How baffling you are, oh Church,
and yet how I love you!
How you have made me suffer,
and yet how much I owe you!
I should like to see you destroyed,
and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal
and yet you have made me understand sanctity.
I have seen nothing in the world more
devoted to obscurity, more compromised,
more false, and I have touched nothing more pure,
more generous, more beautiful.
How often I have wanted to shut the doors
of my soul in your face, and how often
I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.
No, I cannot free myself from you, because
I am you, although not completely.
And where should I go?
-Carlos Carretto
3 comments:
Very touching. Perhaps some of the paradox of church can be better understood in light of seeing one side as what is God-given and the other side as man-made?
I appreciate being able to stop by and read. You provoke me in very positive ways, and I am thankful.
Many blessings,
Jeff
Wow This is a Great read. SOmeone really wise and smart and pretty and rich, and funny and deep must have sent it to you. LOL
This sums up what I have been feeling for a long time, and yet felt somehow sinful thinking all of this. I'm not feeling too sinful now. I think that's step 5 in the 12 Step Program of overcoming legalism. Thanks for the post.
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