The fire of faith

     

 

As George Weigel has noted, the long Lent of 2002 has extended into the Lent and Easter of 2010. Much has been said and much will be said about sexual abuse, the Church, sin, conversion, forgiveness, just punishment, and God’s mercy in all of this

One thing that I have overlooked—and will make some effort to correct now—is that, notwithstanding all the pain, suffering, and sin that has taken place—the Church has become stronger. The faith of God’s people—lay, clerical, and religious—in many instances has been intensified. How? It has withstood the test of the fire of which St. Paul speaks in his First Letter to the Corinthians. It has been and is this fire which tests human weaknesses thereby fortifying the gift of faith that God has made available to us. May this gift burn bright and long!

 

RJA sj