Friday, December 09, 2011

Mimetic Influence . . .

"Example is the sole eternal work by which one can influence souls whose attitude to Christ is one of complete rejection," wrote Charles de Foucauld. Likewise the faithful are inspired by example, but, as Hans Urs von Balthasar observed: "In this connection it may be affirmed, not as a daring conjecture but as a simple fact, that even the numerous canonizations make comparatively little impression on the faithful, as does everything, in fact, that can be effected by by organizational machinery. The faithful are impressed not by canonization but by sanctity ..."

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