Sentences with phrase «demands upon our souls»

Not exact matches

And by disbelief I do not mean some sort of brave rejection of the doctrine, some defiant demand flung at heaven for possession of one's own soul; I mean merely the impotence of an imagination that finds the very notion of sin incomprehensible, the conscience of a man who is sure that, whatever sin might be, it surely lies lightly upon a soul as decent as his own, and can be brushed off with a single casual stroke of a primly gloved hand; I mean an habitual insensibility to the illuminations and chastisements of beauty, a condition of being wholly at home in a world from which mystery and sin and glory have all been banished, and in which spiritual wretchedness has become material contentment.

Francis Bernadone wanders into a church in Assisi, stands under the crucifix over the high altar, looks upon that body impaled, cadaver - like, before him — stark, simple, demanding — thinks he hears it speak, and feels his very soul pierced by the force of it all.