And Another Quote for the Day: "The Moral Arc of the Universe Is about the Transformation of That Which 'Is' to That Which 'Can and Must Be'"

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

And another quote for the day: Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on the moral arc of the universe:

The moral arc of the universe is about the transformation of that which "is" to that which "can and must be." That includes the redemption of every single life, transformed with the vision of a more just and equal world; a vision that King dreamed of and preached about 50 years ago this week. The most dangerous mistake we can make is to be blind to the continued injustice or assume that the moral arc of the universe moves towards justice on its own and that we are not a part of the bending.

The redemption of every single life, Raushenbush notes. And as I've just pointed out, one of the two visions of Catholicism now competing vis-a-vis the issue of including and celebrating gay and lesbian people and their gifts is a vision that, according to Australian Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan, affirms that we are all made in the image and likeness of God and we are all called to journey together to the new Jerusalem, to the transformation of what is to what can and must be. 

As Raushebush also notes, there is no inevitability about the movement of the moral arc of the universe in the direction of justice: we err dangerously when we assume that we ourselves are not an integral part of the bending. And when we forget that the voices of all of us need to be included in the making of the world that can and must be.