A Sacrifice for Love was written years ago when I was a member of a Protestant congregation. I don’t remember the exact reason that the story premise took hold, but the seeds must have been weed-like as I laid down nearly 100,000 words.
The story relates the fictional telling of a priest falling in love during a period of religious conflict, a time when Father Martin Luther challenged principles of the Roman Catholic Church, such as indulgences. In the ensuing years, he was instrumental in writing a German translation of the Bible, and ultimately the birth of the Lutheran religion. This was the perfect period to set my story.
I had taken an avid interest in the clergy, in particular, priests not being able to marry, especially given that prior to the year AD 1139, priests were able to marry and many had wives and families.
I’m sure there are many reasons why the celibate rule became clerical law. Although in the 2017 year, it’s surprising to me that the rule still exists, forcing priests to choose between their vocation and the love of a partner. Some priests have left the church for this reason.
I felt that spirituality had to form a part of the written work of this book. I’ve tried to temper the religious oratory as while I once wrote inspirational romance, that’s not my focus now. Not wanting this story to become a sermon, I revised the text to keep the focus on the romance. Oh my goodness, I feel like I had to cut the weeds to permit the flowers to shine through!
I don’t mean to offend anyone with a faith background. I hope if you choose to read this book, you’ll see Mathias as I do: a hero compelled to the ministry, who offers his compassion and service for the betterment of the community. Why shouldn’t he find the love of a good woman, too?
Mathias and Sophia’s story is worthy of being told, and in fairness to my characters, their love story has been collecting dust since 1994! Not fair to keep a story under my bed for so long!
A Sacrifice for Love is on sale for the next few days, so it’s a great time to purchase my fourth novel. It’s available exclusively at Amazon (The US only).