Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words -- Chapter 1, The Beauty of Goodness

I have been invited by Art Embraces Words to do a virtual reading this month (August) of a chapter from my latest (2020) novel, Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words. A firm date has not been set, but I will keep my readers informed through all my online social media sources.

Below, is that same first chapter. Enjoy this "sneak preview."

The Beauty of Goodness

 

[Myriel’s sister, Baptistine] had never been pretty; her whole life, which had been a succession of pious works, had produced upon her a kind of transparent whiteness, and in growing old she had acquired what may be called the beauty of goodness.

-- Fantine,  Book the First, Chapter I, M. Myriel: An Upright Man
 
 
     I am compelled by grace to explore a phenomenon I have observed with awe over the course of my lifetime. We Frenchmen are obsessed with beauty. The ancient Greeks were as appearance-consumed as upper class culture is today. Yet, they had the insight to peg the root of beauty to the word, ὥρα (in Koine, their common dialect). It meant “being one’s hour,” an interesting linkage to be sure. Beauty, then, knows “what time it is” or better perhaps “knowing who I am and who I am not.” My personal mandate as a human, then, is to know my true relationship with every person I encounter, at each stage of my journey and all the individual days that comprise that journey.

     I offer my dear sister Baptistine as a model of virtuous living. The call to recognize the “beauty of goodness,” however, applies not only to those having a lifelong resume of virtue. I have witnessed beauty’s goodness at life’s earliest stages. A toddler knows no other way of being than “in the moment,” even as the child grows and changes from week to week. A mother holding her child in her arms, searches beyond that moment for hints of the emerging man or woman in their maturity. I suspect that, within every parent there resides an unspoken awareness that they may not live to see their children fulfill their God-given destiny.

I have witnessed the beauty of goodness in teenage years, when it easily suffers displacement along the meandering path to maturity. I pay attention when I hear of any child, teenager, or young adult taken too soon by illness or tragedy. Also, when I hear of young soldiers sacrificing their precious lives on the desecrated altars of their elders’ self-serving wars. Parents and friends remark, “He was such a fine young man, always ready to assist someone,”  or “He was too good  for  this world.”  My heart cries,  “No!  The world  needs such young, idealistic men to stay alive, to make their mark upon our shattered society!” Some of us live our way into beauty. Others suffer their way to it. I think of patients I have known in our neighboring hospital whose clear eyes glow with inner light.
 
The beauty of goodness is like that hidden treasure Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:44:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field."
 
     When I discover goodness, be it for a moment or longer, I rejoice in its native beauty and bask in its bright light. So inspired, I take quill pen in hand. I lay no claim, on earth or before God, to poetic aptitude. At those times when I hear the call—I should say “challenge”—of the muse, I dare to express my heart in the fewest possible syllables. In doing so, I take comfort in knowing that no other eyes will see—and, God forbid, judge--my verse.

  

The Beauty of Goodness

i see goodness

in a mother’s smile

a helping hand

a loving heart

 

i find goodness

in a kind word

a silent shrine

sunrise aglow

 

chancing upon the

beauty of goodness

i catch my breath

stand in awe

Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words is available through your local bookstores or through Amazon and other online book sellers. Paperback list price: $17.99, ebook $3.99. 

Inspector Javert--Here's What a Chapter 1, First Draft of a Novel Looks Like

I've never done this before, but here goes. 
Dear Readers and Colleague Fiction Writers:
The following is my first draft of Chapter 1 of my novel in progress, Inspector Javert, looks like. My fellow writers know well that Chapter 1 of the published novel may bear little resemblance to what you are about to read. So, here goes:

 

Chapter the First

Javert’s Leap

 

“Do I stand at hell’s threshold?”

“Why might you think that?”

This unseen speaker’s voice had an unexpected air of calm . . . welcome.

“I committed the gravest of all sins. Taking my own life. Now, I must reconcile myself to accept the punishment I deserve.”

“And what might that sin be?”

“In the moment following my discovery of the one true God, whom I had never truly known . . . we wrestled, as Jacob once did with the angel. Through the whole of one night. Having wrestled with the author of an even higher law than the civil code, I could not go back to headquarters—to my life—as if nothing had changed. I might have even found myself one day in prison. What a fall that would be! To end my wretched life where it began. And from which unquestioning adherence to law had rescued me. At the same time, going forward, taking an unmapped step into the future. Impossible. This very night, my last on earth, unleashed within me the folly of my life, the wretched horror of facing another day on earth . . . . I sought  the coward’s way out. Taking my own life. I stand before the throne of my Divine Judge, sir, prepared for my final judgement and punishment.”

“And what do you expect that punishment to be?”

“My sin is between my Creator and me. Whoever you are, I owe you no further discourse.”

Javert’s unknown companion did not respond. “Am I alone again?” the self-condemned new arrival said. “No matter. I prefer no audience for my commission to the pit of flames.”

His companion spoke. “I am sent by God, your Creator and Father, to assure you, my son, that you are safe.”

“Perhaps you misunderstood, so I repeat. I am resigned to my fate.”

The calm, kindly voice repeated his assurance of safe harbor.

Javert rejected deceit. “Come, Divine Judge! I am a man of action. Cause and effect. Why do you delay? Only once in my life of honorable service did I hesitate. Only once violated my sworn duty as  defender of law and right order. See what it cost me! Life. Liberty. Reward for a job well done. Perhaps promotion to the higher positions which I deserved. Until the last evil night. If you delay my punishment, I accept that as punishment begun.”

“What is the last thing you remember?” his companion said.

“Who are you to ask such a question?” Javert had no history of responding to an unknown questioner. He demanded confessions. He carried out punishment proclaimed by a judge, be it jail time or the most feared sentence of all—years spent in the horrors of the galleys. Even death by guillotine paled by comparison to a lifetime in chains.

“Permit me introduce myself.”

The deceitful response came with a tone of respectful humility.

“I am Charles Francois Myriel, late Bishop of the Diocese of Digne. Your fellow countryman. The Divine One whom you recently encountered assigned me to welcome you to Afterlife.”

“After . . . life? Then, I . . . I still live?”

“Quite. But in a form previously unknown to you.”

“A bishop? .  . . . Of the Holy Catholic Church? Surely you mock me. I reject your disguise, Satan! You have met your match. I spent my entire life unmasking deceivers like you.”

“Your caution is reasonable, I assure you. Nonetheless, such was my position in life. Where you go now there is no rank. All are equal.”

“Then, you too are an unrepentant sinner?” Javert said. “We arrive together at the gates of hell to await and share the fire that never consumes.”

“That is what you expect?”

“I do and am resigned to it. What other fate may the likes of us deserve? A failed bishop of the Church and a fallen guardian of the sacred legal codes of France. How we paragons of righteousness have betrayed our vocations!”

“On the contrary, Javert.” Myriel stifled a chuckle. “I assure you we stand not at the edge of the fiery pit. Far from it, it pleases me to report. Exceedingly.”

“Before you confuse me further, I need to ask how you know me, sir? Have we met before?”

“In earth-life?”

“Call it what you will. I am . . . was . . . known for never forgetting a face. I etched indelibly into memory the image of every man, woman, and child who came within my broad purview. Though a man of your own faith, I do not recall your passing my way or ever hearing your name.”

“Correct. We never met, in France or anywhere during our lifetimes. We do, however, share a common acquaintance.”

“Oh? And that might be?”

 Javert disliked word games—or any games. When he demanded a confession, he settled for nothing but raw, unembellished truth. Cheats and liars, every wrongdoer crossing his path spent time in prison, if the feared guillotine did not claim priority.

“The man known to each of us is Jean Valjean, who still walks in Earth time. Surely you recall that name . . . and face, Javert. I met him only once. You two, I believe had a lengthy history ”

Hearing his lifelong nemesis’s name jolted Javert. A flood of memories gushed back in rapid sequence. Their force rendered Javert speechless. Reclaiming his composure, he hissed, “Indeed. I . . . know . . . the man.” After a nightmare-filled pause, he continued, “I despise the very sound of that name. At the same time—and I cannot believe what I am about to say—I cherish it. Never in my life have such contradictory emotions flooded me at the same time, regarding the same person.”

“I must confess,” the bishop admitted, “I have struggled against similar clashes of feelings myself.”

He recalled his years as a young husband exiled in Rome. Sharing life with his new bride. Their mutual, passionate love and the hope of bringing a child into the world. Not long after her death, he felt the call, of all things, to renewal of his Catholic faith and later—and most surprising—to priesthood.

At first, he had shunned the image of himself as celibate priest, seeing in it a betrayal of his lifelong devotion to his life-partner, too soon snatched from him. She took to her grave their most-prized possession. Hope. A desire for children. How he fought the call to ministry! The stronger his effort to deflect God’s call, the more convinced he became that he had already decided to surrender to the insistent invitation. A decision he never regretted. Not that he ceased loving his spouse, whom he lifted up daily in consecration along with the Sacred Bread of Eucharist. He said nothing of this to the newly arrived spirit, called on earth Inspector Javert.

“About this Jean Valjean.” With great difficulty he asked, “Does he live still?”

“I assure you, Javert, he lives.”

Bishop Myriel--A Professional Review

Spiritual writer, Judith Ingram (Forgiving Day by Day), has just published a review of my new novel, Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words.  I am pleased to share it with you here:

REVIEW by Judith Ingram

A Stunning Achievement!

Alfred J. Garrotto has composed a novel that ushers Victor Hugo’s fictional character, Bishop Myriel, out from the shadows of the Les Misérables stage play to the front-and-center position to which Hugo’s famous novel assigns him. Hugo hints in his novel that the bishop was writing a volume on Christian duty but left it unfinished. Garrotto steps in to cleverly elaborate on the bishop’s detailed Scriptural outline—thoughtfully provided by Hugo himself—and composes a work of theological reflections as if penned in the good bishop’s own hand.

Calling himself the ghostwriter in this tri-level authorship he shares with Myriel and Hugo, Garrotto quickly immerses his readers in the voice and heart of Bishop Myriel through a series of autobiographical vignettes. The charming formality of the bishop’s narrative and pitch-perfect style befitting an early nineteenth-century writer render the ghostwriter invisible and magically transport the reader to the very feet of this humble priest, wise beyond his years and devoted to Christian service.

After his introductory vignettes, the bishop presents his “completed” work, Duty. While the stories charm and endear the bishop to his readers, Duty stuns with its brilliant, incisive treatment of fundamental truths of Scripture and their application. The bishop laments his own shortcomings, yet his love for Christ and passion for giving himself to others in service outweigh his flaws. The reader is left to wonder whose soul is truly revealed by these deep wells of compassion, understanding, and purity of heart—is it Myriel’s, Hugo’s, or the ghostwriter’s? The bishop might answer that all such beauty must ultimately spring from the Christ Himself, to whom all three authors give first honor.

*    *    *

Bishop Myriel is now available for presale in e-book format. The paperback edition is due out in early to mid March of this year.
 

I hope all you Les Miz fans out there will enjoy this most unusual book. Unusual how? It is a fictional story whose protagonist is a fictional character created by the master fiction writer  Victor Hugo.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bishop+myriel%3A+in+his+own+words&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1003393

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bishop-myriel-alfred-j-garrotto/1136384449?ean=2940163463299

I'm delighted to announce that my latest novel, BISHOP MYRIEL: IN HIS OWN WORDS, is now available for presale on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084FVJQBX?pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8&pf_rd_r=SBW6388S744NB5YSMGJ5

The paperback edition will follow shortly after the ebook's release on February 25.

All Les Miserables and Victor Hugo fans will enjoy this novelized version of the man who changed Jean Valjean's whole life.

I claim the title, ghostwriter, with

great humility and esteem for

Bishop Myriel, Victor Hugo’s catalyst

character in Les Miserables. Basing this novel on an already

well-known and beloved fictional protagonist posed a

challenge, to say the least. As did "channeling" the bishop's spirit, so I could speak in his voice.

*    *    *

In the dramatic stage adaptation of Les Miserables, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, French lyrics by Jean-Marc Natel and in English by Herbert Kretzmer, Bishop Myriel appears early in Act I for barely a few minutes. During that brief encounter with mendicant Jean Valjean, the bishop bestows upon the wild-looking parolee the inherited Myriel family treasures (silver dinnerware and candlesticks). Before they part ways on stage, the bishop spontaneously “commissions” Valjean with a new calling in life:

“Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!”

With that surprising and confusing revelation, the bishop withdraws from the stage not to be seen again until Valjean’s deathbed scene when he appears to the dying man as in a vision.

How different the scene in Hugo’s original!

The first lines of that sprawling epic present Bishop Myriel front and center as a major player in the story:

In 1815, M. Charles Francois Myriel was Bishop of D____. He was a man of seventy-five and had occupied the bishopric of D____ since 1806.

Fantine, Book the First, Chapter I, Myriel

In the commission scene, the bishop’s final words to Valjean are:

“Remember this my brother, you will use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the Passion and the Blood, God has raised you out of darkness; I have saved your soul for God.”

Soon after being released, however, Valjean robs Petit Gervais, a lone child on a deserted road. Suddenly, he recalls the bishop’s mandate (in this abbreviated form):

“. . . you have promised me to become an honest man. I am purchasing your soul; I withdraw it from the spirit of perversity and give it to God Almighty.”

Myriel and Valjean never meet again, at least not until Jean Valjean lies on his deathbed. Hugo describes that scene as follows:

The portress had come up and was looking through the half-open door. The physician motioned her away, but he could not prevent that good, zealous woman from crying to the dying man before she went”

“Do you want a priest?”

“I have one,” answered Jean Valjean.

And, with his finger, he seemed to designate a point above his head, where, you would have said, he saw someone.

It is probable that the Bishop was indeed a witness of his death-agony.

Over the century-and-a half of the original novel’s existence, a number of abridged versions of the 1,200-plus pages have appeared. Some publishers made an editorial decision to abridge the text. In doing so, they generally omit the statement that Bishop Myriel was in the process of writing a book on the topic of Christian duty. I am grateful for Charles E. Wilbour’s  unabridged English translation (1862, the very year of the novel’s first publication. Wilbour includes Hugo’s detailed, Scripture-based outline of the bishop’s opus-to-be. Random House’s Modern Library Edition of Wilbour’s translation (2000) filled that important gap.

We are told by Victor Hugo himself that the work remained unfinished. The bishop’s detailed outline captured my imagination and launched me on a twenty-year inner quest that has resulted, finally, in this historical novel. Probing Les Miserables’ expansive spirit became my passion. I can only hope that I serve the good bishop well by attempting to channel his spirit. And so, I dare to offer what I call a first draft manuscript of Bishop Myriel’s book. In doing so, I have done my best to preserve Duty’s outline as created by the original author. 

Bishop Myriel--in his own words . . . new novel to arrive in early 2020

Early in 2020, I’ll be releasing my 8th novel, “Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words.”Les Mis fans will enjoy this inspiring story. 

Current tentative cover

Writing in the voice of Victor Hugo’s beloved fictional character is requiring me to climb inside the body and soul of this great yet very humble man. 

Writing in the bishop’s own voice is a personally rewarding challenge. It requires me to “channel” Hugo’s bishop, Les Mis’s catalyst character. 

The bishop’s generosity and personal challenge (“to become an honest man”) sent the former convict,  John Valjean, on his way to becoming the courageous, exemplary man who served to the poor and suffering (les miserables). 

Stay Tuned.

Coming in 2020--Wisdom of Les Miserables. Book 2

I'm working hard on the second book of my Wisdom of Les Miserables series. It's tentatively titled, The Beauty of Goodness.

My focus in this second volume is on Bishop Charles Francois Myriel, the catalyst character in Victor Hugo's masterpiece novel. Myriel, you'll recall, is the man who launched the paroled convict, Jean Valjean on his life of compassion and social justice.

What many Les Mis readers do not recall from the book is the fact that Bishop Myriel had a dream of writing his first--and only--book. The theme was to be Duty in the life of a Christian. (Not exactly a winning title were it to be published today.)

Victor Hugo Statue
St. Peter Port
Isle of Guernsey
Photo by Toni DiModica

Hugo provides a fairly extensive and complete outline of the book. But it ends there. He (the author and "puller of literary puppet strings") did not let the bishop complete his treatise. In The Beauty of Goodness, I dare to write my own imagined "first draft" of the bishop's book--using the first person voice of Myriel.

The book will also contain my own personal reflections on the the bishop's themes and chapters. I am also adding original poetry and questions for the reader's reflection as part of the structure of each chapter.

I'm looking at a 2020 release for this work and invite you to contact me with any comments, suggestions, cautions . . . whatever, if you'd like to share them with me, as I move along through the text and draw it to completion.

Senior But Not Retired: Editor Carol Smallwood Interview

Carol Smallwood, co-editor of the anthology, Writing After Retirement: Tips from Successful Retired Writers, recently interviewed me about my career as a senior--but not retired--writer.

New Release--There's More . . . : A Novella of Life and Afterlife

I am very happy--"relieved" is more like it--to announce that my latest book, There's More . . . : A Novella of Life and Afterlife, is now available in broad distribution via amazon.com (worldwide) and smashwords.com. (It may take a few days to filter down into the Apple Store, Nook, Sony, etc.)

"Relief pitcher Jack Thorne stares at his catcher’s target. His single focus is to get this batter out. If he does, a coveted World Series ring will be his. But the Universe has a different plan for this Catholic priest-turned-ballplayer. There’s More is a creative imagining of the ultimate human mysteries—death and Afterlife. This gripping story invites readers to expand their existing concepts and consider broader cosmic possibilities in answer to the universal question, 'What’s next?'"

Available at: 

http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=there%27s%20more%20garrotto&sprefix=there%2Cstripbooks

and 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=there%27s+more+garrotto

E-book: $1.99

Paperback:$ 8.55 (on Amazon)

I'd love to hear your reaction to this unusual story.

PS: Honest reviews always welcome.

Les Miz and Me

Bishop Myriel's
unconditional love
changes Jean
Valjean's life.

I don't usually share anything publicly about a work in progress. Like most writers,  my computer is loaded with partially completed projects--some abandoned altogether, gathering digital dust. As a rule, it's best to keep my current projects to myself. Considering the imminent film release of the musical, Les Miserables, I'm going to risk an exception. 

First, some background. My all-time favorite novel is Victor Hugo's masterpiece. For me, it's more than a story. It ranks next to the Bible as a literary sign and sacrament of God's love for our frail, often broken humanity. No surprise, then, that my most beloved fictional characters are Bishop Charles Francois Myriel and Jean Valjean (in that order). 

Over a 25-year novel writing career, I have "fathered" dozens of fictional children. Now, this is where I risk sounding a little bit weird. I have this mystical theory, you see. Its hypothesis is this: every character of fiction created in the mind of an author or original storyteller has a real life in an alternate or parallel universe. I base this on a common phenomenon that fiction writers experience upon completion of their stories. In my case, having lived with my characters for a year--or more--and knowing them as intimately as I do, letting go and moving on sets in motion a grieving process. It's similar to the emotions generated by the loss of a loved one.

My parallel universe theory plays out in There's More (working title), my current work-in-progress. The story begins with Hugo's Bishop Myriel being called from his existence in another realm to serve as companion and guide to Afterlife. A young priest has just died in a freak accident--one that turns out to be a murder. This is not the bishop's first experience in this capacity on Earth, but he considers it the most remarkable. 

Like the bishop in my story, this is not the first time Hugo's characters have populated my own writing. In The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean, I reflected on my personal life experience in light of the spiritual/theological themes embedded in the novel. Also, one of my most-read blog posts on this site is "A Model for 21st c. Catholic Bishops," in which I urge the hierarchy of my church to become servant leaders after the manner of the Christlike Myriel.  

I can't wait to see the latest earthly incarnations of Bishop Myriel (Colm Wilkinson) and Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). I wish Director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) success with Les Miz's most recent rendition. And, in that faraway universe, where our fictional characters live, may the real Myriel and Valjean also delight in it.

(c) 2013 by Alfred J. Garrotto
All rights reserved

A Model for 21st c. Catholic Bishops

I matured as a Catholic in the years following the Second Vatican Council and listed among my formative heroes many American bishops and their peers in France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, and, yes, even Italy. Towering above these forward-looking prelates was my all-time papal hero, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Pope John XXIII.

Fast-forwarding to the present, I am challenged to identify more than a handful of bishops at home or abroad as models of Spirit-filled, gospel-driven leadership. I and others who share my Catholic history grieve the lacuna.

The recent Year of the Priest turned a spotlight in America on an aging and embattled clergy. These men, especially parish priests, are the remnant in the trenches of a no-longer flourishing clerical caste. With their breakfast they have had to swallow a bitter chronicle of abuse accusations and episcopal cover-ups, each one creeping higher up the ladder of ecclesiastical responsibility. One thing 21st century priests still have going for them is a model of exemplary ministry in St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), the Curé of Ars. One of their own, he served his parishioners with selfless love and inspiring dedication to the Body of Christ on earth.

It is hard to imagine who might serve as living models and heroes for today’s bishops. As a lay minister in a vibrant parish community, I pray and listen with aching hope for voices of gospel-inspired sanity and humanity among the American and world hierarchies. Instead, there is faith-deadening silence. In this wasteland, the only voices belong to the few whose righteous pronouncements serve as fodder for nightly sound bites and morning stomach turners. There have to be bishops and cardinals alive who cringe along with the rest of us. The few bishops I personally know who might be capable of sparking a Spirit-led revival cower in silence.

Let me propose an international, time-tested model for today’s bishops: Charles Francois Bienvenu Myriel, Bishop of Digne, France. Myriel is, of course, the fictional prelate who serves as the catalyst character of Victor Hugo’s classic and eminently Catholic novel, Les Miserables. What could a non-historical, backwater bishop possibly have to say to today’s real-world hierarchy? Plenty! 

Every bishop would do well to reflect on the true meaning of episcopal servanthood as found in the book’s opening one-hundred pages. Bishop Myriel provides a spiritual and moral compass for bishops whose ministry has devolved into fending off abuse victims (and their attorneys), while presiding over shrinking human and financial assets.

Hugo was no saint himself, but he knew what one should look like. We can speculate about the possibility of the author’s admiration of his contemporary and fellow countryman, the Curé of Ars. In his protagonist Jean Valjean, Hugo created the ideal Christian man—a lay saint. It might not be farfetched to call Valjean the principled, virtuous man that Hugo wished he could be. In Bishop Myriel, he brought to life the kind of post-Revolution bishop France needed, but rarely found. Portraying Myriel’s character and the quality of his ministry, the author revealed a deep understanding of true episcopal ministry and priestly spirituality.

Bishop Myriel is a man of prayer, whose holiness is rooted in Sacred Scripture. He takes seriously the call of St. Paul to be like Christ in every possible way: “As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate him. Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loved you” (Ephesians 5:1-2). His hands-on ministerial style epitomizes the radical option for the poor. The pastoral “buck” stops at this bishop's door, as demonstrated when a priest of his diocese refuses to accompany a condemned man to his death. Myriel claims it as his solemn episcopal duty to spend the night in prayer with the poor man and accompany him along the dreaded final steps to the guillotine.

This is a wise bishop who sees possibilities that others do not in fallible human beings. On a night when no other citizen of Digne will offer shelter to specter-like parolee Jean Valjean, Myriel welcomes the stranger to his table and lodging (only to be robbed of heirloom silver by his ungrateful guest). 

Having no further contact with Valjean after forgiving the man’s misdeed, Myriel never learns that his generosity has produced a Damascus-like effect, setting in motion a lifetime of virtue and good works.

I studied philosophy and theology in the 1950s with many seminarians who went on to become bishops and cardinals, both in the United States and the Vatican. How I wish one of them were writing this post, instead of me! Today’s Catholics crave the kind of bishop that Victor Hugo presented as a model of the sacrament of Holy Orders. We, the lay baptized priests of the Church, pray that our Myriels-in-hiding will soon step forward with courage to catalyze the Spirit-led renewal destined to occur in this century.

______________________

Alfred J. Garrotto is the author of the suspense novel,

The Saint of Florenville: A Love Story.

The Phantom Promise

With a single act of generosity and kindness, Bishop Myriel in Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Miserables, set in motion a cascade of good deeds that blessed the lives of countless people. Easily lost in this act of profligate kindness is the phantom promise that haunted former convict and petty thief Jean Vajean for the rest of his life.

I've attached to this post a YouTube segment from the stage production. In it the bishop tells Valjean that, like it or not, "I have purchased your soul and given it to God." The price? Six heirloom silver plates and two silver candlesticks. The bishop did not ask Jean Valjean if his soul was for sale. With some holy sleight of hand, he purchased the rights and transferred the deed at once in perpetuity to the Lord. Jean Valjean stood agape, an uncooperative bystander at the sale of his immortal soul, his life here on earth and hereafter.

This catalytic event sets the entire novel in motion. Composer and dramatist Boublil and Schonberg captured all the tenderness and mystery of this scene. I invite you to watch and listen as the bishop exchanges a family treasure for Jean Valjean's soul. Phantom Promise