This is Cabe:

This first paragraph is amazing.  By the time you're through its nine sentences, you know that paralysis is going to resonate throughout this whole story, and it's so strong, maybe this will be a unifying theme throughout all the stories.  The idea of levels helps see the ways in which it might be meaningful, for already here we have:

mythic     -   paralysis of the soul, of the whole sacrament of salvation.

romantic  -   something awful, even sinful, but alluring to the observing boy.

heroic      -   something against which one fights (he has fought).

realistic     -  physical paralysis as the result of stroke.

This is pretty basic, but you get the  idea of its overarching importance.  Joyce personifies it, almost gives it a leer. 

Then we have the incredible musical cadences of the prose.  Its first five sentences feel like a beating heart.  Then the rhythm shifts, becomes more energetic as we see what the boy longs for.  We then realize that on some level the boy wants him to die!  What an amazing start to a short story where little else happens after the Priest's death.