Dear Editor: Malachy McCourt, 85, states in his new autobiography, “Death Need Not Be Fatal,” “I am an atheist, thank God.”

Yet, his compassionate thoughts suggest otherwise. “You can see God in the face of a child or in the elderly.”

One time he picked up an elderly hitchhiker in Ireland, who, when he was dropped off, said, “God bless you, Sir, for your kindness and may you have a happy death.”

McCourt writes, “Nothing moves me more than an act of kindness, someone doing something thoughtful and selfless for someone else.”

Like James Joyce, whom he frequently quotes, McCourt exiled himself from his country, his city (Limerick), his church, but in his heart he never left them. This is a spiritual book about forgiveness and the healing quality of love. “I have no fear of death,” he wrote.

BROTHER ED KENT, O.S.F.

Fresh Meadows