when we are lost and cannot find our way

In a scene in the middle of The Serpent’s Egg, Ingmar Bergman’s film set in 1920s Germany, cabaret dancer/prostitute Manuela seeks out a priest because of the guilt she bears for her ex-husband’s death. Busy with church duties, the priest brusquely pushes her aside. “Please,” she cries. Finally the priest hears her anguish. “We must give each other forgiveness that a remote god denies us,” he says, then lays his hand on her head, forgiving her and in return he asks for her forgiveness for his apathy and indifference. She lays her hand on his head, and says, "I forgive you.”