“My beloved is God, and that’s why I stay strong. I go to church, and I take Communion; I know that I am beloved of God. I serve at the altar. The first time I did it, I held the crucifix and two candles, and the priest said to me, ‘You are the altar.’ I’ve been saying that to myself, especially when I feel really awful: I’m the altar. And the priest said to me, ‘If you’re the altar of God there in the cathedral, you are the altar of God all the time. You are . . . beloved.’”
