The Second Sentence
He told Mara about the dinner on a Thursday morning, nine days after it happened.
Deacon Michael Halbrook
Faith, family, work, and life - all intertwined.
Permanent deacon of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Husband, father of four sons, builder of Catholic technology, and writer of essays, fiction, and homilies.
All
Faith & Life
Homilies & Reflections
Building Something
Ad Alta
Another Voice
Missio Dei
Two Lamps
Lux Perpetua
The Commission
What follows is drawn from a single document in the Alton library, catalogued by Teodor Maren as: commission document, Latin, 1291, notation confirmed, provenance: received with the formal instrument.
Dinner
Aldric had chosen the restaurant, which told Joshua something, though he was not yet sure what.
The Kraków Thread
What follows is drawn from two sources: a household journal kept by the Baranski family of Kraków between 1863 and 1921, and a deposition taken in 1922 from Anna Baranska, regarding the disposition of certain materials in her custody following their transfer to a new keeper.
What Ambrose Says Again
He had been composing his reply to Aldric for six days without sending it.
The Argument
What follows is drawn from a manuscript in the Alton library, catalogued by Teodor Maren as: partial treatise, Latin, late thirteenth century, provenance uncertain, notation confirmed.
The Other Side, 1938
What follows is drawn from a set of internal documents recovered from the archive of an organization calling itself the Institut pour l'Etude de l'Ordre Historique, based in Paris, covering the period 1931 to 1940.
The Photographs
The photographs from Madrid arrived on a Monday, thirty-seven pages as promised, in a folder that Claire brought to Thursday and set on the pew beside her without comment.
The Toledo Keeper
What follows is drawn from the marginalia of a theological commentary held in a private collection in Madrid, photographed in July 2026 by a researcher acting on behalf of the Vatican Apostolic Archive.
The Phone Call
She called on a Wednesday evening, which was not what he had been expecting.
The American Thread
I did not know, when I arrived in Alton in 1948, that the record was already here.