How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Father Arguedas had finished the formal prayer and now simply knelt beside the accompanist, his hands wrapped together, his head bowed, praying silently that the man would find solace and joy in God's eternal love now that he was dead.
When the priest opened his eyes he saw that he and the accompanist were no longer alone. Father Arguedas smiled gently at the assembled crowd. "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" he said by way of explanation. (3.62-63)
Huh? This isn't exactly your typical what-just-happened-here explanation. But actually, it makes a ton of sense when we realize what Father Arguedas is quoting. It's a part of the Bible that says—you guessed it—that nothing can separate a believer from the love of Christ: not trouble, distress, danger, or even death (check out Romans 8:35-39 if you're curious). Father Arguedas is gently letting everyone know that he believes in something that transcends any trouble human beings can get themselves into, even kidnapping and death. Plus, it's the start of their sense of unity in the novel.
Quote #8
To think of those people, the people he prayed for, praying for him. To think that God heard his name from so many voices.
"They must pray for all of us here, the hostages and captors alike.""We do," Manuel said. "But the mass is offered in your name." (5.77-78)
It's often opera that rocks somebody's world in Bel Canto. But sometimes it's prayer, like in this moment when Father Arguedas realizes the people of his church are praying for him. Prayer and opera may seem pretty different, but they share something big in the book: they can both create a community among people who might otherwise be pretty different, even a community among terrorists and their captives.
Quote #9
She [Carmen] said a prayer to Saint Rose of Lima. She asked for courage. After so many prayers offered for the gift of silence, she now asked for sound. (5.206)
In Bel Canto, spirituality doesn't just include God. It also includes the saints, who in Roman Catholic tradition are a community living in heaven and listening to believers who talk to them—they can even help people who speak to them across time and space. Kind of like Doctor Who, but with more reliable transportation. The saints form an unlikely community across space and time through faith, in a parallel to the unlikely community formed by art and survival in the very specific place and time of this one house during this one terrorist takeover. (P.S. Wondering who's Saint Rose of Lima? See the "Allusions" section.)