On March 1st, our Weary Travelers men's small group started our book study on "Gus Busbi," a novel by Catholic author Jim Sano. It is the second book in the Fr. Tom Fritzpatrick series, which many of us read the first book, "The Father's Son," and thoroughly enjoyed the book study we did last year and the growth that we experienced in our Catholic faith and understanding of our roles as Catholic gentlemen.
As I mentioned in my previous blog (linked below), I read the novel and reflected on the theme, which I have discerned touches on the topics of faith, forgiveness, race, prejudices, and lack of strong male role models for boys and young men. I have also discerned reading and discussing the USCCB's "Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, A Pastoral Letter Against Racism."
To that end, after we opened with a prayer, we went around and shared our own experiences with racism, prejudice, and injustice from our own lives. While we all experienced our share of racism, prejudice, and injustice, some of us continue to face racism on a daily basis. While it was difficult to share our experiences, I think by doing so helped us to be vulnerable and open up honestly with one another. The fruit of that were profound discussions which we tie back to what was happening in Chapters 1 - 5 in the book, particularly with Celia and her son, Jamiel.
We also talked about what grief, from the loss of loved ones, can do to a person, as we observed in the titular character, Gus Busbi. He was a shell of his former self. He did not live life but merely existed. He closed himself off from others, including his best friend and brother-in-law, Mike, and turned away from his Catholic faith. As a result, Gus was resentful, bitter, and lonely.
It was a great start to our book study and we are excited to dive more deeply into the characters, share our own experiences, and explore how our Catholic faith calls us to become better men, fathers, brothers, sons, and role models.
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Invitation to "Gus Busbi" Book Study - https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2023/01/invitation-to-gus-busbi-book-study.html
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