"Good friend, forget the Virgin Mary," said Josè gently, laying his hand on Rosendo's arm. "Forget her! _Hombre!_ Why--she has all power--she works miracles every hour--she directs the angels--gives commands to God himself! Padre Simón said she was the absolute mistress of heaven and earth, and that men and animals, the plants, the winds, all health, sickness, life and death, depended upon her will! He said she did not die as we must, but that she was taken up into heaven, and that her body was not allowed to decay and return to dust, as ours will. _Hombre!_ She is in heaven now, praying for us. What would become of us but for her?--for she prays to God for us--she--!" "No, Rosendo, she does nothing of the kind. God is infinite, unchanging. He could not be moved or influenced by the Virgin Mary or any one else. He is unlimited _good_. He is not angry with us--He couldn't be, for He could not know anger. Did not Jesus say that God was Love? Love does not afflict--Love does not need to be importuned or prayed to. I see it now. I see something of what Carmen sees. We suffer when we sin, because we 'miss the mark.' But the punishment lasts only as long as the sin continues. And we suffer only until we know that God is infinite good, and that there is no evil. That is the truth, I feel sure, which Jesus came to teach, and which he said would make us free. Free from what? From the awful beliefs that use us, and to which we are now subject, until we learn the facts about God and His creation. Don't you see that infinite good could never create evil, nor ever permit evil to be created, nor allow it to really exist?" "Well, then, what is evil? And where did it come from?" "That we must wait to learn, Rosendo, little by little. You know, the Spanish proverb says, 'Step by step goes a great way.' But meantime, let us go forward, clinging to this great truth: God is infinite good--He is love--we are His dear children--and evil was _not_ made by Him, and does not have His sanction. It therefore cannot be real. It must be illusion. And, being such, it can be overcome, as Jesus said it could." "_Na_, Padre--" "Wait, Rosendo!" Josè held up his hand. "Carmen is doing just what I am advising you to do--is she not?" "Yes, Padre." "Do you think she is mistaken?" "Padre, she knows God better than she knows me," the man whispered. "It was you who first told her that God was everywhere, was it not?" "Yes, Padre." And the mind of the child, keenly sensitive and receptive to truth, had eagerly grasped this dictum and made it the motif of her life. She knew nothing of Jesus, nothing of current theology. Divine Wisdom had used Rosendo, credulous and superstitious though he himself was, to guard this girl's mind against the entrance of errors which were taught him as a child, and which in manhood held him shackled in chains which he might not break.