as a pivotal player in Bishop Barron’s Catholicism series, a biopic from Ethan Hawke and her daughter Maya, and even an examination of her work in an EWTN production called Saints vs Scoundrels.

Her biopic Wildcat is now streaming on Amazon prime. 

Could a cause of canonization be in the works? In God’s timing, we will know.

Mary Flannery O’Connor, pray for us

Works of Flannery O’Connor

The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor

The Habit of Being

WHY DO THE HEATHEN RAGE?

The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey