A Glimmer of Hope

Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory was interesting to me. To be honest, it took me a while to get into it. It in a way had a post-apocalyptic feel to it as though the world, or at least the Christian world, is on the verge of extinction. Even the fact that it is set in Mexico made it feel strange to me (maybe because I kept thinking of the setting of the movie Nacho Libre, staring Jack Black). However, amid all of the bleakness and despair, hope of redemption remains alive in the last priest. He has compassion toward people that find themselves living in a wasteland in which their religion has all but been taken away. The priest provides this glimmer of redemption throughout the story, performing last rites and praying with people in an effort to give them hope while he is on the run from the authorities. Even after the priest’s martyrdom, the other characters, particularly the lieutenant, seem to realize that there must be satisfaction and hope somewhere.

The bottom line is: I liked The Power and the Glory. The idea of being the last glimmer of hope in a world of darkness really appealed to me. Though quite the imperfect type, I do think the priest can be viewed as a type of Christ, one who carries redemption with him.