Ordained
And now his knees hurt. At this moment that was all he could think of; that, and the fact that there was no one there to see him ordained and when he left the Cathedral he must catch the train, and that meant a rush because there was only one train to the parish and his new life as curate of St. Agatha’s. The Bishop, preceded by his Chaplain came nearer, and now the words that accompanied the outstretched hands were pronounced solemnly and formally, the words of ordination from the old book, and there it was, Neil, now ordained as a deacon in the Church, seemed to relax and as he relaxed, seemed transformed as though by a new and deeper spirituality, as though these words had made a real and actual difference. Somehow, it seemed, that Neil was transformed from the youth who had nurtured his dream of ordination for at least the whole of his teens into a rather more serious, considered and mature young man, the collar clearly suiting him. ...