[Anne’s sister Emily came to visit from England. They’re catching up after twenty years of living in separate countries.]

Emily: “When I left the Party I was an empty shell. Then I met a good man, and he loved me. His love healed me. And that taught me everything. It’s why, I think, Anne, that the world can only be saved person by person, one by one. It’s the slow way but the true one.”

“You must miss Colin very much.”

“Yes, very much.”

She faced Anne, touching her own heart. “But you see, I have him here, always.”

Anne looked up at the mountain.

“I too have a good man. He loves me, my husband. But I’m not healed. Can you tell me why?”

“I don’t know why. But I know this: the healing begins when you abandon your demands for love and choose instead to give love, no matter what the cost. Madness, isn’t it? But a madness that works.”

“Perhaps for some, Emily.”

“No. For everyone. But first you have to forgive. Can you forgive Stephen for failing to love you as you wish?”

~ from Strangers and Sojourners, by Michael O’Brien, Part 2, Chapter 20