Prior to suffering a stroke at age 49, Maria Morera Johnson worked a high stress teaching job. She was also putting on weight, becoming an empty nester, and supporting her husband through his early stages of ALS. "I was running myself ragged trying to take care of everyone else," she explained during a Christopher Closeup interview. Maria had found some fulfillment in writing popular blog posts about the saints and occasional articles for CatholicMom.com, but life's pressures still overwhelmed her.
Then came the stroke. Doctors discovered that because Maria is bilingual, her brain is wired differently. That's why she was left with little lasting damage. The mental, emotional, and spiritual consequences, however, became life-changing. She said, "It made me think about the health choices that I had been making, but also what the stressors were in my life that I could control. I couldn't control my children; they were growing up. . . . I couldn't change my husband's illness, so I had to change how work was affecting me. That led to an early retirement."
Maria prayed for discernment to learn what her best path forward would be. For some time, she had been a regular visitor to a Trappist monastery near her home. She recalled, "I remember I made some demands in one adoration session where I said [to God], 'Why can't You just send me an email? I want to do Your will, but I don't know what it is.' It was pretty funny because I did have an email in my inbox inviting me to go work at CatholicMom.com."
Maria has now written a book inspired by these experiences, called A Beautiful Second Act: Saints and Soul Sisters Who Taught Me to Age with Grace. The saints and other figures she highlights are an eclectic bunch: scientists, actresses, and others whose human virtues are worth emulating. She then matches them with canonized saints who add a sprinkle of grace to the mix. For instance, Maria pairs glamorous Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr with Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur. On the surface, these women share nothing in common. Lamarr's life was a bit scandalous, but she was also a scientist and inventor who struggled to be taken seriously. Leseur was a devout Catholic married to an atheist, who was hostile to her faith. Maria observed, "She turned to an interior exploration of . . . her relationship with the Lord in secret journals that she kept. Sadly, she died at the age of 48 from breast cancer. But she left behind those journals, and her husband discovered them. . . . Not only was he converted to the faith, but he became a priest."
So what's the connection? Maria writes, "Both Elisabeth and Hedy faced their challenges with a spirit of resilience in diverse contexts. . . . I identify with both these women in different ways. Like Hedy Lamarr, I suffered in my career, never feeling I could reach my full potential, and yet, like her, I had a secret hobby that would prove to be the making of a second act. Elisabeth Leseur suffered both physical and spiritual crises, as I did."
There are other figures in A Beautiful Second Act who readers will recognize or be introduced to for the first time. All their stories, Maria believes, will be relatable and inspiring in their own way. She concluded, "This isn't a book for middle-aged women and older. It's a book for anyone who has had to pivot, who has had to face change in their lives."
This essay is a recent "Light One Candle"
column by Tony Rossi, Director of Communications, The Christophers; it is one of a series of
weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current
events.
Background information:
The Christophers
Maria Morera Johnson
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