Meditation: Post-GC Faithful Protest

On the last day of GC, Karen Oliveto nudged me towards this poem by Italian writer Carlo Carretto. I hope it means as much to you as it does to me!

How much I criticize you, my church,
and yet how much I love you!
You have made me suffer more than anyone,
and yet I owe more to you than to anyone.
   I should like to see you destroyed,
   and yet I need your presence.

You have given me much scandal,
and yet you alone have made me understand holiness.
Never in this world have I seen anything,
more compromised, more false,
   yet never have I touched anything more pure,
   more generous or more beautiful.

Countless times I have felt like
slamming the door of my soul in your face—
and yet, every night, I have prayed that I might die in your arms!
No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you,
even if not completely you.

Then too, where would I go?
To build another church?
But I could not build one without the same defects,
for they are my defects.
   And again, if I were to build another church,
   it would be my church, not Christ’s church.

No. I am old enough. I know better.

(cross-posted at Religion is a Queer Thing)

1 comments:

Yellow Sun Soaps, May 5, 2008 at 6:53 AM: I thank you for sharing this poem. It is important that we realize that what we consider a perfect church someone else may not, and what we consider imperfect, someone else may consider heaven - and we are all part of the body of Christ. (Of course, ours are the better ideas!) :)