We fear what we do not understand, Aringarosa thought, wondering if these critics had any idea how many lives Opus Dei had enriched. The group enjoyed the full endorsement and blessing of the Vatican. Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Pope himself.
Recently, however, Opus Dei had found itself threatened by a force infinitely more powerful than the media... an unexpected foe from which Aringarosa could not possibly hide. Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow.
"They know not the war they have begun," Aringarosa whispered to himself, staring out the plane's window at the darkness of the ocean below. For an instant, his eyes refocused, lingering on the reflection of his awkward face—dark and oblong, dominated by a flat, crooked nose that had been shattered by a fist in Spain when he was a young missionary. The physical flaw barely registered now. Aringarosa's was a world of the soul, not of the flesh.
As the jet passed over the coast of Portugal, the cell phone in Aringarosa's cassock began vibrating in silent ring mode. Despite airline regulations prohibiting the use of cell phones during flights, Aringarosa knew this was a call he could not miss. Only one man possessed this number, the man who had mailed Aringarosa the phone.
Endorsement 認可
Prelature 主教
Foe 敵人
Kaleidoscope 萬花筒
Reeling 心煩意亂
Oblong 橢圓形
"我們對自己不瞭解的東西總是很恐懼，阿林加洛沙這樣想。他不知道那些批評者是不是明白天主事工會曾使多少人的生活多姿多彩。天主事工會得到了梵蒂岡的完全認可和恩准。天主事工會是一個教皇個人的教區。
近來，天主事工會發現自己被一種比媒體威力更大的力量威脅著。阿林加洛沙躲都躲不開這突然冒出來的敵人。雖然五個月前，這股不穩定的力量被粉碎了，但阿林加洛沙現在還感到心有餘悸。
"他們不知道他們已挑起了戰爭。"阿林加洛沙一邊望著機窗下黑暗的大西洋一邊小聲嘀咕著。突然，他的目光停在機窗反射的自己的那張難看的面孔--又黑又斜，還有一個又扁又歪的大鼻子。那是他年輕時在西班牙作傳教士時被人用拳頭打的。這種身體上的缺陷現在基本上無所謂了。因為阿林加洛沙的世界是心靈的世界，不是肉體的世界。
在飛機飛越葡萄牙海岸時，阿林加洛沙的教士服裡的手機在無聲狀態震動起來。雖然航空公司禁止在飛機飛行期間使用手機，但阿林加洛沙知道這個電話他不能不接。只有一個人有這個號碼，這個人就是給阿林加洛沙郵寄手機的人。
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