「 我的教會，我多麼需要對你提出批判， 但我還是那麼愛妳。 你給我帶來的傷痛比任何人都深，但我所欠妳的超越一切。 我理應看到你的毀滅，但我需要妳的臨在。 你為我帶來如此多的醜聞，但只有妳讓我懂得什麽是神聖。在此塵世， 我從未看過如此的背叛，如此的錯誤， 但同時我卻與妳無比的純潔、慷慨與美麗相觸。無數次，我狂想將我靈魂的大門向你關閉，但每晚，我都祈願在妳的懷中去世。 不， 我沒有辦法與妳分離，只因我與妳是一體，即時是不滿全的時候。此時再問，我該投奔誰呢？ 去創造另一教會？ 但我無法創造一個沒有瑕疵的教會， 因為教會的瑕疵就是我的瑕疵。如果是我再建立一個教會，那也只不過是我的教會， 不是基督的教會。 不會的， 我已年老識事。 」 By Carlo Carretto
” How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have made me suffer more than anyone and yet I owe more to you than to anyone. I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness. Never in this world have I seen anything more compromised, more false, yet never have I touched anything more pure, more generous or more beautiful. Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face – and yet, every night, I have prayed that I might die in your sure arms! No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even if not completely you. Then too – where would I go? To build another church? But I could not build one without the same defects, for they are my defects. And again, if I were to build another church, it would be my church, not Christ’s church. No, I am old enough, I know better.”
By Carlo Carretto, an Italian spiritual writer.