To be truly Catholic is not merely to be correct according to an abstractly universal standard of truth, but also and above all to be able to enter into the problems and the joys of all, to understand all, to be all things to all.
Interpretation
To be truly Catholic involves empathy and understanding, beyond rigid standards of truth.
This quote by Thomas Merton emphasizes that true Catholicism is not just about adhering to a universal truth but is fundamentally about connection with others. It encompasses the ability to empathize with their struggles and joys, indicating that genuine faith must include compassion and a deep understanding of diverse human experiences.
In practice
During a church service discussing inclusivity.
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.
The big message of gospel is that you don't have to keep fighting the universe; you can stop, and the universe is quite good to you. There is a loss of ego.
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.
That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.
God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.
There can be no perfect Europe in which Ireland is denied even the least of its national rights.
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