The Power and the Glory: Part 3: A Journey to Remember

Hello everyone! Caleb Ware here again to make my final post until I send it into my publishers to review my piece. I just have to say what an amazing experience it's been following this enigmatic priest and just following how things go on down here in Mexico. I have really been able to witness first hand the hardships these priests go through everyday in modern Mexico. The last time I wrote, I talked about how the priest had met his estranged family, but then left them again for their sake and happiness. Along the way, he also met the mestizo, who offered to help him on his way to Carmen. However, the mestizo realized soon that there was a nice reward for handing in this certain priest to the police, and he tries to do so. However, before he could, he got so sick and weak, he didn't have the strength to travel to find the police. Surprising though, the priest helped the man in his travels to Carmen, even at the risk of being caught. I noticed while following them that the priest had many opportunities to abandoned this Judas-like person, he kept with him throughout the journey, never leaving him. Is this priest actually a good man? Does he have a heart? After all this sin he's committed, is there any redeeming qualities about him? As I write this, I am even more convinced that that opinion is in the hands of the reader. Only you can decided whether he's a good person in the end.
A series of unfortunate events occurred when the lieutenant finally caught up with the priest and captures him. The funny thing is that the priest didn't fight back. It's as if he suddenly realized that his time has come to be captured and brought to trial for his ultimate "crime". He was then brought to jail to be executed later. Later, the lieutenant went to Father Jose's house. I don't believe I've really mentioned Father Jose that much. A while back, Jose was a priest himself like the whiskey priest. However, due to the banning of religious freedom, he decided to renounce his faith and in doing so took back his belief in God in public and lost all respect from the villagers in his town. Since then, even kids know what a coward he was for denying his faith publicly and marrying a strange woman, which was required in the process of renouncing your faith in God. Now, he lives unhappily with this woman he barely loves, and in shame. At the house, the lieutenant asked Jose if he could come down to the police station so he could listen to the confession of the priest, who was to be executed the next day. However, his wife being the loud mouth she is, yelled at him not to go, saying that it's all probably just a trick by the lieutenant. He then reluctantly told the man he can't go and stays with his overbearing wife. I couldn't believe this women, and I don't understand how this man could be with her all these years. Anyways, I followed the lieutenant back to the station. I had to bypass so many security to get to this one man, who was guarded by solider-like men. As I was sneaking towards the jail cell holding the priest, I could hear the man bursting in tears as the lieutenant told him Father Jose was not  coming down. However, an unexpected surprise came in the shape of a brandy bottle, given to the priest by the lieutenant! What!? What is this? Is this lieutenant man really a good man inside showing compassion to this helpless and abandoned priest. I couldn't believe this. This would be a great way to end my piece for the Chronicle if my publishers like it: Lieutenant shows an act of kindness towards this man who's destined for execution hours away. While drinking this drink, the priest suddenly burst into prayer and kept asking God to save his daughter from all this. It's so hard to describe this heartbreakingly touching scene as this man is finally praying to God for something that meant so dear to him. A funny thing happened at night when I was observing this man in prison as he finally fell asleep. He suddenly got up and as if he was sleepwalking, went over to the small table in his sell, sat in the chair, and started to use hand motions as if he was eating. As I sat there watching this man for hours, I couldn't help but be awed by what this man was doing. When morning dawned, the man suddenly woke up with a sudden shriek. I accidentally leaped up stupidly and asked him if he was alright. I couldn't believe I did that. He then told me he was dreaming about eating at a cathedral  during a ceremony, but paying no heed to the event going on around him. He said he was just sitting at the table, waiting to be served the fancy meal. He then said it was only a dream though, and that he's lost all hope in that dream as the guards came to get him to lead him towards the execution site. I tried to follow him and tell him God loves him, but he was led away too fast....

That was the last time I ever saw him.


Normally I never cry, even at the saddest of stories, whether fiction or real. However, this story broke me in a sense and I later left the prison and wept. I couldn't help feeling sorry for this priest, while everyone else around me hated him for all the pain he caused. I wondered if this man was actually a good person inside who's made many mistakes. Everyone does, but God tells us that if we openly confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. I can't help wondering if the priest actually confessed his sins to God in the end. This man seemed to have gone through so much in his journey, yet did anyone actually stop to ask him if he alright inside? Did anyone even try to talk to this man and actually agree to help him for the right reasons? Was he really the bad guy in the whole story, or was he just a victim of society's cruel mistreatment's? I guess we'll never know whether he was a good man with a bad history, or just bad overall. I'll leave that up to my readers to decide.

It is now the end of my long journey, and I must piece together my journals and send them in to be reviewed. I hope you have all enjoyed reading my journal entries and hope to able to write again soon, hopefully about a different, yet equally engrossing story.

This is Caleb Ware everyone, until next time.