9 May 2026
At a dinner party, Mary McCarthy said she now thought of the Eucharist as a symbol. I said, in a very shaky voice, 'Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.' That was all the defense I was capable of, but I realize now it is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.
The Habit of Being (letter to Betty Hester, 1955)