The words of Rybin occurred to her: "They
have mutilated even our God for us, they have turned everything in
their hands against us. In the churches they set up a scarecrow
before us. They have dressed God up in falsehood and calumny;
they have distorted His face in order to destroy our souls!"
Without being herself aware of it, she prayed less; yet, at the same
time, she meditated more and more upon Christ and the people who,
without mentioning his name, as though ignorant of him, lived, it
seemed to her, according to his will, and, like him, regarded the
earth as the kingdom of the poor, and wanted to divide all the
wealth of the earth among the poor. Her reflections grew in her
soul, deepening and embracing everything she saw and heard. They
grew and assumed the bright aspect of a prayer, suffusing an even
glow over the entire dark world, the whole of life, and all people.
And it seemed to her that Christ himself, whom she had always loved
with a perplexed love, with a complicated feeling in which fear was
closely bound up with hope, and joyful emotion with melancholy, now
came nearer to her, and was different from what he had been. His
position was loftier, and he was more clearly visible to her.
Pages:
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390