When this guy was elected, it made me happy. When I read the above quote it made me happy. this guy knows his place. He knows that he is in charge, in some ways. He also knows that God is in charge in ALL ways. He knows that he can be contradicted in the matter of condoms that he brought up in his new book. He knows that he can be contradicted in the matter of offering the traditionalist Anglicans a safe corner in the Roman Catholic Church. He knows that he can be contradicted in the matter of giving so many concessions to the "Latin only" traditionalists of the Roman Catholic Church. He knows that he can be contradicted in the matter of kneeling to receive communion and to receive on the tongue. He knows that he can be contradicted on a lot of matters a lot more technical and theologically profound than those I just mentioned. He not only knows it, he invites it. He loves the intellectual give and take of discussions that take off from different points of view. He loves to engage in that kind of tension because he is convinced that it is in this atmosphere that the Holy Spirit enlightens the world. He is also confident enough in his own convictions, intellectual, emotional and spiritual to know that he can control the debate. I made a comment about this a while back after what he said about the Muslims in Regensburg.
In this area, I agree with him. My thought is that what is important is not the departure point of the discussion that is important, it is the destination that is used to define its value. My thought continues to say that the optimum destination is right in the middle, right where the tension is the hottest and where the new truth caused by the clash is created. It is the middle that is the furnace that forms and burnishes the clearer understanding of the one Eternal guiding Truth. Benedict "ex-vee-eye", more than anyone, has planted the seed for that thought in my mind.
Now ain't that something? Quite a thought, don't ya think?
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