Ecclesia Mater

Paul Claudel (1868 AD - 1955 AD)

The following quotation from the French poet Paul Claudel on the meaning of our membership in the Mystical Body of Christ is taken from Fr. Henri de Lubac's "The Splendour of the Church:"

The whole of creation, visible and invisible, all history, all the past, the present and the future, all the treasure of the saints, multiplied by grace - all that is at our disposal as an extension of ourselves, a mighty instrument.  All the saints and the angels belong to us.  We can use the intelligence of St. Thomas, the right arm of St. Michael, the hearts of Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena, and all the hidden resources which have only to be touched to be set in action.  Everything of the good, the great and the beautiful from one end of the earth to the other - everything which begets sanctity . .  .  it is as if all that were our work.  The heroism of the missionary, the inspiration of the Doctors of the Church, the generosity of the martyrs, the genius of the artist, the burning prayer of the Poor Clares and Carmelites - it is as if all that were ourselves.