The Good Thief

There is a surprising bit in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur in which one of the Knights of the Round Table is approached by a priest to do confession and penance. And the knight responds that as a knight errant he has little need for the sacrament; because the sufferings of his station are so great.

Yet this seem theologically right. Any suffering we face in life serves as payment for sin. 

Otherwise how else to interpret what Jesus says on the cross to St. Dismas, the Good Thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Dismas is a sinful man. He himself admits that he deserves his punishment. Yet Jesus says he will spend no time in purgatory. He seems to make a special point of saying so.

The reason must be because he has already received full punishment for his sin on earth. As Dismas puts it, “the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes.”

This also makes better sense of many of the Beatitudes, in which Jesus suggests that those who mourn, those who are poor, those who are persecuted, are blessed.

Worth remembering in hard times.