In many ways, Sunday Spiritual Bouquets is similar to its author, Plainview resident Mario Macaluso. Like Macaluso, the book is neither pretentious nor self-centered. It's optimistic, emotional and reflective, none of which should come as a surprise considering Macaluso calls his latest book "a spiritual diary of myself that I shared with friends and family."

But perhaps one of the deepest similarities between Macaluso and his third book is its ability to be new and fresh, while standing on the roots of its past. Sunday Spiritual Bouquets is a collection of 100 spiritual and inspirational thoughts that Macaluso wrote in weekly e-mails to friends and family over the past two years. "They are meditations that come from personal life experiences, from memories, from relationships. The theme of each one of them is a human theme to which everyone can relate," Macaluso said.

Many of Macaluso's bouquets are only one page long, but for this local author it's about quality, not quantity. "In a sense, it's an expression of my gift [for writing and storytelling], and to share the spiritual richness I've acquired through the years," he said.

Macaluso said he wrote Sunday Spiritual Bouquets in the hope that readers "will find food for what is most missing in the spiritual lives of people." Although the book references the Bible and God many times, Macaluso stresses that he is not pushing one faith or another. Rather, his stories are meant simply "to make people feel better." And since the book is a "spiritual diary" of himself, and Christianity is deeply part of who he is, there is no way of getting around it, Macaluso said.

But to Macaluso, spirituality is much bigger than religion itself. "We move very fast. We have no time to think. And I feel there is a need for people to cultivate the spiritual side of themselves, no matter what the faith," he said. "You don't need to be a priest, a rabbi, or whatever. You need to be a human being aware of the world around you."

A firm believer in the ripple effect, Macaluso believes if we can fill our spiritual needs, then life will become more sacred to us, and in turn there will be more compassion towards everyone we meet because we will recognize each person as someone unique and sacred with their own needs and longings. "We are not alone," said Macaluso. "We are part of a whole, and we can make a difference."

At first glance, Macaluso's latest book is nothing like his first two. Published in 1999, his first book, My Mother: Memoir of a Sicilian Woman, is the dictated story of his 98-year-old mother's life as a tenant farmer in the Palermo province of Sicily, Italy. Macaluso's second book, Prickly Pears and Oleanders, which was published in 2002, is the story of his own life in Sicily and his immigration with his family to the United States in 1958 at the age of 18.

While Sunday Spiritual Bouquets certainly differs in style, it doesn't stray far when it comes to substance, which is what makes the book so much like its author. Speaking with the remnants of an Italian accent, Macaluso said he never forgets that he is shaped just as much by his past life in Italy as he is by his life here in America. Like its writer, Sunday Spiritual Bouquets manages to be relevant today, while staying loyal to its roots.

When asked which one of his bouquets is his favorite, the wide-eyed Macaluso is hesitant to pick just one, but highlights "Watering Gate." Macaluso said every time he remembers the trips he took with his father to their farm's irrigation watering gate, he is reminded of the overwhelming sacredness of everyday life, and that each one of us is a gate waiting to be opened. "When I recall that special moment in my life now," writes Macaluso. "I realize how each one of us has a spiritual call to open to others our own gate of grace and love, knowledge and understanding, support and encouragement."

A Plainview resident for over 30 years now, Macaluso retired from the position of department chairperson of foreign languages at Syosset High School in 1996. Fluent in seven languages, he taught himself English after he immigrated to America and went on to earn a PhD in French literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Yet despite all he's accomplished, Macaluso remains humble. "I will always see myself as the little farm-boy that came from the land of prickly pears and oleanders," he said. "I am not here because I was smart, or because I was cute. I am here because significant people - starting with my parents - helped me get here. There are things that oftentimes we don't realize, but they are there and they are real."

When it comes to being an author, Macaluso says he doesn't write to show off, but to share. He enjoys not being a big shot (his first book was published right here in Plainview) and plans to remain low-key, even though he has two more books on the way. "You walk a journey, whether you know it or not," Macaluso said. "I am fascinated by all the things that have happened to me."

His next book, Sicilian Wisdom, will be a collection of Sicilian proverbs written in the slowly disappearing language of his family's native land. Following that, Macaluso is hoping to publish another book about his mother, which is already in the works, entitled My Sicilian Mother: Her Sunset Flowers.

Both books promise to be different than his first three, but knowing Macaluso, they also promise to be more of the same. "If we keep our eyes on God and on something spiritual, we will not get lost," he said, adding after a pause and a laugh, "or not as lost."

Sunday Spiritual Bouquets is available by contacting DrMacPress@aol.com