35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

‘THERE’S BLOODLETTING AS WE SPEAK’
she dealt with Hindu concepts of karma and the philosophical
differences between Catholicism and the main Indian faiths.
‘I don’t know about any of that,’ she replied gruffly. ‘All that is
important is prayer and love in action. People suffer in different
ways all over the world. There is such a hunger for love everywhere.
Love – that is what matters.’ That pretty much answered all the
questions on my list. I asked if Catholicism was important to her.
‘It is important to everyone,’ she replied. ‘Not just me. But it is all
according to the grace God gives each person.’
‘So it doesn’t really matter which faith you belong to?’
‘No.’ She seemed alarmed. ‘It matters very much for the
individual. Once someone begins to seek God – through his grace
– then he must look in the right places. Otherwise he leaves the
road. You know, Gandhi once said if Christians lived the way Christ
taught then there wouldn’t be any Hindus remaining in India.’
‘I doubt if he meant it literally . . .’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said sternly. ‘Christians are the light of the world.’
‘Do you find the poor more appealing than the rich?’
‘We owe so much to the poor. Only in God’s heaven will we
know how much we owe them because, you see, they help us to
love God so much more.’
‘That sounds like you’re using the poor to get closer to God.’ She
merely shrugged.
‘What makes a saint, do you think?’
She brightened at the mention of this topic, saying, ‘There is a
great price to be paid. You must renounce everything. You must
overcome many temptations, and there will be struggle, even
persecution. And always sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. The price of
loving God is your whole self.’
‘Are you saying that your work with the poor is really connected
to your desire for, er . . . perfection?’ I was going to say ‘sainthood,’
but thought better of it.
‘The poor are God’s gift to us,’ she said obscurely. ‘They are the
way to learn love – through caring. It is not what we do that Christ
cares about, you know. He cares only how much love we put into
whatever we do. In your country there is spiritual poverty – that is
297