Spiritual Quote of the Day (Francois Mauriac, on ‘Idolatries of the State, of Race, and of Blood’)

“Today, to the extent that the world is de-Christianized and under new forms returns to the old idolatries of the state, of race, and of blood, the authentic Christian is scarcely less isolated than were the first Christians under the empire of the Caesars.  Many of the early Christians did not protect themselves any more than we do against the corruption which streamed in on them from all sides. Habit prevents us from being sensitive to the contradictions between the Cross and the world that is still so indomitable so many centuries after the first Christians began to measure their strength against paganism.” —French Nobel Literature laureate (and lifelong Catholic) Francois Mauriac (1885-1970), The Son of Man, translated by Bernard Murchland (1958)