It is best that we all strive to lead good moral lives, as we see in this crime story that all people’s actions affect each other. The cost of redemption is great, but the cost of sin is even greater. It all depends on the basic nature of a given person, and the life they are given. The lives of Dolan, Ivan, Lily, Cynthia, and Father Ignatius all prove this. They all find redemption, each in their own way, in their own time, in their own religious ways.
For others, redemption can be exceedingly costly. In Lily’s case, her spoiled childhood, and being raised in a military family that was troubled caused her to seek solace in material things. Self-bondage and compulsive shopping helped Lily deal with her father’s death. Her greed caused her to commit one of the most heinous sins, the act of murder. It was not until she went to prison that she finally found some redemption.
Ivan was the worst of fathers, believing his Luciferian cult ways gave one the right to abuse, torture, and kill others. Since he had been in the highest circles, he knew to whom he could report all the crimes of drug smuggling, murder, torture, and other illegal acts. Those he was involved with were after him….so he turned to the Orthodox church for help….
Ivan’s son Nolan, after seeing his mother and sister die in a fire he was sure his father started, and from which he escaped, grew up with spiritual guidance. He met Lily and fell in love. She helped him in his charity work, but her shopping addiction put a financial burden on Nolan, and they divorced years later, leavings Lily to prey on a man she met whom she believed was wealthy. When she learned he wasn’t, she and an acquaintance plotted his death in order to collect on the insurance….
There are those in the story who never find redemption. They are the saddest characters. They start out good, with careers that would help people, but gave in to their own earthly desires and put their want for wealth above all else. Perhaps in time….
Genre: FICTION / ReligiousWe have a team posting to social media.
Dolan was a rising star of good works and charity in the small Midwestern town where he had been born and raised. His favorite charity to volunteer was the local homeless shelter, the Christian Mission. He was quickly becoming a pillar of the community because of his charity work, and as an individual worthy of respect, he was generally well-liked and appreciated.
Dolan had had an exceedingly difficult life from an early age, and by the time he reached the age of nineteen, many people who knew him agreed he’d suffered as much as the dear Lord himself. Dolan was mortal, of course, and as with any other person struggling to cope with the pressures and realities of life, he was nothing, if not fallible. Even so, the life he’d lived and the people he’d touched often had those around him singing his praises.
“What do you think about Dolan?” one of the Mission workers would often say when new volunteers would arrive to help out.
“Well, let me tell you something about that young man,” the volunteer would answer. “He may be smiling and nice and easy when you talk to him face-to-face, but that boy has suffered, and not a soul alive could deny it. Of course, you heard what that evil father of his did to his mother and sister, haven’t you? Damn near did it to him, too, and probably would have if the fire hadn’t gotten to him first.”
Dolan made his claim to fame by helping out at the Christian Mission and caring for many of its different residents. The Christian Mission was well known as a Christian-based homeless shelter as well as a halfway house throughout the town and the three surrounding counties. The Christian Mission had the mission of taking in anyone who was homeless for whatever reason, but the rules were very strict.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Daniele Giuffrè
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Paulina Ortega
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