Tuesday, August 09, 2005

From "The Habit of Being" - pg. 134...

This is a peculiar thing - I have the one fold, one Shepherd instinct as strong as any, to see someone I know out of the [Catholic] Church is grief to me, it's to want him in with great urgency. At the same time, the Church can't be put forward by anybody but God and one is apt to do great damage by trying; consequently Catholics may seem very remiss, almost lethargic, about coming forward with the Faith. (Maybe you ain't observed this reticence in me.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do I detect a hint of Calvinism in her worldview? FO did more by her "lethargy" than most of us by our energy. And you, yourself, promote the kingdom of God when you seek truth within the teachings of the Church. -rb

TS said...

She did do more by her lethargy than most by our energy (and while being sick much of the time!), and she admitted it a bit in her line about not "seeing that reticence" in her. She was writing before Vatican II of course, and Vatican II encouraged the laity to become much more evangelistic. Thanks for your comment Richard!

TS said...

Interesting comment about FOC & Jansenism. I looked up some references in "The Habit of Being". Sometimes I get a sense of that too in her letters, but then everything is Jansenistic compared to current day beliefs.