The apostles returned to Jesus, and told Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away on the boat to a lonely place by themselves. Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. As He went ashore He saw a great throng, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:30-34
You don’t turn the church into a sodality that consists only of bright, white Anglo-Saxons who are happily married, have 1.8 children, and never get drunk. Instead, you just let it be what it in fact already is: a random sampling of the broken, sinful, half-cocked world that God in Christ loves.
Robert Farrar Capon, The Parables of the Kingdom
Both heaven and hell are populated entirely and only by forgiven sinners. Hell is just a courtesy for those who insist they want no part of forgiveness.
Robert Farrar Capon, The Parables of the Kingdom
That quote seemed, to me, in a similar vein as Pope Francis’ recent quote about hoping that hell is empty.
What I mean to say is, we had been considerable. Had been loved. Not lonely, not lost, not freakish, but wise, each in his or her own way. Our departures caused pain. Those who had loved us sat upon their beds, heads in hand; lowered their faces to tabletops, making animal noises.
George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
There was a dark nothing where pupil-teaching had been. She didn’t want to look at it. Lived night and day with the great lump of sorrow in her chest for the thing she wanted, the thing she ought to have, the thing she was made for.
Kate Grenville, Restless Dolly Maunder
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