The
Diary of a Country Priest
by George Bernanos
Completed September 2002
I enjoyed The Diary of
a Country Priest. Bernanos
tells the story of a simple boy who struggles to be a simple country priest.
Early in the story, an
older priest say the following to our protagonist: “Our Heavenly Father said
mankind was the salt of the earth, son, not the honey. And our poor world’s
rather like old man Job, stretched out in all his filth, covered with ulcers
and sores. Salt stings on an open wound, but saves you from gangrene.”
In this, I think, is both
the premise and the point of Bernanos’ novel. His priest is living in THIS
world, not in a perfect world or a black-and-white world. And his life is more
similar to salt – stinging a bit to save his parishioners from gangrene. That
is the way that he salves their emotional and spiritual wounds. Another point
Bernanos is making, I think, is that the story of a simple soul IS epic. God
doesn’t ask this country priest to do anything other than serving his parish
well – but that is monumental work when we really get close to it and
understand it.