The silence that followed Father Anselm's homily hung thick in the church's air, almost reverent, almost stunned. Even the children were abnormally quiet.
Sister Helena remained seated in her pew, her hands neatly folded in her lap under her scapular. She was still. Too still.
Father Anselm's words had struck her to the bone.
“You may say, I don't feel forgiven. But forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a gift.”
Helena swallowed hard, her breath catching in her throat. There was a tightness in her chest, one that armor could not block, and training could not vanish.
She had knelt in blood.
She had heard the gurgle in Patrick's throat.
She had washed the light go out of his eyes.
“Your sins are forgiven.”