The Diary of a Country Priest by George Bernanos is a journal. The diary are entries from day to day. From these entries, the reader becomes familiar with the priest's parish. He does his best. He's alone. He ministers to everyone regardless of status. But the people are hard-hearted. Some are so disrespectful, I'm embarrassed for the priest.
The reader can feel the priest's loneliness. He has no one he can bounce ideas off. He is always "on". It's like living in a fishbowl. To add to the priest's troubles, he is physically sick. Eventually, the reader finds out that he has cancer in the stomach. It will kill him.
He is a good priest. He sees grace everywhere. Even when dying, he is a faithful priest. His last words were "grace is everywhere."