an-echo-in-the-darkness

Were you there?__he shook her head. __o. I was here in Nain having achild.___hen why do you weep as though you had part in hiscrucifixion? You had no part in it._____ like nothing better than to think I would haveremained faithful. But if those closest to him__isdisciples, his own brothers__urned away, who am I tothink I__ better than they and would have donedifferently? No, Marcus. We all wanted what wewanted, and when the Lord fulfilled his purpose ratherthan ours, we struck out against him. Like you. In anger.Like you. In disappointment. Yet, it is God__ will thatprevails.__e looked away. __ don__ understand any of this.___ know you don__. I see it in your face, Marcus. Youdon__ want to see. You__e hardened your heart againsthim._ She started to walk again.__s should all who value their lives,_ he said, thinking ofHadassah__ death.__t is God who has driven you here.__e gave a derisive laugh. __ came here of my ownaccord and for my own purposes.___id you?_ Marcus_ face became stony.Deborah pressed on. __e were all created incompleteand will find no rest until we satisfy the deepest hungerand thirst within us. You__e tried to satisfy it in your ownway. I see that in your eyes, too, as I__e seen it in somany others. And yet, though you deny it with your lastbreath, your soul yearns for God, Marcus LucianusValerian.__er words angered him. __ods aside, Rome showsthe world that life is what man makes of it.___f that__ so, what are you making of yours?___ own a fleet of ships, as well as emporiums andhouses. I have wealth._ Yet, even as he told her, heknew it all meant nothing. His father had come to thatrealization just before he died. Vanity. It was all vanity.Meaningless. Empty.Old Deborah paused on the pathway. __ome points theway to wealth and pleasure, power and knowledge. ButRome remains hungry. Just as you are hungry now.Search all you will for retribution or meaning to your life,but until you find God, you live in vain.