“God is not supposed to test me beyond what I can bear,” I say. “And neither are you.” “Is it beyond what you can bear, Brother Patrick?” the abbot asks calmly. I mumble a “I don’t know.” “Because,” says the abbot, “the choice is yours. If you tell me that you do not want this, that you cannot bear it, then I will tell Mr. Iverson that he cannot come.”
