Thursday, 23 April 2009

Who Needs the Church! - Carlo Carreto

Who Needs the Church!

How baffling you are, O 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.
Besides, where else could I go?
Good question and amen.

From Carlo CarretoThe God Who Comes, Orbis Books, via Readings for Reflection in A Guide to Prayer.

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