There have been times," Father Mark admitted, "when I feared that God would turn out to be like my maternal grandmother {...} Ours was a large family, and every Christmas my grandmother gave gifts of cash in varying amounts, claiming she was rewarding her grandchildren according to how much they loved her. She swore she could look right into our hearts and know. One child would get a crisp fifty-dollar bill, the next a crumpled single. No two gifts were ever in the same amount."Miles nodded. "Well, maybe there's a hell.
In Richard Russo's "Empire Falls," Father Mark expresses a profound fear regarding the nature of God, comparing His potential judgment to that of his grandmother, who gifted her grandchildren cash based on her perception of their love for her. This unsettling practice reflected her belief that she could read their hearts, resulting in unequal gifts that varied greatly among the children. Some received generous amounts, while others were given meager sums,...
