"'There was a man, a Frenchman, you wouldn't know about him, my child, who had the same idea as you. He was a good man, a holy man, and he lived in sin all through his life, because he couldn't bear the idea that any soul could suffer damnation... This man decided that if any soul was going to be damned, he would be damned too. He never took the sacrament, he never married his wife in church. I don't know, my child, but some people think he was - well, a saint. I think he died in what we are told is mortal sin - I'm not sure: it was in the war: perhaps...You can't conceive, my child, nor can I or anyone the...appalling...strangeness of the mercy of God.... It was a case of greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his soul for his friend...The church does not demand that we believe that any soul is cut from mercy.'" - Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
No comments:
Post a Comment