How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph.)
Quote #7
It was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or a civilization—it needed a God to die for the half-hearted and the corrupt. (2.1.331)
Notice the irony? First, very rarely is it easy to sacrifice one's life for anything. We don't call it heroic for nothing. Second, in Catholic theology, the Jesus Christ's sacrifice sets an example to follow. And the priest follows it, riding to certain death in order to help a thief and murderer.
Quote #8
One of the oddest things about the world these days was that there were no clocks—you could go a year without hearing one strike. They went with the churches, and you were left with the grey slow dawns and the precipitate nights as the only measurements of time. (2.1.352)
Life before wrist watches and smart phones, eh? Like the absence of bells, the absence of clocks shows just how much the Church had situated itself into everyday life. When it all but vanished, everyday life changed in large ways and small.
Quote #9
When she reached the tallest cross she unhooked the child and held the face against the wood and afterwards the loins; then she crossed herself, not as ordinary Catholics do, but in a curious and complicated pattern which included the nose and ears. Did she expect a miracle? and if she did, why should it not be granted her, the priest wondered? Faith, one was told, could move mountains, and here was faith—faith in the spittle that healed the blind man and the voice that raised the dead. […] When none came, it was as if God had missed an opportunity. (2.4.48)
There are at least two things to note in this quote. First is the way the woman makes the sign of the cross. Her Catholicism is culturally Native American (Indian in the text), and as is often the case, a universal and global sign of devotion in the Church takes on the peculiarities of a particular place. Second is the priest's questions about faith. He believes in miracles, but believes too that they don't come on command. Nevertheless, he can't understand why God wouldn't answer such faithful prayers. He has his doubts.