Milestones: A Simple Faith

Continuing my series of excerpts from Cardinal Ratzinger's Milestones:

I have often reflect since then on this remarkable disposition of Providence: that, in this century of progress and faith in science, the Church should have found herself represented most clearly in very simple people, in a Bernadette of Lourdes, for instance, or even in a Brother Konrad [of Parzham], who hardly seemed to be touched by the currents of the time. Is this a sign that the Church has lost her power to shape culture and can take root only outside the real current of history? Or is it a sign that the clear view of the essential, which is so often lacking in the "wise and prudent" (See Mt 11:25), is given in our days, too, to little ones? I do this that precisely these "little" saints are a great sign to our time, a sign that moves me ever more deeply, the more I live with and in our time. (p. 9)

Recent Reading: Milestones, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

During my week-long vacation down to Sanibel Island, Florida, I brought a bunch of books with me to read. I did a lot of the driving, and I have a tendency to get distracted a lot while reading (especially when there are four other people nearby — like in the car), so I read depressingly slowly, even by my standards. I completed one book and made it half-way through another. (I also bought two books at an antique store -- Ben Hur, and Literature and Dogma by Matthew Arnold.)

The first book I read, which I finished, was Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. It was an interesting and quaint journey through the first 50 years of his life. There is some humor, some drama, some sadness... a well-rounded life, I would say.

Over the next several days, I'll post some excerpts from the book that I found notable for sharing or else personally meaningful:

I was born on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927 [...] I was baptized immediately on the morning of the day I was born with the water that had just been blessed. (At that time the solemn Easter Vigil was celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.) To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be a sign of blessing. To be sure, it was not Easter Sunday but Holy Saturday, but, the more I reflect on it, the more this seems to be fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still awaiting Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust. (p. 8)