The Mass of Brother Michel, set in the tranquil countryside
of southern France during the Reformation, is the story of a young man
who “has it all”—until a fateful series of events leads him to a
monastery. As Huguenot violence mounts, the characters of the story are
pushed to extremes of hatred and love. The reader is swept along by a
narrative as twisting and turbulent as a mountain stream, which
culminates in a sovereign sacrifice as unforgettable as it was
unforeseen. This is a story that shows with utter vividness the power of
romantic love to cripple and deform, the power of suffering to
undermine illusions and induce the labor of self-discovery, the power of
prayer to reassemble the shards of the shattered image of God in the
soul, and the power of the priest as the divine Physician’s privileged
instrument.
At the center of the novel is the awesome mystery, scandal,
consolation, and provocation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To it
some of the characters are irresistibly drawn; against it, others are
violently arrayed. Here is a passionately told tale of their inner
struggle and outward confrontation. No reader will fail to be astonished
at its outcome and touched by its inspiring and miraculous climax.
Paperback. 286 pages.