"It wasn’t the first time that Men infuriated God. The story of relations between God and Men is a long series of quarrels and reconciliations. He loves them; they deceive him; He punishes them; they repent; He forgives them; they celebrate Him. And, driven by pride and desire for something else, they do it again.
God, his face closed, his eyes dark, his hands behind his back, paced up and down in his Eternity.
He had left Men free. Free of what? I’m asking you. Of the best and the worst.
But even love has its limits. The scales fell from his eyes. It wasn’t impossible that Men could be bad. It was a terrible blow for God who created them, who gave them birth by an act of love. Had Men forgotten that beauty and coherence of the universe was a free gift from God?
‘I’m afraid’, God said, ‘that they take it for granted : they are wrong.’"
God had only one desire: to stop time so that this wonderful universe He had created for Men would disappear, and Men with it.
He sent for the Archangel Gabriel. Before taking this terrible and final decision, Hhe would send Gabriel on Earth to report to Hhim about Men.
And so the author, Jean d'Ormesson, finds himself, one sunny Summer day, face to face with the angel Gabriel.
Gabriel asks Jean to tell him about his childhood, his life. And Jean tells. Fortunately for Gabriel, and for us readers, the angel fell on Jean. Born in 1925, in a cultured, hardworking, with a great sense of honor, loving and rich family, the author hadn’t had a common childhood. A childhood with the scent of the past centuries: gallant, kind, faithful to their flag, in love with the beautiful French language. The adolescence of Jean d'Ormesson, from 14 to 18 years old, takes place during WWII, in France, in Paris, the last years.
With simplicity, often with humour, grace and lightness, Jean d'Ormesson explains us, by the voice of God who speaks to the angel Gabriel, the beginnings of the world; the successes of which God is most proud: time, space, Men.
Starting from the fact that God created man in his image, Mr. d'Ormesson describes a God more human than a human who says to Gabriel:
"‘I trust you.’
He leans toward his angel and hugs him."
It's all natural, all simple, all good, like when I hug my children. But it's also so big, so infinite, so powerful. It is the source of love.
And Mr. d'Ormesson writes: God, right now, sees me writing, he sees also my ancestors and my children, and my descendants not yet born. He sees you too, reader, while you’re reading. By small touches of extreme delicacy, the author implicates the reader, but without abruptness, without intention to force you to believe in what he believes. He believes in something that seems to do him good, that puts a smile on his face and we imagine, deep down, that he wishes us only one thing: to have also a happy smile on our face. This makes you doubt that God doesn’t exist, or reminds you that He exists!
But between the smile and the laugh, there’s a space thinner than a feather of the down of an angel’s wing. And laugh belongs more to Lucifer ...
What will Gabriel's report contain? What will God's decision be with regard to Men whom He loves so much?
You won’t know, because I don’t think this Gabriel Report has been translated into English, and that's a shame.
Let’s laugh while we’re here, because this lasts for none of us, and it’s so sad. Let’s smile also to all the love which surrounds us. And let’s take great care of our world.