Reflection for October 16

Kalanithi had abandoned the Christian faith of his devout family during his schooling but had returned to faith after realizing that if there was no God, then the best parts of living – love, honor, redemption, sacrifice, forgiveness – were also false. He refused atheism because he could not build a meaningful life on the idea of blind determinism. His need to believe in love and redemption led him back to Jesus, in whom he saw the highest value of all: “The main message of Jesus… is that mercy trumps justice every time” (Shirley Hershey Showalter, reviewing Paul Kalanithi’s book, When Breath Becomes Air; Christian Century, October 12, 2016).