Two rich quotes that I am using in a paper that I'm currently writing:
- …the process of remembering begins, however, not with word, but with silence. In the beginning is silence. This silence is not empty, but pregnant with meaning; it is filled with yearning. Indeed, this silence screams words of pain, of ignorance, of evil unacknowledged, and of desire unfulfilled. These words have been denied or rejected; they have been rendered mute. The silencing is of those who have been victimized in history. Their silence contains thousands of words, a host of memories, that we have yet to hear and receive. We are called to enter this silence as witnesses. We are bade to listen attentively to the words of those who have not been fully heard.
- Such a witness is to holiness. If the church attends truly, it will hear the call of the Holy Spirit in and through voices of the victimized. It will enter into the depth and mystery of God in Jesus Christ: that life, which is ever precious, seeks itself, even in the midst of degradation and suffering and death. The testimony to suffering is at heart a witness to life, the power of life to endure and to continue to love and be effective. The Holy Spirit, the bearer of life, will be revealed as transforming power, able to manifest itself when life seems no longer possible. This Spirit, whose name is hope, arises out of remembering for the sake of re-membering. In this way the church as a community of remembrance carries the process of redeeming memories for the sake of a hope that can make real the promise of salvation contained in Jesus’ command to remember in his name.
1 comment:
I like them. Thanks for sharing.
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