This is an email that was posted on the Catholic Writers Online group.  It’s written by Joan Fong of Singapore in response to a member who stated that good came from his reading the book The Da Vinci Code because he researched his Catholicism and was able to find  the truth instead of believing the false statements of the book.  Among her many other accomplishments Joan is has written several books.  I find her to be a strong Catholic and often the calm voice of reason when writer discussions heat up  Joan is also a long-time member of our Marian Mantle online group and has given her permission for her words to be reprinted here.  Thanks Joan.

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"God writes  straight on crooked lines."

By Joan Fong

            Which sets me off thinking about my favourite motto: "God writes  straight on crooked lines."

             I must have shared this a few times. There was this catechists' course where the priest presenter mentioned, "Some catechists teach that when you bite the host, blood will come out of it!" and one excited  girl in the audience jumped up to say, "That's what I did! What do I do now?" Hordes of youngsters must have left her classroom with this  idea.

             The priest assures her, "Don't worry! Stop fretting over it. Remember  this: God writes straight on crooked lines."

             It was a marvellous phrase. I've kept it since as part of my psyche and throughout the years have unearthed event after event to prove it  true.

             Here is a statement of someone who read Da Vinci Code and benefitted  from it by researching his Catholicism and finding truth from  falsehood. God makes use of everything the Enemy did. While you and I get outraged and worried about possible outcomes, the Lord smiles and twists the situation to suit His own purposes.

             You've got to figure out that THAT was how He saved the world in the first place. Imagine the D [enemy] fretting over the arrival of the Holy One of God and doing all he could to get rid of Jesus. Finally, they tortured Him horribly and killed him! Disciples all in disarray. Hope  of his mission being achieved gone! D laughing in delight that he managed to get rid of the Saviour so easily - went like a sheep to his slaughter, whatmore.

             Only, the laugh is on him. Too late! The plan God had all along was to save the world by suffering and dying. And the D was the one who arranged it! I can't think of anything more (i was going to say diabolically) clever! All the prophecies of the suffering servant of Yahweh in the OT was misunderstood until it happened.

             And it will go on... this guy who tore up his grandmother's rosary  and threw it away, gave his Catholic girlfriend and anti-Catholic  book and she declared, "Thank you. I'll never attend another Mass  again!" and swore he will always work to save the world from Roman Catholicism... has a name like Scott Hahn, and now, his evangelising  is all the more potent for having stories like this to tell. Makes any rabid anti-Catholic wonder, "Say, this guy is coming on stronger than me against Catholicism, so what's in it that got him finally?"

             This classmate of mine married an atheist who refused to get married in church. So she has been lapsed for 30 years. Until the husband was  ill and dying, and she prayed for him, and he joined her, and he died  three days after his baptism, and she is back at church with a  vengeance: daily Mass, rosary, Divine Office, confession, retreats,  making up for lost time. Hmm. God used her to get him. Took a long  time by our reckoning but to God a thousand years are like a day.

             And then, we have the Reformation, but a flourishing of Catholicism  and revival of theological thought and counter-Reformation followed.  Or wait, closer to the present, all those scandals about priests and  sexual crimes are leading to a rash of vocations of orthodox and  upright young men joining the seminaries. "They proclaim," as Andrew  Greeley lamented in a magazine, "that they are here to replace people  like us!" It is as though good young guys are inspired to  say, "Enough of this nonsense! We are here to stop it, Lord! Here we  are, we come to do your will!"

             God's writing straight on crooked lines makes good ideas for how  events in our Catholic novels can turn out. We must put this into our  next book because I get such a sense of glee reading about it. But  all that I know are true stories. Will fiction lessen the impact? You  know -- make readers say, "Such things don't happen in real life!"

             Oh, but they do, they do! Thank God for his writing. Now we should  write the same?

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          Do you have such a story to share?  Please email me at maryann@marianmantle.com  Write your story in the email or let me know that you want me to call you to talk about it.

          Let us continue to pray for each other into the new year, that more people will hear about us and join our ranks of prayer warriors so that we may each someday be able to say, “The child I prayed for has come home!”

          Meanwhile, may God give us all the Grace to pray with the perseverance of St. Monica and the unconditional love of the father of the Prodigal Son.

Peace,

+My son and his wife who have not been to mass for a long time said they are going with us to Midnight Mass on Christmas.   I praise God that He is still making His Presence known in their hearts and allowing me to a see a spark of hope this Christmas!  Now I’m praying with more trust than ever!  ~Kansas

+He has filled my heart by bringing Marian Mantle [Group] into my life.  May the Hand of the Baby Jesus rest lovingly on your shoulders all thru 2006.   ~kansas

+I look forward to receiving the Marian Mantle each week and hope that all of us praying together will bring our sons and daughters back to the Faith.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."    ~Luke 2:34-35

[Note:  May we see that she understands our pain and concern for the welfare our children.  Let us say three Hail Mary’s today for Our Lady’s tears.]