Summary

Father Sullivan lies awake in the nursing home, unable to sleep because he has a feeling of pressure like “a tide inside his chest” (125). He tries changing positions but eventually leaves bed and goes to his chair. He thinks back to his active childhood self and reflects how he never thought he would be physically impaired the way he is now, which he believed wouldn’t happen because he thought God loved him so much. He then reflects upon his other youthful misconceptions of God. As a young priest, he had believed “God was made of sterner stuff” (126), and that the rituals of the church were necessary, high expectations that had kept his relationship with God unable to reach “peaceful accord” (126). Then Father Sullivan recalls his present role as religious healer, which began three months earlier when the community came to believe he healed...