” … All your dissatisfaction with the Church seems to me to come from an incomplete understanding of’ sin. … what you seem actually to demand is that the Church put the kingdom of heaven on earth right here now, that the Holy Ghost be translated at once into all flesh. The Holy Spirit very rarely shows Himself on the surface of anything. You are asking that man return at once to the state God created him in, you are leaving out the terrible radical human pride that causes death. Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified in time. … The Church is founded on Peter who denied Christ three times and couldn’t walk on the water by himself. You are expecting his successors to walk on the water. All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. Priests resist it as well as others. To have the Church be what you want it to be would require the continuous miraculous meddling of God in human affairs …”
– Flannery O’Connor, quoted by the Happy Catholic,
which is a very happy blog (and very pretty one, too!).
which is a very happy blog (and very pretty one, too!).
posted July 21, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Perfect! Absolutely perfect. But, of course, this is Flannery speaking.
posted July 22, 2010 at 12:42 am
Hmm… it might be helpful if leaders of the Church itself could admit this instead of trying to act as if they, unlike Peter, can walk on water!
I’m a huge fan of the Church – as it could be if we all work together to get it there. “The Kingdom of God is within you…”
posted July 22, 2010 at 10:49 am
This is wonderful – thanks for sharing it here.
posted July 22, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Andalusia, the place where the picture was taken and her mother’s home, is in Milledgeville GA. It is open to the public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milledgeville,_Georgia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O%27Connor