Blaspheme

Description

Three short ficlets starring priests and the desires they struggle to hide from the world. In “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” a confession leads to a very unconventional end. In “Sacred Heat,” a priest tries desperately not to give into the fantasy he harbors. Finally, in “Always,” the past and the present collide for a lovelorn priest.

WARNING

The stories in this trio involve heavy religious situations/themes.
If this offends you, don’t keep reading.

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EXCERPT from “Hallowed Be Thy Name”:

For a Wednesday evening, the sanctuary was blessedly free of people. I felt the weight of my impending confession like a stone upon my shoulders and my heart. I knew to be a witness was not enough to laden one with sin, yet it was not the act of watching that made me feel so burdened. As I stepped into the confessional and pulled the meager curtain to, I wondered once more why I felt the way I did. I knelt on the rough wooden floor and began my confession.

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

A rustle came from the other side of the closed screen that separated me from the one who would listen without judgment.

“Confess your sin, my son,” was the muffled answer from the other side of the screen. I wondered who it might be, but I could not place the voice.

“I was witness to a sinful act, Father. I fear the damning of my soul for seeing such things,” I said quietly.

“What did you see, my son?”

I lowered my head into my hands. “Lewd things, Father,” I whispered. “A priest and one of my one rank. They were joined, even as I watched.”

“How were they joined, my son?”

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “The priest, he… he entered the other in such a way that I have never seen. They did not know I was there.”

“And you saw this act happen?” the priest on the other side said without emotion.

I nodded. “Yes, Father, I did.”

“What happened next?”

I felt my skin grow warm as the sweat began to collect beneath my robe. The image of Father Dominic and Brother Jacob had been burned into my mind for all time, I feared.