We love our Church,
with all her limitations, and her riches too, she is our Mother.
For this reason we respect her, and while we do so,
we dream that she will never lose her beauty:
May she be a Church where it's good to live,
where you can breathe, and say what you think.
A Church of freedom.
A Church
which listens before speaking, which welcomes instead of judging,
which forgives without wishing to condemn,
which announces rather than denounces.
A Church of mercy.
A Church
where the simplest of our brothers and sisters
will understand what others are saying,
and where the wisest of leaders will know that he doesn't know;
where the people of God will be revealed in its entirety.
A Church of wisdom.
A Church
where the Holy Spirit will be able to feel at home
because everything hasn't been forseen,
settled and decided in advance.
An open Church.
A Church
where the audacity to do something new
will be stronger than the habit of doing things
as they've always been done.
A Church
where everyone can pray in their own language
express themselves according to their culture,
live with their own history.
A Church
of which people will say,
not "See how well organized they are"
but "See how they love one another."
Church of the city,
Church of the suburbs and streets...
Lift up your head, and look: The Lord is with you.
Note that this was written shortly after the closing of the Second Vatican Council...which was a time of great promise and possibility. I believe I found it in a pile of things I was going through today, because that promise and possibility - while as yet unfulfilled - are still God's intention for us.
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