Easter Thought...

[highlyeccentric]

From a book the Wife leant me. A conversation between Uncle Hilary, the elderly priest of Big Village, and Malony, an ex-comedian mysteriously masquerading as an Irish handyman. Hilary explains to Malony how it is that he, a parson, suffers from 'failure of faith':

'... You know how it is in the black moments it's always the apparent failure of what you live by that gets you down. Only apparent, of course, for the mere fact that you're wretched because you think your faith's gone means you've got hold of it pretty firmly. If you had no faith you wouldn't care one way or the other, would you?'
'I wouldn't know,' said Malony, with gloomy self-satisfaction. 'I've no faith myself.'
'You've all the marks of it... What made you first take to the drink in Clerkenwell?'
'General ugliness of things. I was a romantic youngster. Thought life ought to be a lot different from what it was. Then a pal of mine let me down.'
'There you are then,' said Hilary comfortably. 'You believed in beauty, in loyalty. Drunk, you still believed in them. If you hadn't, you wouldn't have been drunk. Have some more coffee.'

- Elizabeth Goudge, The Herb of Grace, Coronet Books, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1965, pp. 237-238.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

What a great quote! It captures so much about humanity, doubt, and the hope and faith each of us carries--no matter how hidden.

B. Hawk

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Uncle Hilary reminds me of Firefly's Shepherd Book: 'believe in something, Mal. Doesn't matter what you believe in, just believe...'

:)

[daiskmeliadorn.livejournal.com]

hehe. that's cool.