Reading your Way to Clarity

Meditations on the Christ

Guardini, Romano

Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.  (2014-09-22).

Well, I found another Guardini treasure trove! These quieter Holy Week and Easter days, with a longer car ride and a train trip, gave me time to read through this important work by one of last century's German speaking giants, who also fortunately has been translated into English, or at least some of his greater works have been.

This particular chapter and quote got me thinking about some of the more heatedly discussed issues of our own day and especially about a little Lutheran puppet video I watched recently (somehow I failed to give it a "like") which entered playfully into the possible reasons for falling church membership and came up with love for Jesus as the decisive factor:

"In the farewell, Jesus told His disciples that He was going away, and that they knew the path He would travel. Thomas said to Him, “But, Lord, we do not know where Thou art going; how are we to know the way there?” And Jesus said to him, “I am the way; I am truth and life. Nobody can come to the Father except through me.” Once again we must weigh these words. Jesus does not say, “I will show you the way,” but rather “I am the way”; not “I will teach you the truth,” but rather “I am the truth”; not “I bring you life,” but “I am life.” This is not said by way of rhetorical exaggeration, but rather with intense awareness of exactly what is involved. There was no path already there, which Jesus simply pointed out; or a general truth already in existence, to which He merely called attention; or a wellspring of the abundant life, which He made to gush forth. Nor was it a matter of there being already present a living relationship with God, plain for all to see, with His mission nothing more than to make it easier of access. The way, the truth, and the life, union with the living God: these are He. No one comes to the Father except through Him. 

"If someone should ask, “How do I come to God? What kind of being is God?” this would be the answer: God is just as He manifested Himself in Jesus. Whoever looks upon Jesus, whoever takes into account who Jesus is, how He speaks, how He conducts Himself, what His attitudes are — such a one is perceiving God Himself. And he will get to God by going in Jesus’ company, allowing himself to be instructed by Him, and allowing himself to become centered in that identity with which he makes his approach to Jesus. Then he is indeed on the way, in truth, and he partakes of life. "(Kindle Locations 821-834).

Regardless of whether or not you find it challenging to give Jesus the first place in your life, you cannot help but gain by reading Guardini. Put this little book on your wish list!

Messa di Pasqua – 27 marzo 2016 - Missione Italiana a Berna

Alleluia! Cristo è risorto! Si! È veramente risorto!

Per noi Cattolici del rito romano, a Pasqua torna alla liturgia il canto di “Alleluia”; la rubrica antica prevedeva l’introduzione del canto alla Vigilia Pasquale dal celebrante principale. Per i nostri fratelli e sorelle Cattolici del rito bizantino, in questo stesso senso nella Vigilia di Pasqua si mette l’accento sullo scambio entusiasta tra celebrante e popolo: “Cristo è risorto! Si! È veramente risorto!” Tutte e due usanze si intendono come gride di gioia e la gioia è sempre quella nostra nella vittoria di Cristo. Auguro a tutti il godimento in pieno della vera gioia pasquale, domandandomi allo stesso tempo che cosa posso fare io per facilitare una vera e propria scoppiata di quella gioia in tutti voi qui presenti in questo giorno di luce e di speranza. Parlo così perché so che non tutti capiscono il vero senso della gioia che è nostra nella Risurrezione di Gesù dai morti.

In questa nostra vita sono troppe le angustie, le preoccupazioni. In che cosa possiamo o dobbiamo gioire? Come si fa, non dico per eliminare le croci che ci spettano in questo mondo, ma come si fa per dare il sopravvento alla gioia vera e duratura in noi, i battezzati, gioia grazie alla Risurrezione di Cristo, il messaggio lieto di Pasqua? Per una risposta a quella domanda mi lascio ispirare da due versetti dalla prima lettura di oggi dagli Atti degli Apostoli che formano il mio punto di partenza per la mia ricerca delle fondamenta della gioia pasquale:

“E ci ha ordinato di annunciare al popolo e di testimoniare che egli è il giudice dei vivi e dei morti, costituito da Dio. A lui tutti i profeti danno questa testimonianza: chiunque crede in lui riceve il perdono dei peccati per mezzo del suo nome.” (At 10,42-43)

La parola chiave qui è “giudice”, una parola o un impiego non senza ambiguità oggigiorno. Si può dire che parlare di Cristo Giudice non è percepito in senso positivo e sicuramente non se ne parla in congiunzione con la solennità di questa domenica di primavera, soprattutto tenendo conto dell’impressione che molti hanno della Festa di Pasqua. È già molto, per dire così, se a Pasqua si riesce di incentrare il discorso sulla vittoria di Cristo sulla morte e sul peccato.

Credo pertanto molto importante questa prima lettura, dove abbiamo sentito che il Cristo Risorto dà ordine ai suoi, ai testimoni della sua risurrezione dai morti, di annunciare il Cristo Risorto proprio come giudice costituito da Dio. La gioia del discorso Pasqua e Risurrezione non risulta dal semplice fatto del ritorno alla vita del tanto amato Gesù. No, la vera e piena gioia risulta dalla retta ordine riportata al nostro mondo e della quale noi siamo partecipi. Di Pasqua e della vera gioia pasquale non se ne parla senza aver presente l’Ultimo Giudizio dei vivi e dei morti alla fine dei tempi.

Di trovare gioia nel giudizio proclamato su questo mondo non sembra una cosa ovvia. Perché? Il problema risulta meno dalla parola “giudice” come tale, ma piuttosto dal suo significato applicato; cioè la difficoltà risulta dal nostro uso comune della parola giudice. Pochi vedono nel giudice civile il garante di qualcosa, cioè garante o difensore della giustizia vera e propria. L’impressione è che il giudice sia poco più di un arbitro per casi contenziosi: sovrano nel pronunciare sentenza, forse sì, ma forse meno percepito come rifugio o consolatore in verità delle persone indifese.

Di poter aggiungere il componente giudizio alla Pasqua è cruciale, perché dobbiamo vedere la Risurrezione di Gesù non come fatto in sé, tanto voluto certo da Dio Padre e dai discepoli del Signore ai quali il Cristo morto in Croce è mancato molto, ma per vedere la Risurrezione di Gesù come vittoria ultima e definitiva nel suo contesto cosmico ed universale, cioè al di là della persona amata del Signore. Nel caso del lieto annuncio della Pasqua, non si tratta di un semplice ritorno alla vita materiale nello stesso senso che Gesù ha risuscitato Lazaro, facendolo uscire dalla tomba, e neppure nel senso della restituzione vivo alla vedova di Naim del suo figlio unico morto così giovane, e nemmeno nello stesso senso che Gesù ha fatto alzare la ragazzina dodicenne, ridandola viva e sana ai suoi genitori. No, Pasqua, la Risurrezione di Gesù è la vittoria del Figlio dell’Uomo, è un’altra cosa; in Lui, Dio fatto Uomo, si tratta proprio della nostra vittoria una volta e per sempre sul peccato originale di Adamo e in conseguenza della vittoria sulla morte eterna.

A causa del peccato di Adamo, si può dire che noi eravamo tutti portati alla luce del giorno in questo mondo portando le catene, legati così al diavolo e lontani da Dio. In questo si vede la necessità e l’urgenza del battesimo per noi come neonati. Per il nostro battesimo nella morte in Croce di Gesù e per la sua Risurrezione dai morti nel terzo giorno, il Giudice dei vivi e dei morti ci ha slegati; ci ha liberati una volta e per sempre dal potere degli inferi per vivere con Lui in eterno.

“E ci ha ordinato di annunciare al popolo e di testimoniare che egli è il giudice dei vivi e dei morti, costituito da Dio. A lui tutti i profeti danno questa testimonianza: chiunque crede in lui riceve il perdono dei peccati per mezzo del suo nome.”

Oggi nel giorno di Pasqua, fissando il nostro sguardo nella fede su Cristo Giudice possiamo comprendere il vero senso della gioia pasquale. Con il Suo Sangue Gesù ha pronunciato sentenza definitiva e senza appello su questo mondo, rendendoci liberi in Lui. Alleluia!  Si! È veramente risorto!

Si! Dobbiamo festeggiare oggi. Ma mi domando come la gente si intende la parola “festa” nel senso cristiano del mistero che celebriamo oggi. Come l’associazione con il concetto di giudice e di giudizio, non è una cosa tanta ovvia. Bisogna apprendere l’arte della festa cristiana, perché non è una cosa puramente umana; è un gusto coltivato come il gusto per fuochi di artificio è un gusto coltivato. Basta pensare a quanto sono terrorizzati i bambini e non solo dalla prima esperienza di queste scoppiate. V’è qualcosa di simile nel godimento del mistero pasquale.

La mia preghiera è che una comprensione giusta della nozione di Cristo Giudice e della sua vittoria sul peccato e sulla morte per noi potrà rendere ciascuno di noi, rinati nelle acque del battesimo, più consapevoli dei motivi che sono nostri per gioire in questo giorno della nostra salvezza.

Alleluia! Cristo è risorto! Si! È veramente risorto!

Holy Saturday's Silence after Good Friday's Painful Solitude

The Father is with me. John 16:32

"We have reflected on the solitude of Jesus: how He stood alone against the responsible leaders of His people, who did not understand Him, and even turned Him away, and took action against Him; how He stood alone among His people, who, it is true, cheered for Him for a short time, but afterward abandoned Him; how He stood alone even among His disciples, the closest to Him of all, who lived with Him, for these neither understood Him nor kept faith with Him, except for John. 

"And when we asked ourselves what He had to hold on to through all this, we ran across the profoundly interior sentence from the message of farewell: “And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Jesus’ solitude becomes something frightful and incomprehensible if we do not understand it in connection with the presence of His Father." (Guardini, Romano (2014-09-22). Meditations on the Christ (Kindle Locations 711-718). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.)

I surely hope today grants time and space for all to be with Jesus, as death is swallowed up in His Death. How far we sometimes seem from that one essential, that better part, chosen by Martha and Lazarus' sister, Mary! May our out of the way place today prepare us for the inbreaking of His bright Dawn! 

Sufficient Means - Changing Hearts

Palm Sunday is sobering in a lot of ways. What strikes me every year is the abrupt change in the crowd from cries of "hosanna" to that screech of "crucify him". It is a constant reminder to me that the true test of genuine conversion, of turning to Jesus with heart, soul, mind and strength, is played out behind the closed doors of the inner chamber of my heart. The roar of the crowd is no indicator of belief; it is fickle and contributes little or nothing to winning me once and for all for Jesus.

I think that is what is key in comprehending St. Paul's exhortation to Timothy, the young bishop entrusted by him with the care of an important flock (2 Tim. 4:1-5):

"I adjure thee in the sight of God, and of Jesus Christ, who is to be the judge of living and dead, in the name of his coming, and of his kingdom, preach the word, dwelling upon it continually, welcome or unwelcome; bring home wrong-doing, comfort the waverer, rebuke the sinner, with all the patience of a teacher. The time will surely come, when men will grow tired of sound doctrine, always itching to hear something fresh; and so they will provide themselves with a continuous succession of new teachers, as the whim takes them, turning a deaf ear to the truth, bestowing their attention on fables instead. It is for thee to be on the watch, to accept every hardship, to employ thyself in preaching the gospel, and perform every duty of thy office, keeping a sober mind."

One of the errors propagated in the context of discussions about winning people for the faith, especially when it comes to winning children and youth for Christ, is deadly talk about something often referred to as socialization, which must mean integration into a larger community somehow associated with church. I would think that those genuinely interested in promoting the new evangelization would run the other way when the term "socialization" is used. Paul assures Timothy that people are won for Christ through the sweat, blood and tears of the shepherd.

The dialogue is personal/interpersonal and calls on the other individually: "...preach the word, dwelling upon it continually, welcome or unwelcome; bring home wrong-doing, comfort the waverer, rebuke the sinner, with all the patience of a teacher."

My Lent has been enriched this year by exchanges with priests in various contexts: in larger groups, in mixed groups with laity, in smaller groups and one on one. While certain topics come up frequently, like: religious education, animating Sunday Mass for children or youth, reaching out to "them" wherever they are at, other goals for the apostolate seem to be off-bounds, like: mom and dad, as the first and best teachers of their children in the ways of faith.

We hear gladly of the miracles worked by children and youth drawn to Jesus outside their homes, but flee the responsibility of helping young parents to see their responsibility. It cannot be that painful or daunting to take on young adults, one by one or two by two and lead them to face their duties toward their children. Crowd pleasing has no valence. To convince ourselves we need but look to today's liturgy and remind ourselves that among those who cried "hosanna" on Sunday with palm branches in their hands were also those who with clenched fists shouted "crucify him" and chose the rabble-rouser and murderer Barabbas to the Prince of Peace, meek and riding on a donkey.

I remember a Bishop friend of mine in western Ukraine telling me that in his eparchy Palm Sunday is actually more popular than Easter for those once-a-year Holy Week church goers. It's less demanding and more colorful (viz. the bouquets to be blessed of pussy-willow and bright yellow forsythia!). You might say, it's a crowd pleaser...

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

The Body of Christ, His Church

Today's Gospel from John 10:31-42 left me pensive about the question of where people are at in the Church today about confessing the truth of the Divinity of Christ:

"The Jews fetched stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God.’ Jesus answered: ‘Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the word of God was addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected. Yet you say to someone the Father has consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because he says, “I am the son of God.” If I am not doing my Father’s work, there is no need to believe me; but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for sure that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’

They wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them. He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptizing. Many people who came to him there said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many of them believed in him."

The question or the puzzle is how, whether or do those who call themselves catholic believe in Jesus as God, present and active in and through His Church. Why the question? Very simply because there is a tendency abroad to reduce ministry, not to charism but to charisma: people seem to set their sights, if not their hearts, on the impressive and attractive. "The grass withers and the flower fades", but not withstanding, from "Joel Osteen" types to whomever, showmanship seems to carry the day. Lots of Catholics seem to forgo immersion in the traditional sacramental and symbolic structure of the Church, complemented by popular devotion, prayer and catechesis, in favor of the church-going equivalent of "bread and circus". The "empire" is in decline!

The rightful point of departure for a confession of the divine presence is not the recognition of talent or genius in, let's say, a particularly popular priest and pastor. Jesus' opposition in today's Gospel sought to stone Him not for what was great about Him, not for His good works, but for His conclusions drawn on the basis of the signs He worked, and that namely He is God and one with the Heavenly Father, at work in the world. 

Too often the fact that somebody in ministry puts himself forward with no small amount of zeal, as if everything depended on his endearment to a particular audience or clientele, belies a lack of faith. On the part of many people, the refusal to accept on the part of the priest his humble devotion and adherence to the rubrics established universally for the celebration of Holy Mass would likewise seem to attest a lack of faith. Call such people superficial or fickle, they are the ones apt to pick up stones to throw at Christ present in His Church.

I know this is not good exegesis, but it helps me understand, beyond quirky psychology, why many will support all sorts of folly in the Church while demonstrating at the same time a wild intolerance toward those who seek the face of Christ through a loving and humble adherence to the tradition.

Years ago, a man who had been an athlete in his youth and a coach shared with me what it was from the ministrations of his parish priest which helped him overcome his crisis of faith after being diagnosed with a debilitating illness, which forced him into early retirement, and with rapidly progressing paralysis into an institutional care setting. What inspired and sustained him was not some counsel, some inspiring words from his pastor, but witnessing this priest at various hours of the day as he paced back and forth in the side aisle of the church, silently engrossed in his breviary. This man gleaned for himself from the priest's silent devotion the assurance he needed of God's primacy in life and in the world.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your Name give the glory!

Enabling a Labor of Love

Besides noting the frequency of terror attacks and a disrespectful and aggressive social scene in most of the west, the social media are heavily commenting a political culture ruled by what we used to call the law of the jungle. Whether it is fair to say that inner Church discourse has gone to the dogs as well would be hard to say, but there is no small amount of aggressive behavior, spilling over into violence, here as well. Even rather highly placed figures in the Church don't seem to be able to distinguish between intelligent critique and verbal violence, born of a fundamental dread, if not hatred, of the other. Justice, decency, but above all love of the sort which Christ commanded in the two great commandments seems in short supply.

Patrick Archbold has published at The Remnant an article which poses the question as to whether Summorum Pontificum (now nine years down the line) was indeed the efficient instrument for promoting liturgical renewal, reform or restoration in the Church. Pope Benedict presumably sought to achieve his goal principally by recognizing the Roman Rite as having two forms and seeking their mutual enrichment through acquaintance and open exchange.

Archbold expresses appreciation for Summorum Pontificum but illustrates its handicaps. He does so respectfully, but his remedies for a status quo deserving critique edge toward the too energetic, when not high handed and almost violent. Very rightly, he doesn't see the playing field as sufficiently leveled or, if you will, would illustrate the number of ways in which the Extraordinary Form is hamstrung by that document. He offers a list of suggestions for remedying the situation.

As much as I would like to agree with him on the point that the label "Extraordinary Form" is a misnomer and a hindrance, it probably best fits the psychology of where or how we are at in the Church these days. Archbold takes one "bull by the horns", rather ill advisedly to my way of thinking, and namely by his proposal to require that priests already ordained show proficiency in celebrating the Mass according to the 1962 Missal and by a certain deadline. The approach is too aggressive and to my mind smacks of the same violence with which the Missal of Bl. Paul VI was often imposed a half century almost ago. What to do?

A culture needs to be built within the Church and where it can bear fruit in freedom. Tension and debate must be dynamic; they must be constructive, ample and nurturing, not small minded or oppressive. Giving orders to the priest in the parish to get his act together and learn something new is confrontational and counterproductive. Start from a smaller and potentially more empowering base! Not enough has been done to engage bishops and seminary rectors. Major seminary is indeed the laboratory for experience and reflection, especially in this case concerning the merits of the two forms of the one rite. Without any new legislation, with the blessing of the bishop, in the seminary a new openness is freely possible and could lead to a much more serene approach on the part of future priests to this important issue.

On the level of the Universal Church, I would repeat my insistence from earlier blog posts that a pre-tridentine model for fostering the organic development of the liturgy may again be in order. Maybe the Bishop of Rome and his Curia need to prepare a proper Missal for the Patriarchal Basilicas and the station churches of Rome; maybe it is up to the supreme legislator to show the way in matters of liturgical renewal and restoration. I pray about this every day. That the Holy Father would not only celebrate publicly according to the 1962 Missal, but would undertake calendar reform and more; that in conformity with his proper role, he would be the one to jump-start the process of finding a proper basis for putting us back on track for the kind of organic development the tradition demands. 

To focus on liturgy alone and rooting out abuse is insufficient; sadly, over these years, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that Eucharist, Sunday Mass in particular, is source and summit (fons et culmen) of something, namely the Christian life. If we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of our people in so many ways, it is because of the sort of reductionism which has pared down Catholic life to a weekly church-going, without other supports. The lack of private prayer in the home, that children are ignorant of basic prayers, that the rudiments of Catholic culture are withheld from the young, that individual celebration of the Sacrament of Penance is neglected, are all impediments to living the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and focusing our life as baptized into Christ.

The prophets, especially Hosea, sought on God's behalf to speak to the heart of the bride. We need to do the same today. Able people like Patrick Archbold need to find words and ways to speak to the heart of a faithless spouse. More than a call to order, as truthful and justified as it may be, we need to speak the truth in love; we need to enable that labor of love, which will open hearts and minds to Christ. It is not at all easy in the present climate, but it is the kind of sacrificial love which St. Dominic demonstrated on behalf of the conversion of Albigensians; it was in grand part the greatness of the teaching and counsel of St. Francis de Sales.

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Passiontide - In His Glorious Cross

Saint Paul is absolutely mighty in today's Second Reading from Philippians 3:8-14; he speaks to my heart:

"I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus."