DEATH OF A LEGEND
"...have just received word that Monsignor John Scully, a priest for sixty-two years of this diocese (and St. Augustine for twenty years prior to our formation) died this morning while concelebrating the morning Mass at St. Stephen’s parish in Valrico. The exact moment of his death occurred during the Institution prayers of the Mass or the “consecration” of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus."
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
LIVE GOSPEL VALUES COURAGEOUSLY
Taken from VIS News: VATICAN CITY, 3 OCT 2010
"In particular, my mind goes to those who live their lives in conditions of real insecurity because of lack of work, uncertainty about the future, physical and moral suffering, and ... organised crime. I am here among you today to testify to my closeness and to my recollection of you in prayer. I am here to give you a strong encouragement not to be afraid to bear clear witness to the human and Christian values so profoundly rooted in the faith and history of this territory and its people".
"All the texts of this Sunday's liturgy speak of the faith, which is the foundation of all Christian life", the Pope explained. "Just as a lever can lift much more than its own weight, so faith, even just a pinch of faith, can achieve unthinkable extraordinary things. ... Having faith, trusting in Christ, accepting Him, allowing Him to transform us, following Him unto the end, makes possible what is humanly impossible, in all situations".
The Holy Father then focused his attention on the fervent faith of the Palermitan Church over the course of the centuries. "It should not be forgotten", he told his audience, "that your religious sense has always inspired and guided family life, nourishing values such as the capacity for giving and showing solidarity towards others, especially those who suffer, and the innate respect for life. This is a precious patrimony which must be jealously protected and relaunched, especially in our own time. Dear friends, preserve this precious treasure of your Church's faith; may Christian values always guide your choices and your actions".
Referring then to the second part of today's Gospel readings, which speaks of humility and its close bond with the faith, Benedict XVI said: "We must never present ourselves before God as one who believes he has provided a service and merits a great reward. This is an illusion that can afflict anyone, even people who work much in the service of the Lord, in the Church. On the contrary, we must be aware that we never do enough for God".
And he went on: "Sicily has been and still is a land of saints, who came from all walks of life and lived the Gospel simply and fully. To you, the lay faithful, I say again: do not be afraid to live and bear witness to the faith in the various areas of society, in the multifarious situations of human life, especially the difficult ones! Faith gives you the strength of God always to be faithful and courageous, to carry on with renewed decision and to take the initiatives necessary to beautify the countenance of your land".
"Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord", the Holy Father cried. "We must be ashamed of evil, of what offends God, of what offends man; we must be ashamed of the evil brought to the civil and religious community by actions that do not like to see the light of day".
The Pope continued his homily: "The temptation to discouragement and resignation comes to those who are weak in the faith, to those who confuse evil with good, to those who think that in the face of evil, often profound evil, nothing can be done. On the other hand, people strong in faith, people who have complete trust in God and live in the Church, can bring the overwhelming power of the Gospel to bear.
"This was the behaviour of the saints who flowered over the course of the centuries, in Palermo and all Sicily, and of the lay people and priests of today, whom you know well, such as Fr. Pino Puglisi [a priest killed by the mafia]. May they always keep you united and nourish in each of you the desire to proclaim, though word and deed, Christ's presence and love. People of Sicily, look to the future with hope! ... Live the values of the Gospel courageously so as to ensure the light of goodness shines forth! With the power of God, everything is possible".
At the end of Mass, the Pope prayed the Angelus with the faithful present. In his remarks he mentioned Anna Maria Adorni, proclaimed blessed today in the Italian city of Parma. She dedicated her life to helping women in prison and founded two religious institutes. "She was", said Pope Benedict, "known as the 'living rosary', and its is my pleasure to recall her at the beginning of the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. May daily meditation on the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary ... strengthen us all in faith, hope and charity".
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (990)
He began by speaking to priests, encouraging them "always to be men of prayer in order, also, to be teachers of prayer". In this context he noted how "it is not easy to remain faithful to these daily appointments with the Lord, especially today when the rhythm of life has become so frenetic and our occupations absorb ever more time. Yet we must convince ourselves that the moment of prayer is fundamental, because it is there that divine grace acts most effectively, making our ministry fruitful. There are many pressing matters, but if we are not in inner communion with God we can give nothing, not even to others".
After then highlighting how "the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life", the Pope asked: "What care do we take in preparing ourselves for Mass? In celebrating it? In remaining in adoration? Are our churches truly 'houses of the Lord' where His presence attracts people who, unfortunately, today often feel the absence of God?
"A priest always and immutably finds the source of his identity in Christ the Priest", the Holy Father added. "It is not the world that defines his status, according to its requirements and its conception of social roles. ... A priest exists for the faithful; he encourages them and supports them in the exercise of their common priesthood as baptised individuals, in their journey of faith, in cultivating hope and living in charity, the love of Christ. Dear priests, always show particular concern for the world of youth. As the Venerable John Paul II said in this land, throw wide open the doors of your parishes to young people, that they may throw open their hearts to Christ. May they never find those doors closed".
The Pope went on: "Priests cannot distance themselves from the daily concerns of the People of God. Quite the contrary, they must remain very close to those concerns, but as priests". Recalling then the anniversary of the murder of Fr. Pino Puglisi, a Palermitan priest killed by the mafia, the Pope noted how "he had a heart aflame with true pastoral charity. He dedicated a large part of his zealous ministry to educating children and young people, at the same time struggling to ensure that all Christian families fulfilled their fundamental vocation as primary educators of their children's faith. The people entrusted to his pastoral care were able to draw nourishment from the spiritual wealth of this good pastor, the cause for whose beatification is currently underway. I encourage you to preserve a living memory of his fruitful priestly witness, and to imitate his heroic example".
Turning then to address members of institutes of consecrated life and cloistered monks and nuns, the Holy Father encouraged them "always to follow Christ without comprise, ... thus bearing witness to the beauty of being Christian in such a radical way. ... Your presence and your lifestyle infuse the ecclesial community with a vital impulse towards the 'high degree' of Christian life. Indeed, we could say that your existence is like a sermon, extremely eloquent though often silent", he said.
The Pope concluded his remarks by addressing the seminarians present. "Respond generously to the call of the Lord, ... becoming increasingly identified with Christ the High Priest, and preparing yourselves for the mission with a solid human, spiritual, theological and cultural formation. ... Commit yourselves to this time of grace and conserve in your hearts the joy and enthusiasm of the first moment of your call and your 'yes'" to Christ.
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (640)
YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES, A SIGN OF HOPE FOR ALL ITALY
VATICAN CITY, 3 OCT 2010 (VIS) - This evening, during the last event of his pastoral visit to Palermo, the Pope met with thousands of young people gathered in the city's Piazza Politeama, to whom he spoke about Chiara Badano, beatified in Rome on 25 September.
Recalling how the blessed died young of an incurable disease, he said: "Nineteen years full of life, of love, of faith. Two years, the last two, also full of suffering but always in love and light, a light she irradiated around her and that came from within, from her heart full of God".
After then highlighting how her parents "lit the flame of faith in their daughter's heart, and helped Chiara keep it alight even in the difficult moments as she was growing up and especially in the long trial of suffering", Benedict XVI noted how "the relationship between parents and children ... is the torch of faith that is transmitted from generation to generation".
"The family", he went on, "is fundamental because it is here that the first perception of the meaning of life germinates in the human heart. It germinates in the relationship with the mother and father, who are responsible for their children's life but also the first collaborators of God in transmitting the life of faith".
In Sicily too "there are splendid testimonies of young people who [germinate and] grow like beautiful lush plants", said the Holy Father. "Do not to be afraid to contrast evil", he told his audience. "Do not give in to the lure of the mafia, which is the path of death, incompatible with the Gospel, as many of your bishops have said".
Referring then to the theme of the next World Youth Day - "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith" - the Pope said: "The image of the tree tells us that each of us needs a fertile soil in which to sink our roots, a terrain rich in nutritional substances which make the person grow". These substances "are values, but above all they are love and faith, knowledge of the true face of God and awareness that He loves us infinitely, faithfully, patiently, to the point of giving His life for us.
"In this context", he added, "the family is like a 'little Church', because it transmits God, it transmits the love of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Marriage. ... And the family, in order to be a 'little Church', must be well inserted into the 'great Church'; in other words, into the family that Christ came to create".
In closing Benedict XVI referred to the difficulties the people of Sicily have to face. "Where there are young people and families who chose the way of the Gospel, there is hope", he said. "And you are a sign of hope, not only for Sicily but for all Italy.
"I have brought you a witness of sanctity and you have offered me yours: the faces of so many young people of this land who have loved Christ with evangelical radicality. ... The greatest gift we have received is to be a Church, to be in Christ a sign and instrument of unity, peace and freedom. No-one can take this joy from us. No-one can take this power! Courage, dear young people and families of Sicily! Be saints!"
During his journey by car from Palermo to the city's Falcone e Borsellino airport at Punta Raisi, the Pope paused at Capeci, where an attack in 1992 cost the lives of Judge Giovanni Falcone and his police escort. The Pope descended from his car and placed a bunch of flowers at one of the memorial plaques, then prayed in silence for all the victims of the mafia and of organised crime. He then returned to his car and continued his journey to the airport.
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (660)
MAN'S MASTERPIECE IS EACH OF HIS ACTS OF AUTHENTIC LOVE
VATICAN CITY, 2 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI attended a concert sponsored by ENI, Italy's national electricity company. Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major; Cecilia, vergine romana by Arvo Part, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy in C Minor were performed by the orchestra and choir of the Italian Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
At the end of the performance the Pope expressed his gratitude to ENI, which is currently financing restoration work on the Vatican Basilica.
Going on then to refer to the music itself, Benedict XVI remarked how "the combination of a work on St. Cecilia with compositions by Haydn and Beethoven, presents a contrast rich in meaning, one which invites us to reflect. The piece concerning the martyrdom of the saint, and the particular style with which it is rendered into music, seem to represent the place and role of faith in the universe: in the midst of the living forces of nature, which surround man and are also in him, faith is a different force, one which responds to a profound word 'that emerges from silence' as St. Ignatius of Antioch would say.
"The word of faith", the Pope added, "has need of great inner silence in order to listen and obey a voice which lies beyond the visible and tangible world. This voice speaks through natural phenomena, because it is the power that created and governs the universe. But to recognise it we need a humble and obedient heart, something also taught us by the saint whose feast day falls today: St. Therese of the Child Jesus".
And Benedict XVI concluded: "Faith follows this profound voice in places that even art itself cannot reach alone. It follows it along the path of witness, in the giving of self for love, as Cecilia did. Thus the most beautiful work of art, the masterpiece of human beings, is each of their acts of authentic love: from the smallest (in everyday sacrifice) unto the extreme sacrifice. At this point life itself becomes a hymn; an anticipation of the symphony we will sing together in heaven".
BXVI-CONCERT/ VIS 20101004 (370)
SPECIAL PAPAL ENVOYS TO MINSK AND SAINT-PIERRE DE SOLESMES
VATICAN CITY, 2 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Holy Father in which he appoints Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the third centenary of the consecration of the cathedral of Minsk, Belarus, due to take place there on 9 October. The Letter is written in Latin and bears the date of 9 June.
The cardinal will be accompanied on his mission by Msgr. Edmund Dowgilowicz-Nowicki, pastor of the parish of St. Joseph at Maladzechna, and by Fr. Bernard Radzik O.C.D., pastor of the parish of St. Andrew at Narach.
Likewise made public today was a Letter in which Benedict XVI appoints Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the millennium of the abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, France, scheduled for 12 October. The Letter, also written in Latin, is dated 13 September.
Cardinal Tauran will be accompanied by Fr. Michel du Merle, a monk and expert in inter-religious dialogue, and by Fr. Bertrand Gamelin, librarian of the abbey.
BXVI-LETTER/ VIS 20101004 (200)
MISSION, AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE MISSION OF THE BAPTISED
VATICAN CITY, 4 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (North region 1 and Northeast region), who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.
In his address the Pope praised the efforts made by the bishops who, "often lacking the necessary means", bring "the Good News of Jesus to all corners of the Amazon jungle, in the knowledge that God wants all mankind to be saved and to know the truth".
"God can achieve this salvation in extraordinary ways that only He knows. Nonetheless, if His Son came, it was to show us, through His word and life, the ordinary ways to salvations, and He told us to transmit this revelation to others with His authority. And so we cannot avoid this thought: man may be saved by other ways, thanks to God's mercy, without the announcement of the Gospel. But can I be saved if through negligence, fear, shame or erroneous ideas, I fail to announce it?"
"Sometimes we hear the objection that imposing the truth - though it be the truth of the Gospel and of salvation - can be a violation of religious freedom", said the Holy Father, in which context he quoted words of Paul VI: "It would, of course, be a mistake to impose anything on the conscience of our brothers and sisters, but propounding knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and the salvation of Jesus Christ, with absolute clarity and full respect for the free choice of conscience (hence without coercion or dishonest persuasion), ... far from being an attack on religious freedom, is a homage to that freedom, which can choose a route that even non-believers consider noble and edifying. ... To present Christ and His kingdom in a respectful way, more than a right, is a duty of evangelisation".
"The call to mission", the Pope went on, "is not directed exclusively to a restricted group of members of the Church; rather, it is an imperative addressed to all the baptised, an essential element of their vocation". The Pope also referred to the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean which took place in the Brazilian city of Aparecida in 2007 and which had among its goals the recovery of the missionary dimension of the Church.
"The challenges of the current time could lead to a reduced view of the mission", the Holy Father observed. "Yet mission cannot be limited to a mere search for new ways to make the Church more attractive and capable of overcoming the competition of other religious groups or relativist ideologies. The Church does not work for herself. She is at the service of Jesus Christ and exists to ensure the Good News is accessible to everyone. The Church is catholic precisely because she invites all human beings to experience new life in Christ. Mission, then, is neither more nor less than the natural consequence of the very essence of the Church, a service of the ministry of unity which Christ wished to achieve in His crucified body".
AL/ VIS 20101004 (530)
"In particular, my mind goes to those who live their lives in conditions of real insecurity because of lack of work, uncertainty about the future, physical and moral suffering, and ... organised crime. I am here among you today to testify to my closeness and to my recollection of you in prayer. I am here to give you a strong encouragement not to be afraid to bear clear witness to the human and Christian values so profoundly rooted in the faith and history of this territory and its people".
"All the texts of this Sunday's liturgy speak of the faith, which is the foundation of all Christian life", the Pope explained. "Just as a lever can lift much more than its own weight, so faith, even just a pinch of faith, can achieve unthinkable extraordinary things. ... Having faith, trusting in Christ, accepting Him, allowing Him to transform us, following Him unto the end, makes possible what is humanly impossible, in all situations".
The Holy Father then focused his attention on the fervent faith of the Palermitan Church over the course of the centuries. "It should not be forgotten", he told his audience, "that your religious sense has always inspired and guided family life, nourishing values such as the capacity for giving and showing solidarity towards others, especially those who suffer, and the innate respect for life. This is a precious patrimony which must be jealously protected and relaunched, especially in our own time. Dear friends, preserve this precious treasure of your Church's faith; may Christian values always guide your choices and your actions".
Referring then to the second part of today's Gospel readings, which speaks of humility and its close bond with the faith, Benedict XVI said: "We must never present ourselves before God as one who believes he has provided a service and merits a great reward. This is an illusion that can afflict anyone, even people who work much in the service of the Lord, in the Church. On the contrary, we must be aware that we never do enough for God".
And he went on: "Sicily has been and still is a land of saints, who came from all walks of life and lived the Gospel simply and fully. To you, the lay faithful, I say again: do not be afraid to live and bear witness to the faith in the various areas of society, in the multifarious situations of human life, especially the difficult ones! Faith gives you the strength of God always to be faithful and courageous, to carry on with renewed decision and to take the initiatives necessary to beautify the countenance of your land".
"Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord", the Holy Father cried. "We must be ashamed of evil, of what offends God, of what offends man; we must be ashamed of the evil brought to the civil and religious community by actions that do not like to see the light of day".
The Pope continued his homily: "The temptation to discouragement and resignation comes to those who are weak in the faith, to those who confuse evil with good, to those who think that in the face of evil, often profound evil, nothing can be done. On the other hand, people strong in faith, people who have complete trust in God and live in the Church, can bring the overwhelming power of the Gospel to bear.
"This was the behaviour of the saints who flowered over the course of the centuries, in Palermo and all Sicily, and of the lay people and priests of today, whom you know well, such as Fr. Pino Puglisi [a priest killed by the mafia]. May they always keep you united and nourish in each of you the desire to proclaim, though word and deed, Christ's presence and love. People of Sicily, look to the future with hope! ... Live the values of the Gospel courageously so as to ensure the light of goodness shines forth! With the power of God, everything is possible".
At the end of Mass, the Pope prayed the Angelus with the faithful present. In his remarks he mentioned Anna Maria Adorni, proclaimed blessed today in the Italian city of Parma. She dedicated her life to helping women in prison and founded two religious institutes. "She was", said Pope Benedict, "known as the 'living rosary', and its is my pleasure to recall her at the beginning of the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. May daily meditation on the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary ... strengthen us all in faith, hope and charity".
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (990)
He began by speaking to priests, encouraging them "always to be men of prayer in order, also, to be teachers of prayer". In this context he noted how "it is not easy to remain faithful to these daily appointments with the Lord, especially today when the rhythm of life has become so frenetic and our occupations absorb ever more time. Yet we must convince ourselves that the moment of prayer is fundamental, because it is there that divine grace acts most effectively, making our ministry fruitful. There are many pressing matters, but if we are not in inner communion with God we can give nothing, not even to others".
After then highlighting how "the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life", the Pope asked: "What care do we take in preparing ourselves for Mass? In celebrating it? In remaining in adoration? Are our churches truly 'houses of the Lord' where His presence attracts people who, unfortunately, today often feel the absence of God?
"A priest always and immutably finds the source of his identity in Christ the Priest", the Holy Father added. "It is not the world that defines his status, according to its requirements and its conception of social roles. ... A priest exists for the faithful; he encourages them and supports them in the exercise of their common priesthood as baptised individuals, in their journey of faith, in cultivating hope and living in charity, the love of Christ. Dear priests, always show particular concern for the world of youth. As the Venerable John Paul II said in this land, throw wide open the doors of your parishes to young people, that they may throw open their hearts to Christ. May they never find those doors closed".
The Pope went on: "Priests cannot distance themselves from the daily concerns of the People of God. Quite the contrary, they must remain very close to those concerns, but as priests". Recalling then the anniversary of the murder of Fr. Pino Puglisi, a Palermitan priest killed by the mafia, the Pope noted how "he had a heart aflame with true pastoral charity. He dedicated a large part of his zealous ministry to educating children and young people, at the same time struggling to ensure that all Christian families fulfilled their fundamental vocation as primary educators of their children's faith. The people entrusted to his pastoral care were able to draw nourishment from the spiritual wealth of this good pastor, the cause for whose beatification is currently underway. I encourage you to preserve a living memory of his fruitful priestly witness, and to imitate his heroic example".
Turning then to address members of institutes of consecrated life and cloistered monks and nuns, the Holy Father encouraged them "always to follow Christ without comprise, ... thus bearing witness to the beauty of being Christian in such a radical way. ... Your presence and your lifestyle infuse the ecclesial community with a vital impulse towards the 'high degree' of Christian life. Indeed, we could say that your existence is like a sermon, extremely eloquent though often silent", he said.
The Pope concluded his remarks by addressing the seminarians present. "Respond generously to the call of the Lord, ... becoming increasingly identified with Christ the High Priest, and preparing yourselves for the mission with a solid human, spiritual, theological and cultural formation. ... Commit yourselves to this time of grace and conserve in your hearts the joy and enthusiasm of the first moment of your call and your 'yes'" to Christ.
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (640)
YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES, A SIGN OF HOPE FOR ALL ITALY
VATICAN CITY, 3 OCT 2010 (VIS) - This evening, during the last event of his pastoral visit to Palermo, the Pope met with thousands of young people gathered in the city's Piazza Politeama, to whom he spoke about Chiara Badano, beatified in Rome on 25 September.
Recalling how the blessed died young of an incurable disease, he said: "Nineteen years full of life, of love, of faith. Two years, the last two, also full of suffering but always in love and light, a light she irradiated around her and that came from within, from her heart full of God".
After then highlighting how her parents "lit the flame of faith in their daughter's heart, and helped Chiara keep it alight even in the difficult moments as she was growing up and especially in the long trial of suffering", Benedict XVI noted how "the relationship between parents and children ... is the torch of faith that is transmitted from generation to generation".
"The family", he went on, "is fundamental because it is here that the first perception of the meaning of life germinates in the human heart. It germinates in the relationship with the mother and father, who are responsible for their children's life but also the first collaborators of God in transmitting the life of faith".
In Sicily too "there are splendid testimonies of young people who [germinate and] grow like beautiful lush plants", said the Holy Father. "Do not to be afraid to contrast evil", he told his audience. "Do not give in to the lure of the mafia, which is the path of death, incompatible with the Gospel, as many of your bishops have said".
Referring then to the theme of the next World Youth Day - "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith" - the Pope said: "The image of the tree tells us that each of us needs a fertile soil in which to sink our roots, a terrain rich in nutritional substances which make the person grow". These substances "are values, but above all they are love and faith, knowledge of the true face of God and awareness that He loves us infinitely, faithfully, patiently, to the point of giving His life for us.
"In this context", he added, "the family is like a 'little Church', because it transmits God, it transmits the love of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Marriage. ... And the family, in order to be a 'little Church', must be well inserted into the 'great Church'; in other words, into the family that Christ came to create".
In closing Benedict XVI referred to the difficulties the people of Sicily have to face. "Where there are young people and families who chose the way of the Gospel, there is hope", he said. "And you are a sign of hope, not only for Sicily but for all Italy.
"I have brought you a witness of sanctity and you have offered me yours: the faces of so many young people of this land who have loved Christ with evangelical radicality. ... The greatest gift we have received is to be a Church, to be in Christ a sign and instrument of unity, peace and freedom. No-one can take this joy from us. No-one can take this power! Courage, dear young people and families of Sicily! Be saints!"
During his journey by car from Palermo to the city's Falcone e Borsellino airport at Punta Raisi, the Pope paused at Capeci, where an attack in 1992 cost the lives of Judge Giovanni Falcone and his police escort. The Pope descended from his car and placed a bunch of flowers at one of the memorial plaques, then prayed in silence for all the victims of the mafia and of organised crime. He then returned to his car and continued his journey to the airport.
PV-PALERMO/ VIS 20101004 (660)
MAN'S MASTERPIECE IS EACH OF HIS ACTS OF AUTHENTIC LOVE
VATICAN CITY, 2 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI attended a concert sponsored by ENI, Italy's national electricity company. Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major; Cecilia, vergine romana by Arvo Part, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy in C Minor were performed by the orchestra and choir of the Italian Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
At the end of the performance the Pope expressed his gratitude to ENI, which is currently financing restoration work on the Vatican Basilica.
Going on then to refer to the music itself, Benedict XVI remarked how "the combination of a work on St. Cecilia with compositions by Haydn and Beethoven, presents a contrast rich in meaning, one which invites us to reflect. The piece concerning the martyrdom of the saint, and the particular style with which it is rendered into music, seem to represent the place and role of faith in the universe: in the midst of the living forces of nature, which surround man and are also in him, faith is a different force, one which responds to a profound word 'that emerges from silence' as St. Ignatius of Antioch would say.
"The word of faith", the Pope added, "has need of great inner silence in order to listen and obey a voice which lies beyond the visible and tangible world. This voice speaks through natural phenomena, because it is the power that created and governs the universe. But to recognise it we need a humble and obedient heart, something also taught us by the saint whose feast day falls today: St. Therese of the Child Jesus".
And Benedict XVI concluded: "Faith follows this profound voice in places that even art itself cannot reach alone. It follows it along the path of witness, in the giving of self for love, as Cecilia did. Thus the most beautiful work of art, the masterpiece of human beings, is each of their acts of authentic love: from the smallest (in everyday sacrifice) unto the extreme sacrifice. At this point life itself becomes a hymn; an anticipation of the symphony we will sing together in heaven".
BXVI-CONCERT/ VIS 20101004 (370)
SPECIAL PAPAL ENVOYS TO MINSK AND SAINT-PIERRE DE SOLESMES
VATICAN CITY, 2 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Holy Father in which he appoints Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the third centenary of the consecration of the cathedral of Minsk, Belarus, due to take place there on 9 October. The Letter is written in Latin and bears the date of 9 June.
The cardinal will be accompanied on his mission by Msgr. Edmund Dowgilowicz-Nowicki, pastor of the parish of St. Joseph at Maladzechna, and by Fr. Bernard Radzik O.C.D., pastor of the parish of St. Andrew at Narach.
Likewise made public today was a Letter in which Benedict XVI appoints Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the millennium of the abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, France, scheduled for 12 October. The Letter, also written in Latin, is dated 13 September.
Cardinal Tauran will be accompanied by Fr. Michel du Merle, a monk and expert in inter-religious dialogue, and by Fr. Bertrand Gamelin, librarian of the abbey.
BXVI-LETTER/ VIS 20101004 (200)
MISSION, AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE MISSION OF THE BAPTISED
VATICAN CITY, 4 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (North region 1 and Northeast region), who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.
In his address the Pope praised the efforts made by the bishops who, "often lacking the necessary means", bring "the Good News of Jesus to all corners of the Amazon jungle, in the knowledge that God wants all mankind to be saved and to know the truth".
"God can achieve this salvation in extraordinary ways that only He knows. Nonetheless, if His Son came, it was to show us, through His word and life, the ordinary ways to salvations, and He told us to transmit this revelation to others with His authority. And so we cannot avoid this thought: man may be saved by other ways, thanks to God's mercy, without the announcement of the Gospel. But can I be saved if through negligence, fear, shame or erroneous ideas, I fail to announce it?"
"Sometimes we hear the objection that imposing the truth - though it be the truth of the Gospel and of salvation - can be a violation of religious freedom", said the Holy Father, in which context he quoted words of Paul VI: "It would, of course, be a mistake to impose anything on the conscience of our brothers and sisters, but propounding knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and the salvation of Jesus Christ, with absolute clarity and full respect for the free choice of conscience (hence without coercion or dishonest persuasion), ... far from being an attack on religious freedom, is a homage to that freedom, which can choose a route that even non-believers consider noble and edifying. ... To present Christ and His kingdom in a respectful way, more than a right, is a duty of evangelisation".
"The call to mission", the Pope went on, "is not directed exclusively to a restricted group of members of the Church; rather, it is an imperative addressed to all the baptised, an essential element of their vocation". The Pope also referred to the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean which took place in the Brazilian city of Aparecida in 2007 and which had among its goals the recovery of the missionary dimension of the Church.
"The challenges of the current time could lead to a reduced view of the mission", the Holy Father observed. "Yet mission cannot be limited to a mere search for new ways to make the Church more attractive and capable of overcoming the competition of other religious groups or relativist ideologies. The Church does not work for herself. She is at the service of Jesus Christ and exists to ensure the Good News is accessible to everyone. The Church is catholic precisely because she invites all human beings to experience new life in Christ. Mission, then, is neither more nor less than the natural consequence of the very essence of the Church, a service of the ministry of unity which Christ wished to achieve in His crucified body".
AL/ VIS 20101004 (530)
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Fire On The Earth: God’s New Creation and the Meaning of Our Lives from First Things by Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
One of my favorite Christian authors, writing about the Christianity of his day, said that popular faith is “like a farmer who needs a horse for his fields; he leaves the fiery stallion on one side, and buys the tame, broken-in horse. This is just the way men have tamed for themselves a usable Christianity, and it is only a matter of time and honest thought before they lose interest in their creation and get rid of it.”
The man who wrote those words was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German Lutheran theologian. For Bonhoeffer, Scripture was not an academic discipline, or a personal hobby, or a collection of useful wisdom. It was the living Word of God, the furnace that powered his life. And it had a cost. It led him to oppose National Socialism, then to work against Adolf Hitler, then to his arrest, and finally to his execution.
There’s nothing tepid or routine about a real encounter with Sacred Scripture. In his Narnia tales, C.S. Lewis warned that Aslan is a good lion, but he is not a “tame” lion. Likewise, God’s Word is profoundly good, but it is never “tame.” Augustine thought Christian Scripture was vulgar, inelegant, and shallow—until he heard it preached by St. Ambrose; then it grabbed him by the soul, and turned his world and his life inside out. When Jesus said “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49) he spoke not as an interesting moral counselor, but as the restless, incarnate Word of God, the Scriptures in flesh and blood, on fire with his Father’s mission of salvation.
Scripture is passionate; it’s a love story, and it can only be absorbed by giving it everything we have: our mind, our heart and our will. It’s the one story that really matters; the story of God’s love for humanity. And like every great story, it has a structure. Talking about that structure and its meaning is my purpose here today.
A simple way of understanding God’s Word is to see that the beginning, middle and end of Scripture correspond to man’s creation, fall, and redemption. Creation opens Scripture, followed by the sin of Adam and the infidelity of Israel. This drama takes up the bulk of the biblical story until we reach a climax in the birth of Jesus and the redemption he brings. Thus, creation, fall, and redemption make up the three key acts of Scripture’s story, and they embody God’s plan for each of us.
Creation
Modern Christians often seem uneasy with the Bible’s account of creation. As a result, we miss the important truths embedded there. At the heart of the Christian story of creation is the fact that God is good, and the Maker of all things. Therefore, all of his creation has an inherent goodness. At the center of the creation account stand man and woman, made in God’s own image and likeness. In Genesis, humanity crowns the created world as a final, perfected expression of God’s love. In a sense, our love for each other, which is most obviously shown in the covenant of marriage, is a reflection of God’s own identity. God himself is a communion of love in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and this is the divine joy that God created us to share in.
Fall
At least that was the plan. Unfortunately, we know what happens next. Scripture moves pretty quickly from creation, to man’s temptation and Fall in Adam’s original sin.
Here we need to understand the Book of Genesis for what it is: a poetic account, not a newspaper report—but nonetheless a reliable expression of the truth about the history of humanity. God’s Word tells us that at some very early point in our past, our first parents freely chose to violate their original innocence. They turned away from God’s will. In doing so, they imprinted a wound and a weakness on all human generations that followed them, including our own. This is what the Church means by original sin. Every one of us is born a victim and carrier of that original wound. It separates us from God. It inclines us toward selfishness, weakness and evil. And we cannot heal that wound by ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. Only God can do that.
We live in a time that treats science not simply with the respect we should feel for a useful tool, but with a kind of idolatry for the power it seems to promise us. Sin is an “unscientific” idea, an embarrassment to human pride. Therefore it’s out of fashion. But unfashionable does not mean untrue. The proof of original sin is written on every page of the record of the last 100 years: the bloodiest in human history, with the worst sort of barbarism done in the name of the highest sounding political idealism. Sin is real. And more to our point today, the fact of original sin is a foundation stone of the biblical narrative. The cross of Jesus Christ means nothing at all if original sin is unreal. A Gospel of “redemption” makes no sense if we have nothing—no captivity to sin and death—that we need to be redeemed from.
Sin makes us, as St. Paul says, “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). It defaces who God intended us to be. Sin quite literally “de-humanizes” us. This is its tragedy; but it’s also the context for understanding the mission of Jesus Christ.
Redemption
To claim that Jesus “saves us from sin” is certainly true. But it also understates the grandeur of God’s plan for us, achieved through the blood of his Son. Jesus does more than erase our sins, like a debt canceled or a blot washed away. He goes far beyond that. Jesus does indeed free us from sin, but he also elevates us for sonship (Gal 4:3-7).
In his death and resurrection, Jesus restores each of us, to use the biblical language, to the glory of God. This is why the Church sings at the Easter Vigil the Exsultet, “O felix Culpa,” O happy fault of Adam. Adam’s sin is reversed and transformed in the redemption won by Jesus Christ. It’s a “happy fault,” a beautiful and Godly irony, because our freedom purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ has not only restored the dignity of humanity, but lifted all of us beyond our imagining.
Grace heals, perfects, and elevates nature. And therefore Jesus seeks more than just our healing or even our perfection, which would simply take us back to the original innocence of Adam and Eve. Jesus goes even farther, seeking to “elevate” us, desiring nothing less than to give men and women a share in God’s own nature. As St. Peter says in his second epistle, God has granted us his power so that we may become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4).
New Creation
At this point in Scripture, the biblical theme of a new creation begins to make sense. The New Testament tells us that the victory won in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not simply a new exodus from sin, but even more grandly, a new creation.
At the start of Jesus’ passion, we find him praying in agony in a garden (Jn 18:1). The early Church Fathers saw Gethsemane as an echo of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and St. John’s Gospel goes out of its way to stress that Jesus’ tomb is likewise in a garden (Jn 19:41). St. Luke may also be referring to Eden when he recounts the words of Jesus to the good thief, that he will be with him in paradise, using the same word in Greek that Scripture uses for the Garden of Eden (Lk 23:43). Luke’s Gospel also takes Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam, implying that Jesus is the new Adam (Lk 3:23-38).
The “new creation” images found throughout the work of St. John climax with the resurrected Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Jn 20:22), just as God breathed his Spirit into Adam in the first creation (Gen 2:7). And of course, the picture of a new Eden closes out Scripture’s story in the Apocalypse. The Heavenly Jerusalem that comes down to earth is described as having a river running through its midst with the tree of life beside it, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and leaves for the healing of the nations (compare Gen 2:10 with Rev 22:1-2).
The resurrection of Jesus itself, however, is the central and most powerful scriptural image of a new reality. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus is the “first fruits” of God’s new creation. He goes on to contrast Adam with Jesus, referring to the latter as the “last Adam” saying that “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15:49). In Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians he stresses that Jesus’ resurrection ushers in a new creation, saying, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17).
Matthew, Luke and John all name the day of Jesus’ resurrection as the first day of the week. The early Christians saw this as signifying the first day of the new creation. The old creation came about through the symbolic six days of creation. Now, the new creation has only one day, what the Gospel narratives refer to as the “first day of the week.” This single day for the new creation, in contrast to the six days for the old, hints that the new creation has only just begun. God has begun the work of the new creation with the resurrection of his Son. And this Godly work, begun on the first day of the week, teaches us that a new age has begun. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, and conform their lives to him, take part in this new creation.
Early Christian converts studied the faith in the catechumenate for up to three years to prepare for baptism. This time of study focused on the story of God’s plan as recorded in Sacred Scripture. They immersed themselves in the Bible’s story so that they could see God’s story as their own story. After their time of study, which intensified during the weeks of Lent, they would then come to the Easter Vigil where they would be baptized.
Many ruins of ancient Christian churches have a baptistery, often with three steps that lead into a small pool, and three more steps going out on the opposite side. Catechumens would strip off their old clothes before descending into the water. Then, after being baptized, they would robe in a white linen garment. The disrobing signified the putting off of Adam, and the enrobing the putting on of Christ. In another tradition mentioned by St. Augustine, the persons seeking baptism would stand on animal skins and furs, a symbol of discarding the robes that Adam and Eve made for themselves when they hid from God. And after they were baptized, they would put on cloth sandals so that their feet wouldn’t touch the earth, indicating they were no longer of this world but of the new creation.
The baptismal rite showed that not only do we die to Adam and our old sinful nature, but also that we’re now clothed in Jesus Christ; partakers in his resurrection and in the life of this new man. In baptism we become, to use Paul’s words, a “new creation in Christ.” But equally important for Paul is whether or not we’re now actually living as a “new creation” and being true to our new identity; at least that is what he says in his closing words to the Galatians (Gal 6:15). Paul even goes on to give a blessing to “those who walk by this rule” (Gal 6:16).
Sharing in God’s blessed life Now if this is God’s plan for us—to walk by this new rule, living as a new creation; or as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, sharing in God’s own blessed life (CCC, 1)—just how are we supposed to do that?
In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul spells out how Christians are to “walk,” which is a Hebrew metaphor for the moral life: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). The Holy Spirit is the key to the new creation. In baptism the Christian is healed, her sins are washed away, and in receiving the Holy Spirit she has divine life imparted to her. And just as God’s Spirit hovered over the waters at the creation of the world in Genesis, so too since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has poured out upon Christians, pointing to the truth that God is once again pursuing his creative ways, bringing about a regeneration and renewal—in effect, a new creation (Titus 3:5-6).
The Holy Spirit is the engine of the new creation, but we need to freely choose to cooperate with God’s work. We need to “walk” by the Spirit and be “led by the Spirit” (Gal 5:18; Rom 8:14). Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:22-24). For St. Paul, we must choose between two roads, the way of the flesh that surrenders to the disordered passions we inherit in our wounded human nature; or the way of obedience to the Holy Spirit, which allows God to take root in us and bear the fruits of love, joy and peace.
Paul uses that metaphor of “fruit” as a characteristic of God’s new creation. And this is very deliberate. Fruit must be carefully cultivated. We can’t just plant seeds and sit back expecting a big harvest. Likewise, in baptism the Holy Spirit is planted in our souls, but we can’t be passive or tepid about our faith. The farmer labors over his fields. The gardener cultivates her garden. This takes time. So too, the extent to which God’s new creation takes root in us depends upon our efforts, sustained over time, to help it grow.
On our own, of course, we’re unable to achieve anything—much less live the life of God; the life of heroic love and goodness implied in Jesus’ new creation. We succeed as Christians only in the degree to which we allow God to graft us into the life of his Son. Each of us has a unique and unrepeatable role in the drama of salvation history. But God is author of the story, and its main actor. Therefore we succeed as disciples and as genuinely “human” beings only if we live in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ works through us for our own salvation and the salvation of others.
We do that by creating in our daily lives a time for prayer, silence, and for reading and studying the Word of God. We do it by worshipping together in the community of God’s people. And we do it by submitting our pride and our lives to our mater et magistra—the Church who is our “mother and teacher,” precisely because she is also ecclesiam suam, “his Church,” the Church Jesus Christ founded, guides and loves for the salvation of his people.
More than 15 centuries ago, St. Leo the Great said, “Christian, recognize your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning.” His words are equally true today. The story of Scripture is the greatest story ever told—a story of God’s creative power, man’s betrayal, God’s redemptive love; and a new destiny for humanity greater and more beautiful than anything any of us can imagine. What man has violated—including himself—God makes new and better.
A friend of mine recently took the train from Chicago to Denver, and during the journey he met about a dozen Amish families with children and young adults of all ages. They were traveling together, all of them in their distinctive clothing, to a vacation Bible camp in the Rockies. The Amish live a radical version of New Testament Christianity shaped by family, community, humility and separation from the world. Many avoid the use of electricity. Many will not ride in automobiles. But what struck my friend in his conversations with these families wasn’t their strangeness, but their joy, their lack of fear and their trust in each other.
Here’s the lesson. The Amish have plenty of problems, just like everyone else. Life without an SUV doesn’t keep the devil away. But the Amish do, radically and communally, what Bonhoeffer did in the difficult circumstances of his time, and what God calls each of us to do in our own daily actions: to order our lives wholly and zealously to the Word of God, trusting that his Word is the source of all justice, peace and truth. It’s also the source of an extraordinary joy (see Rom 5:2, Phil 4:4-7, and Jn 14:27).
God created us because he loves us with a tenderness and a passion written across the stars and woven into the beauty of the world around us; and his mercy, his loving kindness, endures forever. Our destiny is joy and glory in God’s new creation. That’s God’s plan for each of us. So be agents of that new creation. “Put on Christ” and “walk in the newness of life,” steeped in God’s Word and eager for God’s grace in the Liturgy. Live the life God calls you to right now, this weekend, in this conference—and in your witness, God will renew the face of the earth.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., is archbishop of Denver.
The man who wrote those words was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German Lutheran theologian. For Bonhoeffer, Scripture was not an academic discipline, or a personal hobby, or a collection of useful wisdom. It was the living Word of God, the furnace that powered his life. And it had a cost. It led him to oppose National Socialism, then to work against Adolf Hitler, then to his arrest, and finally to his execution.
There’s nothing tepid or routine about a real encounter with Sacred Scripture. In his Narnia tales, C.S. Lewis warned that Aslan is a good lion, but he is not a “tame” lion. Likewise, God’s Word is profoundly good, but it is never “tame.” Augustine thought Christian Scripture was vulgar, inelegant, and shallow—until he heard it preached by St. Ambrose; then it grabbed him by the soul, and turned his world and his life inside out. When Jesus said “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49) he spoke not as an interesting moral counselor, but as the restless, incarnate Word of God, the Scriptures in flesh and blood, on fire with his Father’s mission of salvation.
Scripture is passionate; it’s a love story, and it can only be absorbed by giving it everything we have: our mind, our heart and our will. It’s the one story that really matters; the story of God’s love for humanity. And like every great story, it has a structure. Talking about that structure and its meaning is my purpose here today.
A simple way of understanding God’s Word is to see that the beginning, middle and end of Scripture correspond to man’s creation, fall, and redemption. Creation opens Scripture, followed by the sin of Adam and the infidelity of Israel. This drama takes up the bulk of the biblical story until we reach a climax in the birth of Jesus and the redemption he brings. Thus, creation, fall, and redemption make up the three key acts of Scripture’s story, and they embody God’s plan for each of us.
Creation
Modern Christians often seem uneasy with the Bible’s account of creation. As a result, we miss the important truths embedded there. At the heart of the Christian story of creation is the fact that God is good, and the Maker of all things. Therefore, all of his creation has an inherent goodness. At the center of the creation account stand man and woman, made in God’s own image and likeness. In Genesis, humanity crowns the created world as a final, perfected expression of God’s love. In a sense, our love for each other, which is most obviously shown in the covenant of marriage, is a reflection of God’s own identity. God himself is a communion of love in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and this is the divine joy that God created us to share in.
Fall
At least that was the plan. Unfortunately, we know what happens next. Scripture moves pretty quickly from creation, to man’s temptation and Fall in Adam’s original sin.
Here we need to understand the Book of Genesis for what it is: a poetic account, not a newspaper report—but nonetheless a reliable expression of the truth about the history of humanity. God’s Word tells us that at some very early point in our past, our first parents freely chose to violate their original innocence. They turned away from God’s will. In doing so, they imprinted a wound and a weakness on all human generations that followed them, including our own. This is what the Church means by original sin. Every one of us is born a victim and carrier of that original wound. It separates us from God. It inclines us toward selfishness, weakness and evil. And we cannot heal that wound by ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. Only God can do that.
We live in a time that treats science not simply with the respect we should feel for a useful tool, but with a kind of idolatry for the power it seems to promise us. Sin is an “unscientific” idea, an embarrassment to human pride. Therefore it’s out of fashion. But unfashionable does not mean untrue. The proof of original sin is written on every page of the record of the last 100 years: the bloodiest in human history, with the worst sort of barbarism done in the name of the highest sounding political idealism. Sin is real. And more to our point today, the fact of original sin is a foundation stone of the biblical narrative. The cross of Jesus Christ means nothing at all if original sin is unreal. A Gospel of “redemption” makes no sense if we have nothing—no captivity to sin and death—that we need to be redeemed from.
Sin makes us, as St. Paul says, “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). It defaces who God intended us to be. Sin quite literally “de-humanizes” us. This is its tragedy; but it’s also the context for understanding the mission of Jesus Christ.
Redemption
To claim that Jesus “saves us from sin” is certainly true. But it also understates the grandeur of God’s plan for us, achieved through the blood of his Son. Jesus does more than erase our sins, like a debt canceled or a blot washed away. He goes far beyond that. Jesus does indeed free us from sin, but he also elevates us for sonship (Gal 4:3-7).
In his death and resurrection, Jesus restores each of us, to use the biblical language, to the glory of God. This is why the Church sings at the Easter Vigil the Exsultet, “O felix Culpa,” O happy fault of Adam. Adam’s sin is reversed and transformed in the redemption won by Jesus Christ. It’s a “happy fault,” a beautiful and Godly irony, because our freedom purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ has not only restored the dignity of humanity, but lifted all of us beyond our imagining.
Grace heals, perfects, and elevates nature. And therefore Jesus seeks more than just our healing or even our perfection, which would simply take us back to the original innocence of Adam and Eve. Jesus goes even farther, seeking to “elevate” us, desiring nothing less than to give men and women a share in God’s own nature. As St. Peter says in his second epistle, God has granted us his power so that we may become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4).
New Creation
At this point in Scripture, the biblical theme of a new creation begins to make sense. The New Testament tells us that the victory won in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not simply a new exodus from sin, but even more grandly, a new creation.
At the start of Jesus’ passion, we find him praying in agony in a garden (Jn 18:1). The early Church Fathers saw Gethsemane as an echo of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and St. John’s Gospel goes out of its way to stress that Jesus’ tomb is likewise in a garden (Jn 19:41). St. Luke may also be referring to Eden when he recounts the words of Jesus to the good thief, that he will be with him in paradise, using the same word in Greek that Scripture uses for the Garden of Eden (Lk 23:43). Luke’s Gospel also takes Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam, implying that Jesus is the new Adam (Lk 3:23-38).
The “new creation” images found throughout the work of St. John climax with the resurrected Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Jn 20:22), just as God breathed his Spirit into Adam in the first creation (Gen 2:7). And of course, the picture of a new Eden closes out Scripture’s story in the Apocalypse. The Heavenly Jerusalem that comes down to earth is described as having a river running through its midst with the tree of life beside it, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and leaves for the healing of the nations (compare Gen 2:10 with Rev 22:1-2).
The resurrection of Jesus itself, however, is the central and most powerful scriptural image of a new reality. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus is the “first fruits” of God’s new creation. He goes on to contrast Adam with Jesus, referring to the latter as the “last Adam” saying that “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15:49). In Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians he stresses that Jesus’ resurrection ushers in a new creation, saying, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17).
Matthew, Luke and John all name the day of Jesus’ resurrection as the first day of the week. The early Christians saw this as signifying the first day of the new creation. The old creation came about through the symbolic six days of creation. Now, the new creation has only one day, what the Gospel narratives refer to as the “first day of the week.” This single day for the new creation, in contrast to the six days for the old, hints that the new creation has only just begun. God has begun the work of the new creation with the resurrection of his Son. And this Godly work, begun on the first day of the week, teaches us that a new age has begun. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, and conform their lives to him, take part in this new creation.
Early Christian converts studied the faith in the catechumenate for up to three years to prepare for baptism. This time of study focused on the story of God’s plan as recorded in Sacred Scripture. They immersed themselves in the Bible’s story so that they could see God’s story as their own story. After their time of study, which intensified during the weeks of Lent, they would then come to the Easter Vigil where they would be baptized.
Many ruins of ancient Christian churches have a baptistery, often with three steps that lead into a small pool, and three more steps going out on the opposite side. Catechumens would strip off their old clothes before descending into the water. Then, after being baptized, they would robe in a white linen garment. The disrobing signified the putting off of Adam, and the enrobing the putting on of Christ. In another tradition mentioned by St. Augustine, the persons seeking baptism would stand on animal skins and furs, a symbol of discarding the robes that Adam and Eve made for themselves when they hid from God. And after they were baptized, they would put on cloth sandals so that their feet wouldn’t touch the earth, indicating they were no longer of this world but of the new creation.
The baptismal rite showed that not only do we die to Adam and our old sinful nature, but also that we’re now clothed in Jesus Christ; partakers in his resurrection and in the life of this new man. In baptism we become, to use Paul’s words, a “new creation in Christ.” But equally important for Paul is whether or not we’re now actually living as a “new creation” and being true to our new identity; at least that is what he says in his closing words to the Galatians (Gal 6:15). Paul even goes on to give a blessing to “those who walk by this rule” (Gal 6:16).
Sharing in God’s blessed life Now if this is God’s plan for us—to walk by this new rule, living as a new creation; or as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, sharing in God’s own blessed life (CCC, 1)—just how are we supposed to do that?
In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul spells out how Christians are to “walk,” which is a Hebrew metaphor for the moral life: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). The Holy Spirit is the key to the new creation. In baptism the Christian is healed, her sins are washed away, and in receiving the Holy Spirit she has divine life imparted to her. And just as God’s Spirit hovered over the waters at the creation of the world in Genesis, so too since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has poured out upon Christians, pointing to the truth that God is once again pursuing his creative ways, bringing about a regeneration and renewal—in effect, a new creation (Titus 3:5-6).
The Holy Spirit is the engine of the new creation, but we need to freely choose to cooperate with God’s work. We need to “walk” by the Spirit and be “led by the Spirit” (Gal 5:18; Rom 8:14). Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:22-24). For St. Paul, we must choose between two roads, the way of the flesh that surrenders to the disordered passions we inherit in our wounded human nature; or the way of obedience to the Holy Spirit, which allows God to take root in us and bear the fruits of love, joy and peace.
Paul uses that metaphor of “fruit” as a characteristic of God’s new creation. And this is very deliberate. Fruit must be carefully cultivated. We can’t just plant seeds and sit back expecting a big harvest. Likewise, in baptism the Holy Spirit is planted in our souls, but we can’t be passive or tepid about our faith. The farmer labors over his fields. The gardener cultivates her garden. This takes time. So too, the extent to which God’s new creation takes root in us depends upon our efforts, sustained over time, to help it grow.
On our own, of course, we’re unable to achieve anything—much less live the life of God; the life of heroic love and goodness implied in Jesus’ new creation. We succeed as Christians only in the degree to which we allow God to graft us into the life of his Son. Each of us has a unique and unrepeatable role in the drama of salvation history. But God is author of the story, and its main actor. Therefore we succeed as disciples and as genuinely “human” beings only if we live in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ works through us for our own salvation and the salvation of others.
We do that by creating in our daily lives a time for prayer, silence, and for reading and studying the Word of God. We do it by worshipping together in the community of God’s people. And we do it by submitting our pride and our lives to our mater et magistra—the Church who is our “mother and teacher,” precisely because she is also ecclesiam suam, “his Church,” the Church Jesus Christ founded, guides and loves for the salvation of his people.
More than 15 centuries ago, St. Leo the Great said, “Christian, recognize your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning.” His words are equally true today. The story of Scripture is the greatest story ever told—a story of God’s creative power, man’s betrayal, God’s redemptive love; and a new destiny for humanity greater and more beautiful than anything any of us can imagine. What man has violated—including himself—God makes new and better.
A friend of mine recently took the train from Chicago to Denver, and during the journey he met about a dozen Amish families with children and young adults of all ages. They were traveling together, all of them in their distinctive clothing, to a vacation Bible camp in the Rockies. The Amish live a radical version of New Testament Christianity shaped by family, community, humility and separation from the world. Many avoid the use of electricity. Many will not ride in automobiles. But what struck my friend in his conversations with these families wasn’t their strangeness, but their joy, their lack of fear and their trust in each other.
Here’s the lesson. The Amish have plenty of problems, just like everyone else. Life without an SUV doesn’t keep the devil away. But the Amish do, radically and communally, what Bonhoeffer did in the difficult circumstances of his time, and what God calls each of us to do in our own daily actions: to order our lives wholly and zealously to the Word of God, trusting that his Word is the source of all justice, peace and truth. It’s also the source of an extraordinary joy (see Rom 5:2, Phil 4:4-7, and Jn 14:27).
God created us because he loves us with a tenderness and a passion written across the stars and woven into the beauty of the world around us; and his mercy, his loving kindness, endures forever. Our destiny is joy and glory in God’s new creation. That’s God’s plan for each of us. So be agents of that new creation. “Put on Christ” and “walk in the newness of life,” steeped in God’s Word and eager for God’s grace in the Liturgy. Live the life God calls you to right now, this weekend, in this conference—and in your witness, God will renew the face of the earth.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., is archbishop of Denver.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
"This is the house that Jack built..."
"This is the house that Jack built..."
by Mother Goose
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
via Divine Life - A Blog by Eric Sammons by Eric Sammons on 7/9/10
Recently I ran across this profound and insightful statement by Joseph Ratzinger, written in 1977:
[In] the very structure of modern society the corporate life of the family is increasingly displaced by the logic of production and the specializations which it has developed. As a result, the family home frequently seems no more than a sleeping-bag. In the daytime it effectively dematerializes. No more can it be that sheltering space which brings human beings together in birth and living, in sickness and dying. (Eschatology, pp. 69-70, emphasis added)
Two hundred years ago in this country, the vast majority of families had all their members stay close to home throughout the day. The mother stayed at home to tend the house and raise the kids, and the father either worked the farm or at a local shop nearby. Family life revolved around the house, making it a “sheltering space,” as the future Pope Benedict noted. Today, however, nothing could be further from reality. As Ratzinger writes, during the daytime, our homes “dematerialize.”
It is amazing how my own neighborhood becomes a virtual ghost town during the day, even during the summer. Although plenty of families have young children, you never see any during working hours, as they are all away at day care or summer camp (at night, it is little better, as yards are still empty and most homes seem to have a TV-blue glow emanating from their homes). The days of children playing with their siblings and the neighborhood children are long gone, as are many of the deep bonds that unite a family together and to their community.
It would be easy to point the finger at individuals and blame them for this epidemic. But, as Ratzinger points out, such a situation is due to the very structure of modern society. Everything about our modern economy and society pushes families to become two-income households, and drives families to live farther and farther away from work-centers, thus adding to the total time away from the home. And the process is self-perpetuating: as more families become dual-income, their total income rises, thus rising the cost of homes, which in turn pushes more families to become dual-income and to live farther from work-centers. The devil has done a wonderful job in modern times in preventing homes from becoming “sheltering spaces” as long commute times and mothers having to work outside the home are destroying any sense of the family home being anything more than a “sleeping-bag.”
All of these factors make me more and more appreciative of stay-at-home mothers. I understand that there are situations in which a mother must work outside the home, but I still cannot but praise those families who make the great sacrifices necessary to have the mother stay at home with their children. I am very grateful to my parents for many things, but one of things I’m most thankful for is that my own mother stayed at home throughout my childhood years. By doing so, she made my home a “sheltering space.” Without exception, there is no job I admire more than mothers who stay at home with their children. This feeling of admiration even is greater than the one I have for priests, of whom I have great admiration. In my estimation, stay-at-home moms have an even more noble – and thankless – task. As grace builds on nature, so too does the work of the priest build on the work of the mother, the first educator in the school of love for any child. A loving mother does more to help a priest in his work to sanctify souls than any other person.
The greatest human person who ever lived – the Blessed Virgin Mary – was a stay-at-home mom, and her task was a humble one, although it was also the most important one given to a human person in the history of mankind: to raise the God-man, Jesus Christ. In the fifth glorious mystery, we contemplate the coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth: here is a simple stay-at-home mom made the Queen of men and angels! I often think that there will be countless other unknown stay-at-home mothers who will one day be glorified in heaven because of their work to make their homes sheltering spaces and not just sleeping-bags.
Our Lady, Mother of God, pray for us!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI - July 7, 2010
"Freedom", the Pope explained, "is authentic and helps in the construction of a truly human civilisation only when reconciled with truth. If disconnected from truth, freedom tragically becomes the principle that destroys the inner harmony of human beings, a source of abuse for the strong and the violent, a cause of suffering and mourning. Freedom ... grows and is perfected, said Duns Scotus, when man opens himself to God. ... When we listen to the divine Revelation, to the Word of God, in order to accept it, then we receive a message which fills our lives with light and hope, and we are truly free".
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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