27 June 2009

Perfection in imperfection

Man's self-experience includes an apprehension of his capacity to transcend himself and unselfishly love another, together with a parallel tendency to be self-centered by pulling into isolation and refusing co-existence.

Our experience of the Body of Christ is also a kind of twofold experience. We experience the gift of unselfish love as well as the self-centeredness and objectively evil actions of others. The Christian must develop a sensitivity to the presence of Christ in both these experiences.

He must discover that God can communicate Himself through the needs and lack of perfection of the Body just as much as He can in the clear manifestations of selfless love. Obvkously, God is never identified with the evil or imperfection, but the human experience of these realities is potentially a faith-encounter with God.

Becoming a Person in the Whole ChristEdwin McMahon, SJ & Peter Campbell, SJ

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