But that was another bad thing about being a priest—always having to try to be like Our Lord.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: As a child, Joe believes in the sanctity and mystical powers of the priesthood. Being a priest is not just a career. The priesthood, for Joe, is that rare expression of the soul in a world otherwise relentlessly earth-bound, that is committed to materialism. As an altar server, he observes the parish priest with reverence and awe. As he weighs his two options for his life plan—business or the priesthood—he sees as the most difficult challenge of being a priest the expectation that a priest models himself on Christ. A priest must live a life of perfect sanctity and perfect grace. But this is the goal young Joe sets for himself as he completes his studies in the seminary: to be a saint.

Now he knew what he was...
-- Narrator (chapter 4)