The Sixty-First Night

 

Nick was looking at some of my paintings when he said:

“Do you think I should paint?”

“Walls?” I asked, joking.

“No, you idiot! A painting!”

“You’ve got nothing to lose by trying,” I replied.

“Would you teach me?”

Ah. There it was—the inevitable question that hit a nerve.

I took a breath and answered:

“Can you draw?”

“I can do stick figures.”

“Hmm. Drawing is the foundation of painting, architecture, and sculpture. The better you draw, the better you paint.”

I left the stove and walked over to him.

“To draw, you have to train your hand and your eye, and that’s boring. Really boring. Pure tedium, especially in the beginning. Eventually, it becomes automatic.”

“So you don’t just grab a pencil and start scribbling?”

“Not at first. And do you know why I don’t teach drawing anymore? I never had a student who was better than mediocre, and every single one of them thought they were the greatest thing to happen to art since Michelangelo. Not one of them had the humility to admit they knew nothing about drawing. Instead, they assumed they’d been born ready, already knowing everything they needed to know.”

“And that pissed you off…”

“Big time.”

I paused, then continued:

“When I was seven years old, I decided I was going to be an artist, and I made a drawing that became the cornerstone of my career. It was called Soirée, and it depicted a scene set in what I understood to be a nineteenth-century salon. On the left, a man seen from behind was playing a grand piano; on the right, another man was asking a young woman to dance. The technical flaws are many, and they’re enormous, but there was already a great deal of attention to detail, to the movement of the figures, and to their individuality.

“Art was my first love, and I’ve remained faithful to it to this day. Nothing annoys me more than pretentious people who think they’re great artists and can’t even draw a decent straight line.”

“I’m kind of losing my desire to paint,” he said with a smile.

I answered with a smile of my own.

“Sorry if I sounded rude or discouraging. I only meant to be honest and sincere.”

I went to a drawer in my studio and came back with three blank sheets of paper. I handed them to Nick.

“These three poor virgins are going to be deflowered by you. Treat them with respect. At some point, when you have some time, draw a landscape on one, a still life on another, and a person on the last. Do what you know how to do. Don’t try to impress me.”

“I told you, all I know how to do is stick figures.”

“Then draw stick figures. I drew them too, at one point in my life.”

I gave him a little pat on the shoulder.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a late-blooming vocation.”

 

The Sixtieth Night

That night, Nick was almost boyishly excited by the "anatomical" tour I'd given him of a Catholic church.

"I've discovered a whole new world," he said. "I never imagined being Catholic involved so many layers, so many moving parts. Like you said, it's a treasure chest—you keep pulling out things both old and new."

"I'm not surprised you're surprised," I replied. "But I have to admit, I never expected to hear something like that come from you."

He grinned.

"People change, don't they? Truth is, I've learned a lot from you. And for the first time, the puzzle of my life is starting to make sense. It's not finished yet. There are still pieces lying around that haven't found their place. But I've never felt this... whole."

"I'm really glad to hear that," I said, and I meant it.

We were sitting on the veranda, gazing at the stars overhead and the sea stretching beneath them.

The full moon was breathtaking.

"Can I ask you something?" Nick said.

"Always."

"Are you excommunicated?"

The question caught me off guard, and I couldn't help laughing. I drew a slow breath before answering.

"You're talking about the Society of Saint Pius X, right?"

He nodded.

"Honestly, I don't know. The Society doesn't have a presence on this island, and I've never belonged to it anywhere else, even though I share many of its convictions. In fact, I read the proposed agreement between the Society and the Pope, and I realized I couldn't have signed it myself. So... maybe I am. I honestly don't know."

"And you just keep going?"

"I do. Saint Athanasius was excommunicated. Did he spend his life beating his head against a wall? No. He kept preaching the true Catholic faith while Arianism dominated the Church around him."

I fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"Excommunication is a serious matter. But before anything else, we have to ask whether it's legitimate. Can a truly Catholic pope excommunicate Catholics for being Catholic? No. That's why the excommunication of Saint Athanasius wasn't legitimate. Today he's remembered as one of the greatest defenders of the faith."

"But why excommunicate these people in the first place?"

"Imagine a walnut with a worm that has managed to burrow inside. From the outside, the shell still looks perfect. But inside, there's no walnut left. The worm has hollowed it out and turned it into something else entirely."

I looked out toward the sea.

"The Church isn't dealing with one worm, but hundreds of them—all trying to empty the Catholic Church of its Founder while still using His name and preserving all the outward trappings. The Society of Saint Pius X stands against that destruction, and of course it pays a price for doing so."

I paused, weighing my words.

"What I'm about to say is very serious. It's only my opinion—and I'm always suspicious of my own opinions—but it seems to me that ever since the death of Pius XII, Judas Iscariot has been sitting on the papal throne, and he has never left it. The process isn't finished yet. Christ's Church has been steadily dismantled, and it will be dismantled further still. It can never be destroyed—that's impossible—but I believe only a small remnant of Catholics will remain. Most people will belong to the new church that's being built in its place."

Nick listened without saying a word.

A cloud drifted across the moon, and suddenly we were sitting in darkness.