I have a close friend from New Zealand who decided to convert to Catholicism last Christmas, when she was staying with me in England. She is profoundly autistic. In her case, this means that she had no verbal language or speech until she was nine years old, and then it consisted of just a few words. She's twenty-two now, and it's still a struggle for her to speak - she relies heavily on pictures and signs to communicate. Her writing is much better than her speech, although this is hampered by dyslexia.

She thinks in 'pictures, concepts, and ideas without words'. Once, feeling curious, I asked her what picture she sees for Catholicism. She wasn't able to find any words and the effort was frustrating her, so I decided never to ask questions like that again. However, a few days ago we had an MSN discussion about Franciscan spirituality - something that really moves her. (Unable to remember names easily, she refers to St Francis as 'the animal pigeon one'.) I asked her how she envisages the Franciscan way of living. This was the response:



So many of us get our impressions of such things primarily through reading and talking to each other, things that she finds extremely difficult. I found her mind-picture very refreshing.

I think I can understand the picture, at least to some extent. It reminded me of a couple passages found in Isaiah and also the Psalms about God causing dtreams and rivers to flow into the desert and for the desert to come into bloom. That isn't the same image as your friend has, but it does remind me of it.

That is beautiful. Sometimes pictures say so much more than words. The parables are sort of like that too. I'll have to show this to the sisters. They love it!

I love it. And it's so fitting. (I was just talking about a desolate road, one that feels empty and dead and difficult...)


Thank you so much for posting this.