Chap­ter 73 of All the Col­ors of the Dark unfolds as Patch finds him­self drawn to the tran­quil­i­ty of St. Raphael’s Church, a place where he seeks a sense of con­nec­tion to his lost past. The qui­et of the church dur­ing the hours between sun­set and sun­rise pro­vides a stark con­trast to the tur­moil inside him. As he sits in the pews, the weight of his exhaus­tion and feel­ings of fail­ure press down on him, and he reflects on his life choic­es. Patch is struck by the church’s open doors, a ges­ture he finds hard to under­stand, yet com­fort­ing in its sim­plic­i­ty. The still­ness of the church wraps around him, almost as if wel­com­ing him into its embrace, encour­ag­ing him to sit and con­front his own strug­gles. Just as he begins to find some peace in the silence, Patch notices Dr. Tooms near­by, a fig­ure who appears to be caught in his own moment of reflec­tion.

Their inter­ac­tion begins with Patch address­ing Tooms, who is deep in his prayers. As they exchange words, Patch learns that the church has no priest at the moment, which leads him to share his own need for con­fes­sion. He express­es a hope that by admit­ting his wrong­do­ings to God, he can find some peace. How­ev­er, Tooms pro­vides a prag­mat­ic response, point­ing out that the actions them­selves remain, regard­less of con­fes­sion. Patch quick­ly clar­i­fies that his desire is not for for­give­ness but for help—something he des­per­ate­ly needs but can­not artic­u­late ful­ly. Tooms seems to under­stand this unspo­ken need and responds with a know­ing tone, as though he has encoun­tered this kind of strug­gle before. The brief con­ver­sa­tion reveals the deep inner tur­moil that both men are grap­pling with, though they are each nav­i­gat­ing it in their own way.

Patch reflects on his past, recall­ing scrip­tures that once pro­vid­ed him with strength and guid­ance but now feel dis­tant and hol­low. He express­es his doubts about his abil­i­ty to make things right, feel­ing as though he has lost his way com­plete­ly. In response, Tooms offers reas­sur­ance, sug­gest­ing that it is not Patch’s bur­den to fix every­thing, as some things are beyond indi­vid­ual con­trol. Patch, still haunt­ed by the weight of his actions, turns his focus to the church’s bells, which echo through the still air and serve as a call for wor­ship. He inquires about Tooms’ pres­ence, curi­ous about what has brought the doc­tor to this sacred space at such an hour. Tooms admits that he seeks for­give­ness not for past wrongs, but for the future ones he is already aware he will com­mit. His admis­sion adds com­plex­i­ty to the con­ver­sa­tion, show­ing his recog­ni­tion of his own weak­ness­es, yet an inabil­i­ty to resist actions he knows will be wrong.

As Patch observes Tooms, he begins to notice the sub­tle signs of inner tur­moil in the doctor’s appear­ance, which con­trast with the calm demeanor he tries to present. Tooms, despite his ear­li­er admis­sion of seek­ing for­give­ness, seems con­flict­ed, and Patch won­ders if the silence of the cross above them speaks to this deep­er inter­nal strug­gle. The church, with its still­ness and rev­er­ence, becomes a sym­bol of the emo­tion­al weight both Patch and Tooms are car­ry­ing. Their respec­tive jour­neys of seek­ing solace and redemp­tion play out in the hushed sur­round­ings, with each man search­ing for under­stand­ing in a place that offers nei­ther quick answers nor easy res­o­lu­tions. The chap­ter encap­su­lates the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty that comes with seek­ing redemp­tion, the weight of past mis­takes, and the ongo­ing search for mean­ing in a world filled with silence and unan­swered ques­tions. Both Patch and Tooms are left con­fronting their own strug­gles, find­ing solace in the shared expe­ri­ence of grap­pling with faith, guilt, and the yearn­ing for peace.