What's remarkable is that even though many dark secrets are uncovered from the characters' past lives, they never change their shallow, selfish behaviour. The phone calls unsettle them, but they never come to repentance. It's as if the phone calls are a gift constantly offered but never accepted.
Muriel Spark converted to Roman Catholicism before she wrote her novels. (Although she had written poetry and short stories before her conversion, she claimed she was unable to write novels until after her conversion.) All of her novels that I've read are colored with her Christian faith without ever being preachy. They're on average about 200 pages each with plenty of dialogue, so you could easily read one in an evening.
| Life, Death and Time |
Autumn Depression
The other evening they had an item on the Polish news about autumn depression. A lot of people around the world suffer from this. It's understandable, I suppose. Fall is a beautiful season but it is tinged with some sadness. Summer is over. The days are getting shorter and colder and the trees begin to get bare. Fall reminds us that the year is dying.
How many of us remember those New Year resolutions we made 10 months ago? How many of us have kept them? We didn't lose weight or quit smoking or join a gym. We're still stuck in the same dead-end job or haven't yet found a job. We continue to get impatient with our spouse and children. We haven't found that special someone and are still alone. We still think evil thoughts. We still don't make enough time for prayer.
The Kingdom of God is at hand
According to one account, the phrase "Kingdom of God" appears 122 times in the New Testament with 99 of these found in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). The Kingdom of God is not for some future time. The Kingdom may be as a mustard seed or a buried pearl, but it is here and now among us. And since that is true, it is therefore true that eternal life is now. Our earthly lives will end but our eternal lives begin once God's Kingdom takes root in our hearts.
Christians ought to do everything to the best of their abilities. Whether we're doctors, teachers, sales clerks or professional athletes; parents, spouses, children, siblings, etc., we should strive for excellence because all that we do should be for the greater glory of God (ad majorem Dei gloriam).
Yet we may lose our job, our health or our family. We may lose everything we ever worked for. But our friendship with Jesus Christ is what ultimately matters. Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)
Our lives are not our own anyway, so why do we worry? Your life belongs to God, so let him have it. This earthly life is going to pass whatever you do, but Jesus has prepared a mansion for you. He loves you and wishes for you to spend eternity with him.
This October 14th was the 15th anniversary of the death of Renata's father. He died of a heart attack. I never met him.
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