The Trinity

by K.P. Ambroziak

The Bishop chanted words to the Holy Mother and the men followed in unison, the swell of their voices like wasps humming in a vespiary.

“May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment,” he said.

“Ah, like Zeus’s bolts of lightning, I see.” Samson chuckled, tipping his mug to this mouth before licking the corners of his gunslinger.

Jacob covered his mouth, sniffing the oil on his fingers. The nutty smell of calamus reminded him of the ointment Samson had used to heal his wounds as a child.

“Have you taken the sacrament of reconciliation?” “Nope.” “Are you a Catholic?” “Not practicing.” Jacob mumbled a prayer. “Is that a problem, Father?” “Of course not, no.” It was somewhat out of the ordinary but Jacob would never refuse the opportunity to absolve a soul. He would minister to any and all of God’s children. “Do you have something to confess?”

Despair was a miry thing for anyone.

Jacob had not advised her to read the Bible. He was well aware of the consequences of parishioners trying to gauge the Word of God without proper guidance. She was likely to misinterpret the ideas of husband and wife in Mark, especially his word on divorce.

He would add them to his list of private prayers but would not interfere in their domestic affairs. Samson had convinced him of the rule long ago. “The marriage is sacred,” he had said. “We’ve no business in the mix. We’re celibate for a reason.” Jacob’s celibacy had come easy to him. He had never wanted a wife, or a woman in any capacity. He was a virile and straight man but his religious rigor bordered on fanatical and he considered his marriage to Christ his only one.

Miles Davis’s Sounds of Spain

The boy admired the roses, his eye stuck on a bee busy doing his business. Jacob thought how fitting an example to live by. The insect uses instinct, relies on devotion to his queen, and lives with faith in his brothers. The brethren were not hornets in a nest but bees in a hive built to serve the Holy Mother.

God is too strong and too fierce not to carry you to the place that’s best for you.”

Valkyrie

bible

Jacob would not turn to look at him but recited the prayer of absolution instead. “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son …”

“May God absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

“I grew up in the foster system, you know. Goddamn, what a cluster—” He stopped himself, and took a deep breath. “I’d a couple of creepy run-ins with foster dads, if you know what I mean. Most of them just want the cash—you know, the check the government sends them. But man some of those guys are as crooked as they come. I mean queer and—it’s okay to say that, right? I mean the Church doesn’t seem to get too bent out of shape over … well, you know, men who prefer boys.” Hard as Jacob tried, he could not keep silent about that one. “I assure you the Catholic Church condemns all manner of deviant behavior.”

Jacob knew these words by heart, too. He had written several papers on Paul’s tone in Galatians.

Sometimes his comportment matched his Gunslinger moustache. He was rugged, born and raised in Oklahoma.

“The island of fire,” Jacob said. “It must be hot there.” “Oh you mean the island itself, in South America. Yes,

That night, Jacob circled the verse from Romans, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Jacob grinned, the Abbess in full dress, her ancient cornette making her face more severe. The look was unique to her and she certainly wore the horned coif well.

Jacob stayed for the coffee and lemon meringue tartlets but excused himself when his brothers formed coveys for a few hands of pinochle.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” Jacob said. “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. Amen.”

“I saw the other side of it when I was in the foster system.” Guillermo sat again and faced his kin, studying him with a keen eye. He could see Inès in his brow and lips and it made him sad. “You were lucky to rise up in the world despite it.” “Rise up—yah, right.” William chuckled. “You should meet Jacob, the guy’s a goddamn saint.”

Jacob’s dedication to his wife and daughter taught him to be fierce in the name of love and to protect his heritage with the keen eye of a man who knows loss.