... which Father Sebastiano Franco is bemoaning the non-ringing of the church bells on Christmas Eve, and is visited by a strange monk from Germany. (Franco is seated at his desk writing. He appears agitated, gets up, goes to the window, looks up and ... on his scalp. SOPHIA: The sign of the beast. Holy Mary, Mother of God! FRANCO: I can listen to no more of this. HANS: Maria Fruzzetti was a handsome, full-breasted woman, was she not? FRANCO: Yes, Oh, yes! HANS: But there were men - husbands - in your parish who ...
... or both wanting explanations and accepting that some things cannot be explained, we can take heart that God too embraces contradiction. In fact, he operates there. The Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton once wrote, "I have become convinced that the very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me ... by Henri Nouwen in the introduction to Parker J. Palmer, The Promise of Paradox (Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 1980), p. 13. 5. Ibid., quoted by Palmer, p. 17. Stan Purdum
