Monday, December 10, 2007

"The Virgin Without Sin"

From Chronicles of Atlantis Athos links us to Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap with a most powerful message.

Instead of liberation from sin, all efforts today are focused on liberation from regret over sin; instead of fighting against sin we fight against the idea of sin, replacing it with something very different, namely, "guilt feelings." We do precisely that which in every other sphere is considered the worst thing of all, that is, we deny the problem rather than resolve it, we push back and bury evil in the unconscious instead of removing it.
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1 comment:

Athos said...

Don't you feel at times as though we are the most fortunate men? To know a pal/mentor like Gil Bailie who helped usher us into the realm of the likes of Fr Cantalamessa, R. Girard, von Balthasar, and the patrimony of the Catholic Church from an anthropological pov seems to me like a shocking, bracing, and tonic reality of grace that is undeniable.

And, not as an afterthought but at the heart of the Mystery is Our Lady. I've often thought her the model for Jesus' woman who searched for the lost coin in Lk 15. He saw the parable unfold as a lad (perhaps). And undoubtedly she tore back to Jerusalem when Jesus was not with them headed back to Nazareth, only to find him in the Temple, his "father's house." I lay my conversion at Our Lady's feet with gratitude and devotion.