(I am taking this quote out of a letter Papa Luciani (John Paul I) wrote to Bishop Hugh Aufderbeck who was the Apostolic Administrator of Erfurt-Meiningen in 1978. The letter was sent in recognition of the 700th anniversary of the Church of St. Severus in Erfurt. I think his quoted words offer us a good meditation on the Church.)
“…let those who frequent this holy place strive to be themselves ‘spiritual houses’ (cf. 1 Peter 2:5) in which God dwells by his grace….this church instills into one’s mind the desire for that heavenly home, where one may enjoy for all eternity the gifts, which the eye cannot see, about which the ear cannot hear, nor can they be adequately represented by any thought; indeed, ‘the building we have from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heaavens’ (2 Cor 5:1). This certainly gives true meaning and real importance to this short and often arduous life on earth. In times of adversity let us long for that blessed life which will never fail, and let us not forget it in times of prosperity.”
