Who is their God?

“Where is their God?” Psalm 115:2

One of my favorite actors is Gregory Peck and the reason is, I like most of his movies. One particular favorite is “Scarlet and the Black”, a film about a real priest and Vatican official,  Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, credited with saving 6,500 Jews and Allied war prisoners during the Nazi occupation of Italy. 

The Monsignor in the course of his rescue efforts entailing disguises as he leaves the Vatican, gets into conflict with the SS Head of Police for Rome, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler played by Christopher Plummer. Nearing the end of the war, as Kappler realizes he would be caught and imprisoned, he asked the Monsignor to bring his wife and children to safety. The Monsignor refuses and says heatedly, “You have audacity! After all the people you’ve killed! All you’ve destroyed!” Kappler in disappointment responded sarcastically, “So much for for your Christianity!”

When Kappler was in prison, he was being questioned and one of the questions was, “Who helped you rescue your family?” He realized that the Monsignor had helped him after all. His family was smuggled out to safety in Switzerland. In the credits, it was noted that the Monsignor was the only regular visitor of Kappler and that when Kappler was out of prison, he asked the Monsignor to baptize him and he became a Roman Catholic in 1959. 

“Who is their God?” the pagans and unbelievers ask. When they look at our lives, do they see the God of love and forgiveness? Do they want what we have?