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The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - April 10, 2009
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VATICAN DOSSIER
Pope: Christ's Agony Moves the Hardest Hearts
Hope Highlighted in Way of Cross Meditations
Papal Message Sent to Earthquake Victims
Preacher: Christ Redefined Suffering
WORLD FEATURES
Bishop: Don't Save Solidarity for Tragedy
Cardinal Donates Savings to Start Bank for Poor
NEWS BRIEFS
Poll: Most Americans Celebrate Easter
Urging Catholics to Be Card-Carrying Members
SPIRITUALITY
Father Cantalamessa's Good Friday Sermon
DOCUMENTS
Papal Address at End of Way of the Cross
Pope: Christ's Agony Moves the Hardest Hearts
Offers Reflection at End of Good Friday Via CrucisROME, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Even the hardest of hearts are moved to pity upon witnessing Christ's suffering during his passion and death, as it reveals the fullness of God's love for mankind, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this tonight at the end of the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum. Speaking from atop the Palatine hill, he reflected on the words of the centurion whom St. Mark quotes at the end of his Passion narrative: "The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’"
"We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion," Benedict XVI explained. "When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to celebrate the Jewish Passover in the usual way, these few words, wrung from the lips of a nameless commander in the Roman army, resounded through the silence that surrounded that most singular death.
"This Roman army officer, having witnessed the execution of one of countless condemned prisoners, was able to recognize in this crucified man the Son of God, who had perished in the most humiliating abandonment."
Christ's "shameful end ought to have marked the definitive triumph of hatred and death over love and life," said the Pope. "But it was not so! Hanging from the Cross on Golgotha was a man who was already dead, but that man was acknowledged to be the 'Son of God' by the centurion."
The Holy Father noted that, "like the centurion, we pause to gaze on the lifeless face of the Crucified One at the conclusion of this traditional Via Crucis."
God's love
"The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts," he said, "as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us."
"Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed him, making in their turn, like him and with his help, a gift to others of their own lives," Benedict XVI continued. "They are the saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us.
"Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal!"
"Let us pause this evening to contemplate his disfigured face," he urged. "It is the face of the Man of sorrows, who took upon himself the burden of all our mortal anguish. His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick and suffering, alone, abandoned and despised.
"Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he has broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety."
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Hope Highlighted in Way of Cross Meditations
Written by Archbishop of Guwahati, IndiaVATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- As the Church contemplated the passion of death of Christ at the Way of the Cross in the Roman Colosseum, they were led to reflect as well on the virtue of hope.
The meditations for the traditional event were written this year by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, India, who began the introductory meditation with an invitation to "sing together a 'hymn of hope.'"
"We want to tell ourselves that all is not lost in hard times," he said. "Indeed, in testing times we see no reason for believing and hoping. And yet we believe. And yet we hope."
"It is truly in Christ that we understand the full meaning of suffering," the archbishop continued. "During this meditation, while we watch with anguish the painful side of Jesus' suffering, we shall also give attention to its redemptive value. It was God's plan that the 'Messiah had to suffer,' and that these sufferings should be for us.
"An awareness of this fills us with living hope. It is this hope that keeps us joyful and patient in our troubles."
"May this message of hope echo from the Hoang-Ho to Colorado, from the Himalayas to the Alps and the Andes, from the Mississipi to the Brahmaputra," Archbishop Menamparampil wrote.
After reflecting on themes such as peace, the integrity of public servants, the persecution of believers and the increased secularization of society, in the Tenth Station -- Jesus Is Crucified -- the archbishop returned to the topic of hope.
"Experience tells us that even the sturdiest man can descend to the depths of despair," he wrote. "Frustrations accumulate, anger and resentment pile up. Bad health, bad news, bad luck, bad treatment -- all can come together. It may have happened to us. It is at such moments we need to remember that Jesus never fails us."
In the prayer, he wrote, "Lord, when clouds gather on the horizon and everything seems lost, when we find no friend to stand by us and hope slips from our hands, teach us to trust in you, who will surely come to our rescue.
"May the experience of inner pain and darkness teach us the great truth that in you nothing is lost, that even our sins -- once we have repented of them -- come to serve a purpose, like dry wood in the cold of winter."
In the Twelfth Station -- The Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple at the Foot of the Cross -- the archbishop noted the role of forgiveness in learning to hope.
"In Mary we do not notice even the least sign of resentment; not a word of bitterness," he wrote. "The Virgin becomes an archetype of forgiveness in faith and hope. She shows us the way to the future.
"Even those who would like to respond to violent injustice with 'violent justice' know that that is not the ultimate answer. Forgiveness prompts hope."
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Papal Message Sent to Earthquake Victims
Says in Wake of Tragedy, Faith Remains as Source of HopeL'AQUILA, Italy, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- As the city of L'Aquila gathered to mourn the loss of hundreds of its citizens, victims of a deadly earthquake, Benedict XVI sent a message of solidarity and hope.
The Holy Father sent a letter today to the national funeral of the victims of the earthquake that hit the capital of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Friday was declared a day of national mourning and a moment of silence was observed nationwide.
Monsignor Georg Gänswein, the Pontiff's private secretary, read the Papal message at the beginning of the funeral Mass, celebrated by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state. The Vatican granted a special dispensation to hold a Mass on Good Friday, the only day of the year on which Mass is not normally said.
The coffins of 205 of the 289 confirmed victims -- many families chose to hold private ceremonies -- were aligned in four long lines, each one with a white sheet of paper indicating the name of the deceased. Twenty of the coffins were white, indicating children victims.
"In these dramatic hours," the Pope wrote in his message, "in which an immense tragedy has hit this land, I feel spiritually present among you to share your anguish, implore God for the eternal repose of the dead, the speedy recovery of the injured, and for all the ability to continue with hope, without yielding to discouragement."
"In moments such as these, faith remains as a source of light and hope, which is exactly what the suffering of the Son of God tells us in these days, who made himself man for us," the Holy Father continued. "May his passion, death and resurrection be for all a source of consolation, and may it open the heart of each one to the contemplation of that life in which 'death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.'"
Benedict XVI said he was pleased to see "a growing wave of solidarity" with the victims: "The Holy See intends to do its part, together with the parishes, religious institutes and lay groups. This is the moment of commitment, in harmony with the agencies of the government, which are already operating admirably."
"Only solidarity can succeed in overcoming such painful trials," concluded the message.
Mystery of death
During the funeral Mass, Cardinal Bertone said that the mystery of death "brings us together, makes us kneel before God, makes us adore his will, immerses us in his eternal love, because in God is the source of life, the meaning and the value of our life."
"Before this mystery, which frightens us, grieves us, we feel, however, that not everything has ended," he said. "So we are here to pray to the author of life, sustained by the certainty, as the word of God affirms, that the souls of the just are in the hands of the good and merciful God."
The cardinal said that a tragedy such as the one that hit L'Aquila is a "valuable occasion to understand the value and true meaning of life.
"In a second, everything can cease -- dreams, plans, hopes. Everything ends; love alone remains. God alone remains who is Love," he added.
Cardinal Bertone said that "in this hour of sorrow and of profound loss, it is the Word of God that sustains our faith, that comforts us and assures us that nothing can conquer the force of love."
"God might seem absent," he said. "Sorrow might seem a cruel force without meaning, the darkness of eyes full of tears seem to extinguish even the most timid rays of sun and springtime.
"Nevertheless, it is precisely while the provocative question is posed: 'Where is your God' (Psalm 42:4) that we feel emerge from our innermost being the certainty of God's loving intervention."
The cardinal urged the faithful to start afresh "bearing together the sorrow of the incommensurable absence of the deceased, with a more assiduous, fraternal and friendly presence near their families, now become more genuinely our families, in the great family of the children of God."
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Preacher: Christ Redefined Suffering
Says Affliction Brings "Life and Joy"VATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Through Christ's passion and death, he not only conquered sin, he gave new meaning to suffereing, preacher of the Pontifical Household
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa said this in his Good Friday sermon, which he gave today at the Vatican in the presence of Benedict XVI and the Curia.
"Through his death, Christ has not only denounced and conquered sin, he has also given new meaning to suffering," the preacher said. "He has made it an instrument of salvation, a path to resurrection and life.
"His sacrifice exercises its effects not through death, but rather thanks to the conquering of death, that is the resurrection."
Father Cantalamessa explained that in life, "pleasure and pain follow each other with the same regularity with which, when a wave arises in the ocean, a trough follows a crest and pulls down the shipwrecked sailor. [...]
"Drug use, the abuse of sex, and homicidal violence, all provide intoxicating pleasure in the moment, but lead to the moral dissolution, and often even the physical ruin, of the person."
"Christ," he said, "with his passion and death, has inverted the relationship between pleasure and pain."
The preacher explained: "No longer is it a pleasure that ends in suffering, but rather suffering that leads to life and joy. It is not just a different order of events; it is joy, in this way, that has the last word, not suffering, and a joy that will last for eternity."
"So Christ did not come to increase human suffering or preach resignation to suffering; he came to give meaning to suffering and to announce its end and defeat," he said.
Father Cantalamessa recalled a slogan used by atheists for an ad campaign on London buses at Christmastime that stated, "There's probably no God. Now enjoy your life!"
Thinking of "parents who have sick children, [...] lonely people, the unemployed, refugees from war zones, people who have suffered grave injustices in life," The preacher responded: "How?"
"Suffering is certainly a mystery for everyone, especially the suffering of innocent people, but without faith in God it becomes immensely more absurd. Even the last hope of rescue is taken away."
"Atheism is a luxury that only those with privileged lives can afford," he asserted, "those who have had everything, including the possibility to dedicate themselves to study and research."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: http://www.zenit.org/article-25631?l=english
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Bishop: Don't Save Solidarity for Tragedy
8,000 Mourn Victims of Italy EarthquakeL'AQUILA, Italy, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Solidarity isn't just for a tragic event, says the secretary of the Italian episcopal conference.
Bishop Mariano Crociata, the retired bishop of Noto, said this today in L'Aquila, at the funeral held for 204 of the 289 victims of the deadly earthquake that hit the Abruzzo region. More than 8,000 turned out for the national service, presided over by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state.
The bishop expressed "his personal solidarity" to Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari of L'Aquila, as well as that of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the president of Italy's episcopal conference, and of the "entire Italian Church."
Bishop Crociata recalled the tragedy of the 1968 earthquake that hit Sicily's Belice valley: "As on this occasion, then also there was a great effort of solidarity, a widespread sense among Italians of feeling themselves brothers, as though in a large family and this is very beautiful and significant."
"From these tragedies," the bishop added, "it is important to learn to be solidary in ordinary events, without waiting for tragic events."
Forty of the victims were university students. Father Luigi Epicoco, the chaplain of the university parish of L'Aquila, said he feels "somewhat guilty for not having been able to save them. I feel strongly my spiritual fraternity with the youth of the university, and their loss is excruciating.
"I am convinced that this suffering is destined to cement our church, the one not made of stone, but the living community."
"We must draw from the theological virtue of hope and start university life again immediately because L'Aquila without students will not be the same city," he added.
"Every family was hit," said Father Cesare Cardozo, the parish priest, and a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela.
"More than saying words, I am present to squeeze a hand, to offer encouragement," the priest said. "I have tried not to let the presence of the Eucharist be lacking. From the very beginning, we celebrated Mass in the open -- the first day, next to the bodies, which little by little were aligned on the grass -- together with relatives."
"Pray for us," he added, "and don't fail to express your closeness."
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Cardinal Donates Savings to Start Bank for Poor
Naples Prelate Enables Offering of Micro-CreditsNAPLES, Italy, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe is responding to the world economic crisis with more than exhortations; he is donating a year's stipend and part of his personal savings to initiate a diocesan bank that will offer micro-credits to the poor.
The Naples archbishop explained his plan in a pastoral letter titled "Where Can We Buy Bread," presented in the archdiocese Wednesday. The pastoral letter takes its title from the question posed to Jesus by the disciples before the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
Cardinal Sepe said the initiative aims to respond to the needs of "unemployed young people, and also of all those who have lost or will lose their jobs."
"Christ wishes to use our hands today to break the bread of sharing, of fraternity and of charity," he noted, inviting all those who are able to help finance the initiative.
"[F]ar from being a practice of pure welfare, the micro-credit will be the way to make the creativity and ingenuity of our people emerge again," the archbishop affirmed. It means "to have the courage to believe in man and to wager on the possibility of multiplying the loaves and fishes."
Cardinal Sepe underlined that in these times of crisis, "we have before us a hungry throng that, as sheep without a shepherd, asks for bread."
"To offer an opportunity to all those who ask for bread is the only way that we Christians have to address unemployment and new poverties, contributing to the restructuring of the social fabric at a time in which the economy does not succeed in offering a way out," he added.
The cardinal said his diocese is promoting this initiative in continuity with all that the Italian bishops have stated, noting their call "for a crusade of charity and assistance."
Globalized poverty
In describing the crisis, the cardinal observed: "We agree that we have built our society on sand and not on rock and, basing ourselves solely on economic calculation, have built the umpteenth tower of Babel.
"We thought that the globalization of markets would bring us further well-being, wealth for all, and instead we globalized poverty.
"And now, as evening draws near, we all find ourselves in the same boat and, like the disciples, while the Master exhorted them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, we can say nothing other than: 'We have no bread.'"
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Poll: Most Americans Celebrate Easter
63% Say They Will Attend Church ServicesNEW HAVEN, Connecticut, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Nearly two-thirds of Americans will be attending Church services this Easter, according to a poll released by the Knights of Columbus.
The fraternal organization released on Thursday the results of a poll conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
Of those surveyed, 63% said they plan to observe Easter by attending a Church service. Among Catholics, 74% said they would attend a service.
Seventy percent identified Easter as the most important, or one of the most important, religious holidays. Of the practicing Catholics polled, 80% said the same.
The poll also found that 86% of Americans and 89% of Catholic Americans correctly identify Easter as the celebration of Christ's resurrection.
"This data shows very clearly that Americans and American Catholics have a very deep-rooted faith," said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. "In their the celebration of Christ's resurrection on Easter, Americans reconnect to the
faith that has been handed down to them over thousands of years, and continues today to be a source of great hope."
In addition, 34% said they prepared for Easter by observing the solemn season of Lent -- the traditional 40 days of penance and reflection
Leading up to Easter Sunday. Of the practicing Catholics polled, 77% said they observed Lent.
The survey polled 2,078 Americans and 521 Catholics from March 24 to March 31.
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On the Net:
For more poll results: www.kofc.org
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Urging Catholics to Be Card-Carrying Members
Priesthood-Promotion Group Releases Identity CardNEW YORK, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A group of Catholic communications professionals is promoting a way to claim Christ every time you open your wallet -- a Catholic identity card.
WorldPriest, based in both the United States and Ireland, is launching the initiative this Easter. The group noted the timeliness of the initiative, given that Benedict XVI has declared June 19, 2009, to June 19, 2010, the Year for Priests.
The card's designer, Marion Mulhall, president of the organization, explained: "Our wallets are filled with plastic cards proclaiming we shop at this store, deal with this bank or are a member of that gym. In this context, we feel it is surely the right time, in a gentle personal fashion, to make a statement proclaiming that we are Catholic by carrying a Catholic identity card."
The card announces: "I am a Catholic. In the event of an accident or emergency, please contact a priest."
The card thus serves a dual purpose in that it allows a person to confirm his identity as a Catholic and ensures that if he is in need of the sacrament of the sick, he will receive it.
"The sacrament of the sick is a very healing one, which can only be administered by a priest," Marion noted. "In times of great need or crisis, we should feel content to know that we carry a card which will help ensure that a priest, one of God's representatives on earth, will be called to give us comfort."
The card is available without cost at www.worldpriest.com.
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On the Net:
WorldPriest: www.worldpriest.com/catholic_identity_card/catholic_identity_card_order.php
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Father Cantalamessa's Good Friday Sermon
"Up to Death and Death on a Cross"VATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Good Friday sermon for 2009 by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, which he gave Friday at the Vatican in the presence of Benedict XVI and the Curia.
* * *
"Christus factus est pro nobis oboediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis"
"For Us Christ Made Himself Obedient Up to Death, and Death on a Cross"
On the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle Paul, let us listen to his burning words on the mystery of Christ's death, which we are celebrating. No one can help us understand its significance and importance like he can.
His words to the Corinthians are a sort of manifest: "While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). Christ's death bears universal importance. "One man died for all, then all have died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). His death has given new meaning to the death of every man and every woman.
In Paul's eyes the cross assumes a cosmic significance. Christ has torn down the wall of separation with it, he has reconciled men with God and with each other, destroying hatred (cf. Ephesians 2:14-16). Based on this, primitive tradition developed the theme of the cross as a cosmic tree that joins heaven and earth with the vertical branch and unites the different peoples of the world with the horizontal branch. It is both a cosmic and a very personal event at the same time: "He loved me and gave himself up for me!" (Galatians 2:20). The Apostle writes, every man is "one for whom Christ died" (Romans 14:15).
From all of this arises the sense of the cross, no longer as a punishment, admonishment, or reason for affliction, but rather, a glory and the boast of a Christian, that is a joyful security, accompanied by heartfelt gratitude, to which man rises in faith: "But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).
Paul has planted the cross at the center of the Church like the mainmast at the center of the ship. He has made it the foundation and the center of gravity of everything. He has established the permanent framework of the Christian message. The Gospels, written after him, follow his framework, making the story of Christ's passion and death the fulcrum toward which everything is oriented.
It is incredible to see the work accomplished by the Apostle. It is relatively easy for us today to see things in this light, since, as Augustine said, Christ's cross has filled the earth and now shines on crowns of kings.[1] When Paul wrote, the cross was still synonymous with the most terrible ignominy, something that shouldn't even be discussed among educated people.
* * *
The goal of the Year of St. Paul is not so much to know the Apostle's thinking better (researchers are always doing that, without even counting that scientific research takes longer than a year); rather, as the Holy Father has recalled on a number of occasions, it is to learn from Paul how to respond to the current challenges of the faith.
One of these challenges, maybe the most open challenge known till know, has become a publicity slogan plastered on public transport vehicles in London and other European cities: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
The most striking element about this slogan is not the premise, "God doesn't exist," but rather the conclusion: "Enjoy your life!" The underlying message is that faith in God keeps you from enjoying life; it is an enemy of happiness. Without it there would be more happiness in the world! Paul helps us answer this challenge, explaining the origin and meaning of all suffering, starting with Christ's suffering.
Why "was it necessary that the Christ suffer so as to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26). This question receives what might be a "weak" answer, and in a certain sense, reassuring. Christ, revealing the truth of God, necessarily provokes the apposition of the forces of evil and darkness, and these forces, as happened to the prophets, will lead to his refusal and elimination. "It was necessary that the Christ suffer" would then be understood in the sense of "it was inevitable that the Christ suffer."
Paul provides a very "strong" response to that question. The need is not of the natural order, but rather the supernatural. In the countries of historic Christian faith the idea of suffering and cross is almost always associated with sacrifice and expiation. Suffering, it is believed, is needed to expiate for sins and placate God's justice. This is what has provoked, in the modern world, the rejection of every idea of sacrifice offered to God, and in the end, the very idea of God.
It can't be denied that we Christians have possibly exposed ourselves to this accusation. But we are dealing with a mistake that a better understanding of St. Paul's thought has already definitively clarified. He writes that God has preordained Christ "to serve as an instrument of expiation" (Romans 3:25). But such expiation is not applied to God in order to placate him; rather it is applied to sin to eliminate it. "It can be said that it is God himself, not man, who expiates sin. … The image is more like that of removing a corrosive stain or neutralizing a lethal virus than that of anger that is placated by punishment."[2]
Christ has given a radically new meaning to the idea of sacrifice. In it, "it is no longer man who exercises influence on God in order to placate him. Rather it is God who works to make man stop hating him and his neighbor. Salvation does not start with man asking for reconciliation; rather it begins with God's request: "Let yourselves be reconciled with God" (1 Corinthians 2:6).[3]
The fact is that Paul takes sin seriously, does not make light of it. Sin is, for him, the principal cause of man's unhappiness, the refusal of God, not God himself! This encloses the human creature within "lies" and "injustice" (Romans 1:18; 3:23), condemns the very cosmic material to "vanity" and "corruption" (Romans 8:19), and it is the final cause also of the social evils that afflict humanity.
Unending analysis is conducted of the economic crisis under way in today's world and of its causes, but who dares put the ax to the roots and speak about sin? The Apostle defines insatiable avarice as "idolatry" (Colossians 3:5), and he points to "root of all evil" in the unbridled desire for money (1 Timothy 6:10). Can we say he is wrong? Why are there so many families out on the streets, throngs of workers who have lost their job, if not because of some people's insatiable thirst for profit? The elite members of the financial and economic world turned into a runaway train that steamed ahead without brakes, without stopping to think about the rest of the train that had come to a standstill on the tracks. We were headed in the completely wrong direction.
* * *
Through his death, Christ has not only denounced and conquered sin, he has also given new meaning to suffering, even to that which does not depend on anyone's sin, like that of the terrible earthquake that recently hit the neighboring Abruzzo region. He has made it an instrument of salvation, a path to resurrection and life. His sacrifice exercises its effects not through death, but rather thanks to the conquering of death, that is the resurrection. "He died for our sins, he rose for our justification." (Romans 4:25): the two events are inseparable in the mind of Paul and the Church.
It is a universal human experience: In this life pleasure and pain follow each other with the same regularity with which, when a wave arises in the ocean, a trough follows a crest and pulls down the shipwrecked sailor. "Full from the fount of Joy's delicious springs Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom springs."[4] Drug use, the abuse of sex, and homicidal violence, all provide intoxicating pleasure in the moment, but lead to the moral dissolution, and often even the physical ruin, of the person.
Christ, with his passion and death, has inverted the relationship between pleasure and pain. He, "in exchange for the joy which was placed before him, submitted himself to the cross" (Hebrews 12:2). No longer is it a pleasure that ends in suffering, but rather suffering that leads to life and joy. It is not just a different order of events; it is joy, in this way, that has the last word, not suffering, and a joy that will last for eternity. "Christ risen from the dead will die no more; death no longer has power over him" (Romans 6:9). And it will not have power over us either.
This new relationship between suffering and pleasure is reflected in the way in which time marches on in the Bible. According to human calculations, day starts in the morning and ends at night; in the Bible, day starts at night and ends with daytime: "It was night and it was day: the first day" says the story of creation (Genesis 1:5). It is not meaningless that Christ died in the evening and rose in the morning. Without God, life is a day that ends at night; with God it is a night that ends with day, and a day without a sunset.
So Christ did not come to increase human suffering or preach resignation to suffering; he came to give meaning to suffering and to announce its end and defeat. That slogan on the bus in London and in other cities is also read by parents who have sick children, by lonely people, the unemployed, refugees from war zones, people who have suffered grave injustices in life. I try to imagine their reaction to reading the words: "There's probably no God. Now enjoy your life!" How?
Suffering is certainly a mystery for everyone, especially the suffering of innocent people, but without faith in God it becomes immensely more absurd. Even the last hope of rescue is taken away. Atheism is a luxury that only those with privileged lives can afford; those who have had everything, including the possibility to dedicate themselves to study and research.
* * *
This is not the only incongruity of that publicity stunt. "God probably doesn't exist:" So, he might exist, you can't completely exclude the possibility that he might exist. But, my dear nonbelieving brother, if God doesn't exist I have not lost anything; if, on the other hand, he does exist, you have lost everything! We should almost thank the people who promoted that advertising campaign; it has served God's cause more than so many of our apologetic arguments. It has demonstrated the poverty of their reasons and has helped stir so many sleeping consciences.
But God has a different measure of justice than we do, and if he sees good faith, or inculpable ignorance, he even saves those who struggle in their lives to combat him. We believers should prepare ourselves for surprises in this regard. "How many sheep are outside of the flock," exclaims Augustine, "and how many wolves inside!" (Quam multae oves foris, quam multi lupi intus).[5]
God is capable of turning those who most persistently deny him into his most impassioned apostles. Paul is the example of it. What has Saul of Tarsus done to merit that extraordinary encounter with Christ? What had he believed, hoped or suffered? What Augustine said about every divine choice can be applied to him: "Look for merit, look for justice, reflect and see if you find anything but grace."[6] This is how he explains his own calling: "I am not really fit to be called an apostle, because I had been persecuting the Church of God; but what I am now, I am through the grace of God" (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).
Christ's cross is a cause for hope for everyone and the year of St. Paul is an occasion of grace also for those who don't believe and are searching for truth. One thing speaks in their favor before God: suffering! Just like the rest of humanity, even atheists suffer in life, and suffering, since the Son of God took it on himself, has redemptive and almost sacramental power. In "Salvifici Doloris" John Paul II wrote, it is a channel through which the saving powers of the cross of Christ are offered to humanity.[7]
In a moment, after we are invited to pray "for those who do not believe in God," there will follow a touching prayer in Latin by the Holy Father; translated into English it reads: "Everlasting and eternal God, you have put into the hearts of men a deep nostalgia for you, that only once they find you will they have peace: grant that, overcoming every obstacle, all may recognize the signs of your goodness, and, moved by the witness of our life, they may have the joy of believing in you, the one true God and Father of all mankind. Through Christ our Lord."
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[1] S. Agostino, Enarr. in Psalmos, 54, 12 (PL 36, 637).
[2] J. Dunn, La teologia dell’apostolo Paolo, Paideia, Brescia 1999, p. 227.
[3] G. Theissen – A. Merz, Il Gesù storico. Un manuale, Queriniana, Brescia 20032, p. 573.
[4] Lucrezio, De rerum natura, IV, 1129 s.
[5] St. Augustine, "In Ioh. Evang." 45, 12
[6] St. Augustine, "La Predestinazione dei santi" 15, 30 (PL 44, 981).
[7] Cf. Enc. "Salvifici Doloris," 23.
[Translation by Thomas Daly]
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Papal Address at End of Way of the Cross
"Gaze on the Lifeless Face of the Crucified One"ROME, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a transcription and translation of the reflection Benedict XVI offered today at the end of the Way of the Cross in the Roman Colosseum.
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At the end of his dramatic Passion narrative, the Evangelist Saint Mark tells us: "The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’" (Mk 15:39). We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion. When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to celebrate the Jewish Passover in the usual way, these few words, wrung from the lips of a nameless commander in the Roman army, resounded through the silence that surrounded that most singular death. This Roman army officer, having witnessed the execution of one of countless condemned prisoners, was able to recognize in this crucified man the Son of God, who had perished in the most humiliating abandonment. His shameful end ought to have marked the definitive triumph of hatred and death over love and life. But it was not so! Hanging from the Cross on Golgotha was a man who was already dead, but that man was acknowledged to be the "Son of God" by the centurion, "on seeing that he thus breathed his last", as the Evangelist specifies.
We are reminded of this soldier’s profession of faith every time we listen anew to Saint Mark’s Passion account. This evening, like the centurion, we pause to gaze on the lifeless face of the Crucified One at the conclusion of this traditional Via Crucis which, through radio and television coverage, has brought many people together from every part of the world. We have re-lived the tragic event of a man unique in the history of all times, who changed the world not by killing others but by letting himself be killed as he hung from a cross. This man, seemingly one of us, who while he was being killed forgave his executioners, is the "Son of God", who, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant … he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:7-8).
The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts, as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us. Saint John observes: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). It is for love of us that Christ dies on the cross! Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed him, making in their turn, like him and with his help, a gift to others of their own lives. They are the saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us. Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal! What would man be without Christ? Saint Augustine observes: "You would still be in a state of wretchedness, had He not shown you mercy. You would not have returned to life, had He not shared your death. You would have passed away had He not come to your aid. You would be lost, had He not come" (Discourse 185:1). So why not welcome him into our lives?
Let us pause this evening to contemplate his disfigured face: it is the face of the Man of sorrows, who took upon himself the burden of all our mortal anguish. His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick and suffering, alone, abandoned and despised. Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he has broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety.
Brothers and Sisters! As the Cross rises up on Golgotha, the eyes of our faith are already turned towards the dawning of the new Day, and we begin to taste the joy and splendour of Easter. "If we have died with Christ", writes Saint Paul, "we believe that we shall also live with Him" (Rom 6:8). In this certainty, let us continue our journey. Tomorrow, on Holy Saturday, we will watch and pray together with Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, and we will pray with all who are suffering; we will pray above all with those who suffer in L'Aquila, hit by the earthquake. We will pray so that in this dark night, the star of hope will appear to them, the light of the Risen Lord.
I wish all of you, even now, a Happy Easter in the light of the Risen Lord!
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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