Vespers

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It was his custom to reflect upon worldly problems during evening prayers, reciting the litany by rote, the prayers a mumbled counterpoint to his silent thoughts.

The Priest. At such times, he thought of himself as The Priest. The T and the P capitalized. The Priest. As if by distancing himself in this way, by referring to himself in the third person as if he were someone not quite himself... a character in a novel or a movie, perhaps... someone outside his own body, someone exalted and remote, to be thought of with reverence as solely The Priest. By thinking of himself in this manner, by sorting out The Priest's problems as the problems of someone other than himself, Father Michael could... Because, you see...

It was he, Father Michael, who could find comfort ... the hateful threats in the rectory... this is blackmail, blackmail... the pounding at the central portal doors... the black boy running into the church, seeking sanctuary, Hey man, hep me, they goan kill me!

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