I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a preference for a church that actively engages with the world, embracing its imperfections, over one that remains safe but detached.
Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of being present in the world and connecting with those who are suffering. He suggests that a church that is 'bruised, hurting, and dirty' represents a community that participates in the struggles and realities of people's lives, reflecting genuine compassion and outreach. In contrast, a church that prioritizes its own comfort and security may lose sight of its purpose and cannot fulfill its mission of serving others.
In practice
During a sermon about community service, one might reference this quote to inspire action.
We are a church of sinners but we must not be afraid of holiness. Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way that is with love, joy and faith.
I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice
We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.
More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine.
Fire and water may as well agree in the same vessel, as grace and sin in the same heart.
A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People ask why we have no typical architecture of the modern world, like impressionism in painting. Surely it is obviously because we have not enough dogmas; we cannot bear to see anything in the sky that is solid and enduring, anything in the sky that does not change like the clouds of the sky.
When the king asked him what he meant by infesting the sea, the pirate defiantly replied: _x000D_ _x000D_ The same as you do when you infest the whole world;_x000D_ _x000D_ but because I do it with a little ship I am called a robber,_x000D_ _x000D_ and because you do it with a great fleet, you are an emperor.
Democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves they will seek it, cherish it, and view any deprivation of it with regret. But for equality their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.
To hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy.
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