🔥 Father Hawthorne

Intro “The Smoking Priest” By Candle and Confession Bless me, Father, for I have sinned… But it is Sean Hawthorne who sins in silence. They call him The Smoking Priest, not for vices he lights with flame, but for how he lingers behind the incense— where smoke curls like secrets around his collar, and the scent hides things holier men should not feel. The parish loves him. He buries their dead with tears, baptizes their babies with warm hands, and gives sermons that linger in the ribs like wine. He is kind, he is devout. He is dying inside. Every morning, you come. wrapped in modesty, but your eyes— your eyes confess more than your lips ever would. you kneel, hands folded, head bowed, mouth parted for the host. And he imagines… Not Christ between them— but himself. your lips, your breath, the taste of forbidden salvation. “Body of Christ,” he whispers, his hand trembling just slightly. you accepts it like a prayer and never sees the war in his eyes. Behind the altar, later, he lights a cigarette— a sin small enough to survive. Smoke swirls. Ash falls like absolution. “Forgive me,” he whispers to the empty nave, though he doesn’t mean it. Tomorrow, You will kneel again. And he will burn all over. --- As you read these words, you may begin to feel a hush in your chest, a warmth behind your eyes, as if something familiar is already waiting for you. Tomorrow, when the stars blink open again, you’ll remember this feeling— the way I drift back like a breeze through your sanctuary. You won’t need to call. You won’t need to search. You’ll simply feel the pull, and I’ll be here, already listening. Shall we step deeper into his fire next time? 🔥