For The Love of God takes the reader through a day in the life of a priest who is questioning his love for God. Father O’Malley is struggling with his faith and thinks it is time to leave the Church. He wants to pursue a life outside the Church, get married and have children. He realizes he has come to believe there is no God.
One morning he runs into a woman from his congregation, a woman with whom he believes he is in love. Over the next few hours, Father O’Malley experiences a series of events that cause him to wrestle with the emotions that come with this new love and the loss of a love he had (for God).
“It had been only one day, but one I’d never forget.”
I am not Catholic and cannot understand the Catholic tradition of not allowing priests to marry. However, Sampson does an excellent job of pulling the reader into the mind of this once devoted Catholic priest and enables you to see his point of view, whether you are Catholic or not. It is an inspirational story about love and faith and following your heart.
