Marshall: why the Church didn't work

Saturday, January 25, 2020
    Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Meditation:
    [Jesus in prayer:] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
    —John 17:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In [Father Smith’s] opinion the leaders of the Church had grown so used to the spectacle of the world neglecting the wisdom of Christ that they had ceased to be shocked by it and what was wanted was a renewal of the apostolic spirit among cardinals and archbishops and papal nuncios. It was no use preaching the gospel only to those who came to church to hear it. The gospel ought to be preached to those who didn’t want to hear it as well: to industrialists in their offices, to clubmen in their windows, to workers in their yards and factories, to bibbers in their taverns, to harlots in their doorways, to all those should the sweet tidings of Christ be taught. It was a sorry matter for reflection that it was only heretics who dared to brave the sneers of the mob by crying aloud the Name of Jesus at street corners and in the market place.
    ... Bruce Marshall (1899-1987), The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1945, p. 127 (see the book)
    See also John 17:8; Ps. 119:169-172; Matt. 9:12-13; 13:15-16; Luke 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Let all the world hear Your Gospel, Lord! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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