Rod Dreher has a terrific column in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News, describing a fraud and con artist, in the guise of a monk peddling a fake icon, who managed, nonetheless, to touch Rod’s life with grace.

It was through that charlatan that Rod met his wife. You need to read the whole thing to get a sense of how it all unfolded. But Rod’s conclusion is stirring:

By one standard, Father Benedict deserves a millstone lashed to his neck for eternity. That’s what I’d have given the old buzzard, but God’s a better Christian than I am. And yet, I’m forced to admit that from [his] wicked deeds, my beloved family sprung…

This mystery throws everything off balance. It offends my sense of order and righteousness to recognize it, but the mere existence of my children is evidence that however miserable and mean and degraded, that dirty old monk, probably in spite of himself, was once an instrument of grace.

Did other good fruit emerge from this poisoned vineyard? Who knows, and who can say whether it counts for anything? But when [Fr. Benedict] is judged, there my little family stands, however reluctantly, as silent witnesses for the defense, pleading on his behalf for the same thing every one of us will one day need: mercy.

Read the whole column. It’s not long, and it’s worth it.