My Mystical Story-Mysticism Exists

My book, that is now available on Amazon and Kindle, is a true story about a mystical experience I had many years ago, when I was a young mother, living in Brooklyn, living a seemingly ordinary life. It's difficult for me to even write the title of the book, because it will sound, at first, outrageous....believe me the self-publishing of this book takes a lot of courage for me, because it is so unusual. But I made the decision to tell this personal story of a religious experience I had many years ago in a Brooklyn church and I've done it. No turning back. As I write in the book, we don't always get to choose what happens to us in life, some things just happen and we have no control over them. That's what happened to me. You'll have to believe that mysticism exists, that mystical experiences can happen to ordinary Catholics, just like that for no apparent reason, if you're going to read my book. God is God and sometimes God acts in mysterious ways that we can't understand.
I have a lot of quotes in the book and one that I particularly like is from Karl Rahner, S.J., who was a brilliant German Jesuit theologian (1904-1984).
He wrote a lengthy quote on this subject and many more about mysticism but I shortened it for the book:
"But in any case, it is true that mysticism exists and it is not as remote from us, as we are at first tempted to assume." (Theological Investigations 18)
So this is the title of my book:  
"The Vision of Christ in St. Columba Church Brooklyn" by N. J. Azzaro, M.S.
So now you know.
NJA

My Spiritual Memoir

My book is finished, they are just putting the finishing touches on it. I'm self-publishing the book through Createspace. I felt that was the way to go. We'll see. It was a difficult book for me to write. It's taken many years because I kept procrastinating. It was difficult for me to write about my spiritual journey. The book is very self-reflective. Part of it tells about my childhood growing up on East 52nd Street in Brooklyn,  in the 1950's-'60's. I was a parishioner of Mary Queen of Heaven Church in Brooklyn and received First Holy Communion and my Confirmation there (along with my brother).  But interestingly when I was a young teenager, the pastor of Mary Queen of Heaven, made a surprising announcement at Sunday Mass.  All parishioners who lived within a certain boundary (which we did) would be moving to a new church that was being built in Marine Park, St. Columba Church. The new pastor of that church, Msgr. Edward Jolley was a wonderful priest and pastor and though the church wasn't built right away, he was going to celebrate Mass in a nightclub on Flatbush Ave. To a teenager that seemed very "cool."
When I finally finished my book in 2017, I didn't realize it was the 50th anniversary of St. Columba Church. I was reminded by Sr. Emily Masse who visited me one day, a couple of weeks ago. I worked with Sr. Emily at St. Columba Parish for many years and when she stopped by she told me about the 50th anniversary and then sent me a Tablet article written about it.
St. Columba is an amazing saint. I hope he is pleased with my book.
NJA
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts....(Isaiah 55:8-9)

Hipsters and Young Adults in NYC Find Spirituality in Pentecostal Megachurch

According to a Patch article I read online, C3 Church Global is opening its 4th "city church" in Brooklyn, in a music school during October. C3 Church Global is a megachurch with 470 pentecostal parishes and hundreds of thousands of followers around the world. They are media savvy.
The church is not without controversy......."The megachurch rakes in millions of dollars annually and is led by a charismatic pastor from New Zealand with close ties to religious leaders with convictions for embezzling from their congregations."
But it seems young people from parts of hip Brooklyn and Manhattan don't mind the controversy, they are being "fed" spiritually and are led by "pastors with trendy haircuts who lead sermons that resemble rock concerts to hoards of hand-waving hipsters clad in fedoras and their best flannel shirts.
Oh well......what can the  Catholic Church do? The Catholic Church has a lot to offer people in every age group but how this megachurch made inroads in Brooklyn and other parts of NYC just like that, kind of puzzles me.
In Florida, I know of a Catholic pastor who goes "undercover" to Protestant megachurch services. He wants to see what's going on there, what they are doing and what the appeal is. He is sometimes recognized because he is a well known and very respected figure in the community. But he goes anyway and he learns a lot by observing and taking part in their services. I think its a great idea. He has a massive building campaign going on right now, he's building a huge community center, in his parish, with a cafe in it, among other modern amenities. He probably saw something similar in the megachurch he visited.
Well, maybe that's what religious educators, evangelizers and pastors should do in Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York.  Go to the prayer services being held at these megachurches and find out what hipsters and young adults find so appealing and why they are compelled to go on Sundays to a megachurch. The Catholic Church has to start thinking out-of-the-box.....Now!
NJA