The Power and the Glory - Connection to the Passion

The hot and slight wind stirs the packed dust below the soft stomp of a donkey. Not even the breeze brings relief in this heat. A silhouette of the priest is seen as it sways drunken atop the donkey slowly making its way out of town; sweat constantly beads his face knowing that the blazing sun exposes the truth – a truth he may only know – which haunts him constantly. Weighed under the anxiety over his perturbed conscience, the priest must push on and preach the only thing left in this dying world worth living for: his faith. In Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, Greene portraits the last priest in Mexico to have taken most of the same path as his ultimate aspiration, Jesus; the journey and behavior of both are exceedingly similar as the priest becomes wiser and his conviction stronger, when he realizes his final purpose – become a saint.

It seems with everything we set out to do, the task at hand is easier said than done, and what was setting the priest back, was himself. The biggest wall that stood before him was his own conscience. The priest was the only one who could look down a long list of things he has done wrong and shudder in remorse; continually wondering why he was the one left. Always he asked why this was, as if he would never be worthy enough for the position. Like many things, we somehow manage and overcome. A clear conscience was not the only solution; there were other barriers the priest had to hurdle as well. Siding with the government, a grisly mestizo acted as Judah did for Jesus with betrayal, but the priest saw through this hollow man, just as Jesus had. Both knew from the very beginning what was waiting for them at the end of the tunnel, there was one final obstacle they had to pass before they came to the light – death.

The priest and Jesus each had a trial for what they were accused, and both trials were as good as no trial at all. For the priest, the outcome was set from the moment he started running. While on the run, the priest stopped and gave mass and confessions just as Jesus had gone around to different towns teaching. “A man can be unwelcome even in his own home.” (pg …) And neither staid long or could do much for their home towns. The priest’s conviction was what pushed him to move on, and although it may seem like there was no one else with conviction, there was one other person who maintained it in this novel. The lieutenant had exact opposite views of the priest’s, yet it is conviction all the same. Within the story of the Passion the lieutenant was very similar to Pilot. He was driven to do this “for his people”. The lieutenant had nothing against the priest, besides the fact that he was a priest working for God. People respect those with conviction; it is those who have no opinion at all who are disgraced. Although the lieutenant respected the priest’s conviction, the final priest had to be removed.

The journey to death was long, yet straight forward for the priest just as Jesus’ was. Burdening a cross of conscience, the priest sat alone through his last sleepless night in deep prayer, and Jesus had done just the same less than two thousand years before. Padre José’s unwillingness to come and aid a fellow priest in his last night on earth was a replication of Jesus’ night in the garden. Just as Padre José had abandoned the last priest in his final time of need for comfort, Jesus’ disciples fell asleep in the garden while he was praying. Both spent their last night alone with the anxiety of knowing what they were doing for the sake of others. Aside from the fact that nothing lasts forever, the priest knew for awhile his death was soon to come, for with conviction, death is no longer a threat, it is a given.

The waiting was over, his time on earth washing away with every breath; before the shot he managed to gasp his final word “excuse—”, but there were no need for excuses, and he had none for himself. For those with conviction have no use for such defenses, their actions are deliberate and long lasting. Such decisions allowed the priest to arrive at this day. Understandably, people would view this circumstance as the worst situation to be in, yet it is simply returning. The priest, returning to God, is accepting the end, praying for acceptance. Finally he is leaving this torn, broken world behind.

The Power and the Glory Response - Chapter Four

Darkness encloses like an envelope, yet allows the sheets of rain to continue to pour and lines of lightening to continue to strike. Rumbles follow illuminated skies and reveal a man, a woman and her nearly dead child. A desolate situation, an abandoned area, and an uneasy quiet outside the thunder, yet hope was still found here – far fetched or reasonable, hope all the same. At the end of every desperate situation for the Priest, there is a revival of faith refreshed within him tying him even closer to God when he seems farthest.

Both the woman and the dog were living off of hope, but their types of hope were much different from each other. Hope is having faith – for the woman – this is faith in God. On the other hand, the dog just lives to be alive and this struggle looks to us like some form of hope. There is natural fight instinct within everyone to keep living no matter what, but animals cannot think past just that. They live for no purpose of their own, they die for no purpose of their own, and “An animal knows no despair.” (pg 141) They are stuck at the bottom of the human diagram; repeating the same cycle: birth, reproduction and death repeated constantly with no higher aspirations other than just existing and continuing the food chain. Humanity strives to be something more, but the natural pull to be something better comes with reasoning that animals cannot obtain. We are challenged with despair, but we must overcome.

As the priest overcomes more he becomes more cautious and his thoughts bend to be able to best meet the needs of others, but at the same time keep after his own safety. So while he is thinking or going through a process, he is constantly changing his mind. When he left the woman with her dead child at the graves he said, “A man’s first duty is to himself – even the church taught that, in a way.” (pg 155) Although he did change his mind and come back for the woman, this shows that he is still not at all perfect. The same occurred when he kept eating off the bone from the dog; setting places to stop eating and leave for the dog until there was nothing but bone – useless to a dog with broken teeth. Yet we see something else from the priest as well. As he witnesses a faith so strong in this woman, he finds no reason for God not to grant her her miracle. No reason for him to be shocked by what she was doing. But one did not wish for their life –confusion and dying – God would not punish the innocent to return to such a cruel world. The dog as well had seen the damage of the world, but persevered as she always had, for that was all she could do. “Unlike him she retained a kind of hope. Hope is an instinct only the reasoning human mind can kill.” (pg 141)

It seemed that every where the priest went, human life was receding – forever the blank area of the map. To him it seemed almost as if all life was diminishing until he saw snakes and monkeys. Such small reassurances gave him great comfort, for he wasn’t the only living thing left on earth. “O God, I have loved the beauty of Thy house,” the priest said in a prayer of thanks for even the slightest signs of life. Shortly after reciting this prayer in all sincerity the priest stumbled into a peaceful city in the middle of near-despair. Each time he thought he had escaped life all too completely, God presented him with some form of it, and eventually the priest happened upon people again. Faith with God should always leave hope in our hearts that he will guide us home again, whether directly or indirectly; “He fell asleep, with home behind his shoulder blades.” (pg 159) Along with the safety that surrounds when coming home, there is a wave of relief and security that washed over the priest for being able now to willingly die for what he believes in, even if that moment shouldn’t come too soon.

“Even through danger and misery the pendulum swings.” (pg …) Bells ring in the glorious victory of finally making it home. The white of the church and clanging of the bells blurred with the splendor of relief that rushed through the priest as he laid his back against the wall of the church, allowing God to keep him as he slept peacefully for the first time in years. The hope expressed at the end of the chapter was the most reassuring as it has ever been, but the pendulum will still swing. It will not stop to pause just as life will not stop for the priest to catch up, or forever stay in this moment of overwhelming bliss.