It's known that Joseph Ratzinger admires Tocqueville's
Democracy in America. I'm not suggesting the Pope is making a political point in his
Pentecost homily, but still, this:
Only the Spirit, in fact, which creates unity in love and in the reciprocal acceptance of diversity, can liberate humanity from the constant tension of an earthly will-to-power that wants to dominate and make everything uniform.
Definitely reminded me of this, from an appendix to DiA:
Men place the greatness of their idea of unity in the means, God in the ends; hence this idea of greatness, as men conceive it, leads us to infinite littleness. To compel all men to follow the same course towards the same object is a human conception; to introduce infinite variety of action, but so combined that all these acts lead in a thousand different ways to the accomplishment of one great design, is a divine conception.
Tocqueville was discussing a political problem or tension: the tendency of democrats (small d) to allow their understanding of equality to devolve from equality of dignity & opportunity into equality of condition (sameness); but I have always thought it would serve equally as a beautiful description of the Church and the marvelous unity in diversity exemplified by the saints. He goes on:
The human idea of unity is almost always barren; the divine idea is infinitely fruitful. Men think they manifest their greatness by simplifying the means they use; but it is the purpose of God which is simple; his means are infinitely varied.
In other words, when men strive for unity, they get bureaucracy: the Department of Motor Vehicles, or worse, the trains running smoothly to Auschwitz. With God, you get the Communion of Saints: Jerome and Francis and Teresa and Neri, Ignatius and More.
