Writing response to The Power and the Glory
In the jail scene in the novel The Power and the Glory the whiskey priest as he is called has been arrested and taken to jail for a crime of treason, that being the possession of religion, which is viewed as dangerous to the government’s total authority. As he is simply looking for peace in this 12 x 12 cell, he is repeatedly harassed for cigarettes and money by all manner of wretched scum, arrested for many different crimes. If the whiskey priest had been like them, he would have been as useless and corrupt as Padre Jose. But what saved him was that he found understanding and pity for them, and did not begrudge them for their selfishness. This is the whiskey priest’s saving grace. This is all of humanity’s saving grace. This is forgiveness.
