The Magic of Jan Karon!

"Saint Père, accorde - moi, s'il te plaît, l'occasion de faire quelque chose pour ton cher émissaire, quelque chose que fera une différence!"

Pages 154 - 155

The French woman next door to Fr. Tim & his wife Cynthia.

"Since her youthful faith grew cold years ago, she regretted that she hadn't often prayed.

"Of course she must pray at once; she had neglected to do this most crucial thing for a man who had, in almost every sense, saved her life, whose tender forgiveness of the wrong she'd done him had resurrected her from a grave of bitterness and guilt.

"She crossed herself quickly and looked toward the ceiling, Saint Père, accorde - moi, s'il te plaît, l'occasion de faire quelque chose pour ton cher émissaire, quelque chse que fera une différence!

"She reflected a moment, then spoke the same words in English. Holy Father, please give me the oportunity to do something for your dear emissary, something that will make a difference.

"She hoped that two separate pleas might be doubly persuasive, yet had no idea at all that she'd heard.

"She felt an odd relief, nonetheless, as she straightened the collar of her bluse and pinched her cheeks and walked downstairs to prepare for her next student...."


The Magic of Jan Karon!

"Church architecture ought to be an earthly and temporal fulfillment of the Savior' s own prophesy..."

Pages 80 - 81.

Fr. Tim dictates an email for his secretary to send on his behalf to Bishop Stuart regarding the bishop's plans for building a big cathedral ...

"[S]he asked, Who to?

"[Answer] The bishop.

"[S]he typed, Church architecture ought to be an earthly and tempral fulfillment of the Savior's own prophesy that though the voices of men be still, the rocks and stones themselves will cry out with the laud and praise and honor due unto the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Michel di Giovanni, medieval builder and designer..."


All the above has been adapted here from In This Mountain, A Mitford Years Novel by the #1 New York Times Bestselling author.

NOTE:

Whether or not there ever was such a person as Michel di Giovanni, the philosophy expressed in Fr. Tim's email to his old friend from his Episcopalian seminary days, Bishop Stuart, does most certainly seem Medieval! :)