God Kills

Art Greco is discovering that God kills and the devil gives life — that Christ is in the business of destroying and Satan is in the business of sustaining. While God seeks to kill that which should not be allowed to live in us, Satan tries to breathe life into it. Perhaps that’s why he finds himself addressing God in a rather strange way when he prays lately, using a much less common title, his dominant title in a dying man’s life: “Oh dear Holy Assassin: Be loving enough to eliminate what pollutes my heart and erodes my soul. And when the day comes that I attempt to annul this contract, to withdraw the permission I now give, listen instead to the instructions of Your own headstrong mercy. Swallow hard, breathe deep, take aim, and pull trigger. Amen.”