Light On Dark Water

To God first, of course, but:

The Word of God is not brought to the ends of the world in a suitcase. We carry it in ourselves…. Once we have heard God’s Word, we no longer have the right not to accept it; once we have accepted it, we no longer have the right not to let it become flesh in us; once it has become flesh in us, we no longer have the right to keep it for ourselves alone. Henceforward, we belong to all those who are waiting for the Word.

—Madeleine Delbrêl (from Magnificat)

I suppose, in light of those parts of the Church’s history in which the Church compelled conversion and orthodoxy by force, the assertion that “we no longer have the right not to accept it” requires a note. The Church has repudiated such coercion, and of course one has the right in a legal sense to refuse the Word. But if one has really heard it, in the sense of understanding it, one can no longer refuse it without guilt. Whether a person has really heard it or not is known only to God, I think, though I am certain that many who believe they have heard it and rejected it have not really heard it at all.

I had never heard of Madeleine Delbrêl. Here is the first thing Google turned up when I searched for her name.

http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js