The Father of Teeth

Text for today: I Caries cxxiii-cxxxvii

Bless me Father for I have sinned, said the paedophile, and the Father of Teeth grinned through the lattice. Tell me your sins, my son, he said. I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, said the paedophile, and I have brought great opprobrium and disrepute upon the holy name of my church through the indulgence of my unnatural and wanton desires. And what desires are those, my son, asked the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice. Children, groaned the paedophile, children, Father; I love them, only not entirely in the manner of our Lord, and they do lead one on so. The things they will do, Father, for the promise of some petty reward or the prospect of gaining favour with the powerful, should be a lesson to us all. Quite so, said the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice; and tell me, my son, about these unnatural and wanton desires of yours. Did you ask for them, did you beg for them? Did you pray to the Creator every day, petitioning Him to bestow upon you these unnatural and wanton desires, along with your daily bread and the serenity to accept what you cannot change? On the contrary, Father, said the paedophile, on the contrary, I prayed day and night to be relieved of these urges, to be granted the strength to conquer them for the good of the church, as the strength to conquer sin comes only from the Creator. And yet, said the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice, the Creator chose not to bestow that strength upon you, even for the good of his holy church, the One who gave you those unnatural and wanton desires chose not to circumvent the work of His own hands. But Father, said the paedophile, the Creator never lets us be tempted beyond our own power to resist. In that case, said the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice, since all virtue emanates from Him, the Creator might have sent the children better strength to resist your persuasions and forgive your transgressions, He might have sent the church better strength to keep the children out of danger, He might even have bestowed upon Himself the common decency not to work so many tasteless pranks into His eternal plan, but there you have the problem, my son, said the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice, there you have the whole problem, the poor old bastard simply cannot help Himself, honestly, my son, I could tell you stories that would make your humours curdle. But will He help me, Father, asked the paedophile. Ego te absolvo, said the Father of Teeth, grinning through the lattice, for all the good it will do you, and the paedophile went his way comforted for exactly as long as the Creator had ordained.