Like many of you, I was forced to read “The Brothers Karamazov” in college and struggled just to keep the Russian names — and nicknames — straight, never mind understand the various themes author Fyodor Dostoevsky explored.
But one of Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr’s online meditations last week made me think I should read it again all these years later. Rohr reminded me of the novel’s main theme, the conflict between faith and doubt, and how, in “The Brothers Karamazov,” faith wins.
Here’s the Dostoevsky quote:
Love people in their sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
