She goes in, and stands face to face with the most beautiful image of Christ that human art has created. High up in the choir sits the blessing-giving Christ in glowing mosaic. He is mighty and mysterious and majestic. Without number are they who make a pilgrimage to Monreale in order to feel the consolation of gazing upon his face. Without number are they who in far distant lands long for him.
The ground rocks under any one who sees him for the first time. His eyes compel the knees of the foreigner to bend. Without being conscious of it the lips falter: “Thou, God, art God.”
About the walls of the temple glow the great events of the world in wonderful mosaic pictures. They only lead to him. They are only there to say: “All the past is his; all the present belongs to him, and all the future.”
The mysteries of life and death dwell within that head.
There lives the spirit which directs the fate of the world. There glows the love which shall lead the world to salvation.
And Donna Micaela calls to him: “Thou son of God, do not part me from thee! Let no man have power to part me from thee!”
III
THE HOME-COMING
It is a strange thing to come home. While yet on the journey, you cannot at all realize how strange it will be.