Jo finally summoned enough courage to enter the nave of the crowded church and ushered to a side pew by a man who seemed strangely familiar to her.

Tho deeply-ingrained habits of her younger years asserted themselves as Jo automatically genuflected before entering the pew, and in a few minutes, fifteen years of debauchery evaporated as she entered into the mood and spirit of the Solemn High Mass, with its priest, deacon, and subdeacon celebrating the sacrifice made by our Lord to atono for all of the sins of the world. She became enveloped in the clouds of memory-evoking incense, the hymns, and the somber, yet heart-swelling chants. She found herself joining in with the prayers and responses of the congregation, prayers which she had neither heard nor uttered for fourteen years. The celebrant turned to face the congregation as ho pronounced the Absolution and Comfortable Words, "Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you..." Those words warmed Jo, and they seemed to her a definito invitation to return to the fold. At the same time, the priest's face seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"10 Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world," chanted the priest in a nasal twang which bespoke of years spent at Oxford University, a twang also often mistakenly linked with "swishy"men.

"...Grant us thy peace," responded the congregation and choir.

Having finished singing the Agnus Dei, the priest turned and faced the people with the Host in his right hand and the chalice in his left, inviting the people to the altar with "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him that takest away the sins of the world." It was then that Jo recognized

the priest as the young philosophy student who used to frequent the Bayside Inn on weekends and hold quiet, intellectual bull sessions at one of the back tables in the bar. At the same time, it also dawned on her that the man who had ushered her to her paw had been the sales clerk who earned extra money on weekends by working as bouncer at the Bayside Inn.

As the congregation approached the communion rail to receive the Blessed Sacrament, Jo debated with herself whe-

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