Twelve years ago, Alyssa Bormes’ then-6-year-old niece, Isabel, wore a necklace with a Mary medal to a summer day camp. Her niece loved Mary and was proud to wear the necklace. But other girls at camp teased her that Mary wasn’t real. “She was crushed,” Bormes said.
While trying to console Isabel, Bormes showed her a book about Mary written by a Dominican priest both knew, then living in Rome. Bormes told her niece that Father Paul Murray wouldn’t write the book if Mary wasn’t real. She suggested to Isabel that she might write a letter to Father Murray. Her niece did, and received “the most extraordinary letter” in return.
Alyssa Bormes
“I thought, ‘This has to be a book,’” Bormes said. And it now is: “The Mother of Jesus is Wonderfully Real,” written by Father Murray, a prominent theologian and poet, with watercolor illustrations by artist Bernadette Gockowski, a member of St. Agnes in St. Paul. Bormes, a parishioner of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, wrote the forward. She teaches theology at Chesterton Academy of the Twin Cities in Hopkins and is the host of a weekly radio show, “Catholic Kaleidoscope,” on Radio Maria USA.
She recently joined “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley to discuss the book.
Bormes said the book starts with Father Murray as a boy, letting the main character, Isabel, know that he thought those same things at her age. He asked his father: If love is so real, why can’t I see it? His father explained that things we can see are very real, but plenty of things we can’t see are still real, saying “Your pals at school have never met their great-great-grandparents, but they know they are real. Nobody in your class has ever seen Mount Everest, but everybody knows that it’s real. And nobody in your class can tell you what color is love, but all of them believe in love,” Bormes said.
She also recalled her favorite line in the book: “Mary, the mother of Jesus is as real as apple pie and pink flamingos.” “It’s so marvelous,” she said. “There is an apple pie. There is a pink flamingo. And then there’s Mary laughing at hearing how she’s as real as apple pie and pink flamingos. … It’s just wonderful.”
One page in the book asks about Mary’s favorite color. Another shows six different apparitions of Mary. Another describes a place where “truly wise people” can see with an inner eye, Bormes said.
“That’s another secret,” she said. “Blessed are those who have not seen and have yet believed, and Mary’s pointing to Jesus, but she has her hand on Isabelle’s back and they’re pointing to Jesus.”
To hear more about the book and to hear the full interview, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic.” It airs at 9 p.m. Jan. 7, 1 p.m. Jan. 8 and 2 p.m. Jan. 9 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
The book is available at catholicvineyard.com.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Bill Lentsch, chief operating officer of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who discusses what he has learned and priorities he has helped set after three months on the job, and Minnesota artist Mark Balma, who describes the frescoes of women in Scripture that he is creating for a parish in Italy.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at
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