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%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK140 Jack FritscherMike sits silent before the ornate desk and the Italian ceramic in the tasteful drawing room lit only by the small pools of light from the mica shades on the copper lamps.%u201cWhat do you think has been my mission here at Misericordia this year? I have caused this institution to vibrate. I have come back to bring it freedom.%u201d He leans intent over his desk. %u201cWhy do you think I work an eighteen-hour day, by my own choosing and authority as a priest, counseling enough of the student body to keep three full-time counselors busy?%u201dMike sits silent, biting his lip.%u201cAre you going to sit not saying anything?%u201d Father Dryden leans back and laughs. %u201cYou little fool. You poor little fool. You think you%u2019re going to come out of this with Ordination bells ringing. Well, Michael Joseph Hager, I am going to be honest with you. I am going to be so honest with you your head will reel.%u201d He leans forward over the ceramic. %u201cBut you%u2019ve got to trust me.%u201d He pauses. %u201cWill you trust me, Michael?%u201dMike nods.%u201cYou are afraid of your Self, Michael. Afraid of your body.%u201dMike shakes his head.%u201cOf course. You%u2019re thinking of all those things you told me. That business of the girl at the lake and so forth. But don%u2019t you see, you only did that because you were running scared.%u201d Dryden stands up and walks around the desk. %u201cI know, Michael. I know how it is. I was once the same my Self. When I was a boy, my father locked me in a broom closet for fourteen hours because he caught the child next door examining my body.%u201d He sits on the desk and leans over Mike. %u201cWhich do you suppose was worse? The examination or the punishment?%u201dMike blows out huge flumes of smoke. %u201cWhat did you do?%u201d Mike asks.%u201cI found my own true Self,%u201d the priest says. %u201cIn that tiny broom closet, I began to find my Self. After years of guilt and torture, I found my Self.%u201d%u201cYou found yourself?%u201d%u201cYes. My Self. And the seminarians that come to me? I let each find his own Self. Gnothi sauton, Know thy Self. After that, the rest is easy.%u201d Dryden walks across the room to a closet door. %u201cStand up, Michael.%u201dMike rises.%u201cJesus loves you, Michael. Body and mind. Jesus loves you.%u201d He opens his closet. %u201cTake off your cassock, Michael.%u201d%u201cWhy?%u201d Mike asks.%u201cI want to hang it up. I want you to look at your Self. Here in this mirror on the door.%u201d