Quote of the Day

“It is clear that we are faced [today] with a framework that is radically different from that which prevailed up to the 1980s, and it seems to me that the church, in this context, has to insist on the fact that the ‘I’ does not exist without relationships. This is the point. Because it is from the ‘I’ that the dynamism of the truth, the good and the beautiful is documented within the human family and, in my view, this fact is irrepressible....

It seems to me that, in this context, the mission of the church is more relevant than ever. Indeed, I believe that the Christian proposal is particularly relevant now, because if we read the Gospel we see it revolves around the theme of happiness and freedom. Jesus said that if you wish to be happy, come and follow me, and he who follows me will be truly free. It inserts the dynamic of truth, goodness and beauty within the horizon of happiness and freedom.

So when the Christian proposal is freed from the many things that weigh it down because of the contradictions and sins in the men and women of the church, and is re-proposed in its youthful simplicity as an encounter with a humanity made whole by Christ, then it is more relevant than ever....

An effective dialogue requires that I engage my faith in a dynamic way. It implies an identity, but a dynamic identity, and so we return to what we spoke about earlier: What is Christianity? The event of Christ, by which he gives himself as a gift to mankind to be the way, the truth and the life, is open to dialogue at 360 degrees. But if I reduce Christianity to a question of doctrine only, then I reduce it to a dialogue of a purely speculative kind.

Certainly, Christianity implies a doctrine and a moral teaching, but they are incarnated in the life of a person and in the life of a community. Therefore, if I practice the Christian life for what it is – ‘the good life’ which the Gospel documents and witnesses to, then I can go and dialogue with everyone....”

--Cardinal Angelo Scola
Archbishop-elect of Milan
Interview with The Universe
26 June 2011

And so, at the close of a day that's seen B16 name his "chosen one" (an internet enthusiast, no less) to the helm of Europe's largest local church, then launch himself into the Twitterverse, perhaps there are no better words to sum up not just the last 24 hours... but what, at its core, all the rest is all about.

PHOTO: Getty

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