St. Paul Would Say To The Philosophers

Not Longer Loved Or Fostered By Religion, Beauty Is Lifted From Its Face As A Mask, And Its Absence Exposes Features On That Face Which Threaten To Become Incomprehensible To Man.

Above All We Must Not Wish To Cling To Our Suffering. Suffering Surely Deepens Us And Enhances Our Person, But We Must Not Desire To Become A Deeper Self Than God Wills. To Suffer No Longer Can Be A Beautiful, Perhaps The Ultimate Sacrifice.

Prior To An Individual's Encounter With The Love Of God At A Particular Time In History, However, There Has To Be Another, More Fundamental And Archetypal Encounter, Which Belongs To The Conditions Of Possibility Of The Appearance Of Divine Love To Man.

Hell Is To Be Contemplated Strictly As A Matter Which Concerns Me Alone. As Part Of The Spiritual Life It Belongs Behind The 'closed Door' Of My Own Room. From The Standpoint Of Living Faith, I Cannot Fundamentally Believe In Anyone's Damnation But My Own; As Far As My Neighbor Is Concerned, The Light Of Resurrection Can Never Be So Obscured That I Would Be Allowed Or Obliged To Stop Hoping For Him.

Without A Doubt, At The Center Of The New Testament There Stands The Cross, Which Receives Its Interpretation From The Resurrection.