I'm writing a story and I need help

Started by Jacob, June 14, 2019, 01:25:32 PM

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Jacob

There is a young priest, a missionary to a land where the people are non-Christians who call those who believe in God "fictionals" and prohibited any form of religion.

The priest is making his way among the urban poor, seeking out those who are open to the Gospel.

There is a prostitute who works in the neighborhood he has adopted.

What would be a good way in the story for the priest to break the ice with this woman, keeping in mind she has no cultural knowledge of Christianity and the priest has to be on guard for being turned in to the authorities.

I just need an idea, maybe a nonspecific verse or phrase.  Thanks for the help.
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
--Neal Stephenson

Gardener

He talks with her. He realizes she is wanting redemption and hates the evil of the land, so he tells her the story of Rahab and she seizes on it, wanting to be like her.

That openness leads to him telling her about Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, etc.

Her heart is then open to Christ.
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

red solo cup

He tells her there is someone who loves her no matter what she has done.
non impediti ratione cogitationis

Sempronius

Maybe John 4, when Jesus talks to a samaritan woman, could inspire?

Michael Wilson

Grabs her by the front of the dress, slaps her real hard in the face several times and yells into her face:
"You're going to hell you @#$%$#", several times. This gets them every time.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

Josephine87

Quote from: Michael Wilson on June 15, 2019, 12:14:29 PM
Grabs her by the front of the dress, slaps her real hard in the face several times and yells into her face:
"You're going to hell you @#$%$#", several times. This gets them every time.

:lol:
"Begin again." -St. Teresa of Avila

"My present trial seems to me a somewhat painful one, and I have the humiliation of knowing how badly I bore it at first. I now want to accept and to carry this little cross joyfully, to carry it silently, with a smile in my heart and on my lips, in union with the Cross of Christ. My God, blessed be Thou; accept from me each day the embarrassment, inconvenience, and pain this misery causes me. May it become a prayer and an act of reparation." -Elisabeth Leseur

Heinrich

Ah, I see you set your story in Denver.
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.

Tales

He opens a dialogue with her and discusses inclusivity and the positive aspects of her atheism.  He explains that God loves her and that He is all merciful.  He then thinks out loud and questions if not her innumerable relationships constitute a defacto marriage anyways.  He ends by blessing her then strolls to the park to finish his third read through of "Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?"

But if you think this will not convert the sinner, then I can offer a story that I think came from a Bishop Sheen talk.  I am paraphrsing and there may be significant inaccuracies, but I recall a homily in which he told the story in which he met such a person.  She met him in the sanctuary, told him she was a fallen away Catholic and had fallen into great sins.  After talking and walking awhile they ended up near the confessional - he pushed her in and heard her confession.

Maybe you can setup some similar scenario.  Presumably in your not to distant world there is no visible sanctuary for a prostitute to stumble upon.  But maybe she collapses outside of a rundown building which houses a secret one.  The priest helps her in and as she comes to she is astounded by the beauty of the surroundings, the gentle face of Mary, the penetrating eyes of Jesus, and the holiness of it all.  He eventually bumps her into the confessional and I'll leave it up to you if absolution is given.

Heinrich

This appears it will have to be told in 3rd person omniscient. You are going to have to juxtapose the characters to the environment in about 5 - 10% of the words used at the beginning and accelerate your exposition from there. You will almost have to open up the story with a story constructing how the whore fits into the gray, dark picture of the eastern europeanesque landscape, but give physical and characterization clues running concurrent with where the theme and plot are heading through foreshadowing, both in the conflict and denouement. At precisely what time do the heroine and hero meet, and how does this offset the antagonists? Thus then the dialogue to match.
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.