When it comes to the Church, no purely sociological explanation, no matter how valuable it may seem in the eyes of a sociologist, can exhaust all its mystery. Is it not fundamentally the Spirit of God that remains within it and sends it out into the whole world to proclaim the good news, so that it permeates all people and all cultures with the love it carries? This is the power of the Spirit, dwelling in the gospel, that evokes crisis and supports reform wherever the gospel is proclaimed. This leads to a constant dialogue between the good news and the cultures it addresses. This dialogue bears fruit also in our own culture.
For instance, have we noticed sufficiently that certain so-called "humanitarian" values, which almost everyone recognizes today, whereas just fifty years ago it was not the case, are a result of the radiance of the gospel? We can cite the abolition of slavery in the past century, but only recently the abolition of the death penalty (which even Christian institutions struggled to accept), the equality of men and women, the rejection of torture (which certain military chaplains here still justified not long ago). Someone might say that the gospel has secularized well in this regard. But what does it matter if the good news temporarily takes the form of human rights, as long as Christ is proclaimed, as long as the power of the Spirit continues to shine in this world, even anonymously? After all, even Saint Paul relied on their "unknown god" in his address to the Athenians when he wanted to proclaim the God of Jesus Christ. Only in the next world will we be able to behold the whole splendor of what we are given to experience on earth through signs and symbols.
(André Louf, OCSO /1929–2010/, book conversation "In God's Grace")
