ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - March 11, 2009
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VATICAN DOSSIER Christianity Brings Progress, Affirms Pontiff Pope Decries "Abominable" Acts in Ireland Pope to Publish Letter on Pius X Society WORLD FEATURES Economic Crisis Seen as Time to Build Hope Bishops Note Need for Witness in Southeast Europe Connecticut Catholics Protest State Interference NEWS BRIEFS Cardinal Stafford Urges Bankers to Apologize INTERVIEW On the Pillars of the Lay Mission (Part 2) WORDS MADE FLESH A Burning Love for the Father's House WEDNESDAY'S AUDIENCE On St. Boniface
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VATICAN DOSSIER
Christianity Brings Progress, Affirms Pontiff
Considers Boniface's Contribution to Europe
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- The testimony of St. Boniface is a reminder that Christianity promotes humanity's progress as it favors the spread of culture, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope affirmed this today in the general audience in St. Peter's Square in which he reflected on the "apostle of Germany."
The Holy Father gave a biographical account of the bishop and martyr, touching on his calling to the monastic life at a young age, and his subsequent leaving behind of a bright scholarly career to head to the missions.
The young monk's first attempt at evangelization failed, the Pontiff recounted, and he went to Rome to seek counsel from Pope Gregory II.
That Pope "entrusted him with official letters and the mission to preach the Gospel among the peoples of Germany."
"With his tireless activity, with his organizational gifts, with his flexible and amiable character despite its firmness, Boniface obtained great results," Benedict XVI said.
Boniface continued harvesting apostolic fruits during long years of work in the territories of central Europe, the Holy Father continued.
He noted: "The great bishop, besides this work of evangelization and organization of the Church through the foundation of dioceses and the celebration of synods, did not fail to favor the foundation of various monasteries, masculine and feminine, so that they would be like a lighthouse to irradiate the faith and human and Christian culture in the territory. [...]
"He considered in fact that the work for the Gospel should be also work for a true human culture. [...] Therefore thanks to Boniface, to his men and women monks -- the women too had a very important part in this work of evangelization -- this human culture also flourished, which is inseparable from the faith and reveals its beauty."
Already at an advanced age -- around 80 years old -- Boniface again took up missionary efforts, the Pontiff recalled. And it was thus that he met his martyrdom: "While he was beginning the celebration of Mass in Dokkum [...] he was assaulted by a band of pagans. Placing himself at the front with a serene face, he 'prohibited his [companions] to fight, saying: "Cease, sons, to combat, abandon the war, because the testimony of Scripture warns us not to return evil for evil, but good for evil. This is the day awaited for some time, the time of our end has arrived. Courage in the Lord!"'
"Those were his last words before falling beneath the blows of his aggressors."
Lessons
Benedict XVI contended that Boniface's testimony offers many lessons for the faithful of today.
He focused primarily on three: "the centrality of the Word of God, lived and interpreted in the faith of the Church, a Word that [Boniface] lived, preached and gave testimony to unto the supreme gift of himself in martyrdom. He was so impassioned by the Word of God that he felt the urgency and the duty of taking it to others, even at his personal risk."
The Pope continued: "The second obvious point, a very important one, which emerges from the life of Boniface is his faithful communion with the Apostolic See, which was a firm and central point in his missionary work. He always conserved that communion as a rule of his mission and he left it almost as a testament. [...]
"For a third characteristic that Boniface draws to our attention: He promoted the encounter between the Roman-Christian culture and the Germanic culture. He knew in fact that to humanize and evangelize the culture was an integral part of his mission as a bishop. Transmitting the ancient patrimony of Christian values, he implanted in the German peoples a new style of life that was more human, thanks to which the inalienable rights of the person were better respected. As an authentic son of St. Benedict, he knew how to unite prayer and work -- manual and intellectual -- pen and plow."
Thus, the Holy Father affirmed, "the valiant testimony of Boniface is an invitation for all of us to welcome in our life the Word of God as an essential point of reference, to passionately love the Church, to feel that we are co-responsible for its future, to seek unity around the Successor of Peter. At the same time, he reminds us that Christianity, favoring the spreading of culture, promotes the progress of man. It falls to us, then, to measure up to a patrimony that is so prestigious and make it bear fruit for the good of the generations to come."
Benedict XVI said of the apostle of his homeland: "His ardent zeal for the Gospel always impresses me: At 40 years old, he leaves a beautiful and fruitful monastic life, the life of a monk and a professor, to announce the Gospel to the simple, to the barbarians; at 80 years of age, once again, he goes to a zone where he foresaw his martyrdom.
"Comparing this ardent faith of his, this zeal for the Gospel, to our faith so often lukewarm and bureaucratic, we see that we have to renew our faith and how to do it, so as to give as a gift to our times the precious pearl of the Gospel."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text of address: http://www.zenit.org/article-25335?l=english
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Pope Decries "Abominable" Acts in Ireland
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is expressing his hope that the slaying of three people in Northern Ireland will not hamper the peace process under way there.
Today at the end of the general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Pope referred to the slaying of two soldiers Saturday and a police officer Monday. Splinter groups of the Irish Republican Army have claimed responsibility.
"It was with deep sorrow that I learned of the murders of two young British soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland," he said. "As I assure the families of the victims and the injured of my spiritual closeness, I condemn in the strongest terms these abominable acts of terrorism which, apart from desecrating human life, seriously endanger the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland and risk destroying the great hopes generated by this process in the region and throughout the world."
The Holy Father said he is asking the Lord that "no one will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence and that all will increase their efforts to continue building -- through the patient effort of dialogue -- a peaceful, just and reconciled society."
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Pope to Publish Letter on Pius X Society
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Although versions of a letter from Benedict XVI to clarify the situation regarding the Society of St. Pius X are already available, the Vatican announced that the official letter will be published Thursday.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, will present the "Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Remission of the Excommunication of the Four Bishops Consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre."
The letter comes weeks after Lefebvrite Bishop Richard Williamson said on Swedish television that he didn't believe 6 million Jews died in gas chambers during World War II. The comments aired at about the same time as he and three other bishops of the Society of St. Pius X had their 20-year excommunication lifted.
The lifting of the excommunication is unrelated to the bishop's interview and occurred in the context of Benedict XVI's efforts to heal the schism with the Society of St. Pius X.
The letter will be released in Italian, German, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
The text was published today by Italian newspapers and by many Web pages in several languages.
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, president of the German episcopal conference, already responded to the document. He thanked the Pope on behalf of the bishops for the "frank" clarification, which promotes unity and inspires all believers.
One of the first journalists who leaked the document was Vatican watcher Andrea Tornielli, who writes for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale. In his blog he described the document as a text that is "beautiful, humble, and at the same time strong."
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WORLD FEATURES
Economic Crisis Seen as Time to Build Hope
Prelate Affirms Christ's Closeness in Dark Moments
By Carmen Elena Villa
ROME, MARCH 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The present economic crisis can be a moment to unite oneself to the cross of Christ, suggested the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi said this Monday in his address on "The Challenges of the Crisis: Fears and Hopes," delivered in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as part of the program called "Dialogues in the Cathedral," organized by the Diocese of Rome.
The event was presided over by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of the diocese of Rome. Sociologist Giuseppe de Rita, president of Le Monnier and former president of the National Council of the Economy of Work, also addressed the gathering.
Archbishop Ravasi pointed out how the economic crisis touches the lives and feelings of people that change like a "chromatic specter" that goes "from icy purple to red hot." He noted that when man stays in the purple hue, it would seem that "there is no return; there will be no other morning."
The prelate noted that sometimes in life "it is necessary that our faith know the purple of desperation," so that the virtue of hope is tested.
3 faces
The archbishop stated that there are three types of hope: "spiritual, interior and psychological hope." He also spoke about "the hope we must make flourish in the physical world," which is tested in moments of poverty and sickness, a hope that "must be in communion with these physical sufferings."
He noted that there must also be "a social hope," and he gave the example of the Gospel miracle of the healing of the lepers, who were "isolated and marginalized."
Archbishop Ravasi assured his listeners that Christ "makes hope flourish [...] in the physical world, in poverty and also in sickness."
Referring to the healing of the 10 lepers, he added, "Christ advances toward us" in the same way, and this miracle "is a call he makes to us: to make hope flourish, also when communication is lacking and marginalization is present."
The prelate noted that "in the mystery of the incarnation, Christ enters in the dark gallery of suffering" and "tells us that to be a man one must suffer and die," but this does not defeat faith because "Christ shows us his closeness and breaks the limit of frailty."
He concluded his address by assuring those present that "hope is the littlest sister of faith and charity," and that "to allow oneself to be dragged down is the greatest temptation." He said, "You, Christians, must be ready to respond."
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Bishops Note Need for Witness in Southeast Europe
Call for Stronger Christian Identity in Multicultural World
ISKENDERUN, Turkey, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- A meeting of bishops of Southeast Europe focused on strengthening Christian identity in a multicultural and multi-religious world, especially in countries where Catholics are a minority.
The ninth meeting of the presidents of the Southeast Europe's episcopal conferences concluded Sunday in Turkey. The Council of European Episcopal Conferences reported that this meeting took the form of a pilgrimage, in which participants followed the footsteps of St. Paul to mark 2,000 years since the apostle's birth.
The bishops visited the places associated with St. Paul and met the local Christian communities, "which are suffering so much today," the council reported.
The meeting noted the importance of Turkey for the foundational events of Christianity that took place here, and the concern of the bishops for upholding the strength of this Christian identity.
Bishop Luigi Padovese, vicar apostolic of Anatolia, Tukey, said, "It is difficult to imagine how Christianity might have developed if it had not found its first great expansion in modern-day Turkey."
He continued: "This land in fact was the launching pad, the test bed from which the Christian faith measured its capacity to inculturate itself in different worlds.
"Here, Christianity truly became 'catholic,' or universal, overcoming the temptation to remain a sectarian group, a community of Judaic extraction and therefore a national religion. On close examination, European culture’s debt to the children of this land is incalculable, even if it is unknown or under-valued."
Church presence
Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, apostolic nuncio to Turkey, affirmed, "Today the Catholic Church in Turkey is called to move from an attitude of a Church with presence to a Church of witness: a Church which reflects on the meaning of its presence in Turkey."
Bishop Padovese opened the meeting with a reflection on St. Paul, and his identification with Christianity in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious world. He affirmed, "The apostle to the Gentiles found himself having to provide concrete solutions through his numerous letters to rising communities which were not well-structured and were part of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious context.
The prelate continued: "He tried to translate into the practices of daily life the consequences of faith in Christ but without perverting the Gospel message.
"For Paul, the foundation of Christian identity is to be found in the triad 'faith, hope and charity' and is defined through the Christian’s capacity to live and practice these three 'theological virtues.'"
Bishop Padovese acknowledged that today "many Christians are searching for their identity." He added: "Through Paul, the modern Christian understands that Christian identity is not a possession but rather a process. In this process religious pluralism constitutes an opportunity for a better understanding of Christian identity."
This identity, stated the bishop, is "above all, faith in the person of Jesus, the crucified and risen Christ," as "the specific and differentiating element of Christianity."
The meeting participants noted that Christian identity must be upheld in the face of passive atheism, current laicism and the consumer culture. They underlined the challenges experienced in their various countries, from religious indifference in families, mixed marriages that weaken transmission of the Christian faith, and migration that fragments families and obstructs the transmission of values.
Meeting participants visited Antioch, Tarsus and Mopsuestia. On Saturday they were received by the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, and took part in the celebration of Orthodox vespers.
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Connecticut Catholics Protest State Interference
Bishop Says Bill Threatens Religious Liberty
HARTFORD, Connecticut, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Catholics rallied today at the Connecticut capitol building to fight a bill that one of their bishops said "directly attacks the structure of the Roman Catholic Church."
Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport said he received word last Thursday of a hearing scheduled for today for a new bill proposed by the state's judiciary committee that would restructure the organization of a parish to exclude the pastor. The meeting was later postponed.
He said in an address to school principals Friday, "Our Church in the state of Connecticut is facing an unprecedented intrusion by the state legislature into its own internal affairs."
The proposed bill would restructure the parish from a nonprofit corporation directed by a board including the bishop, two clergy and two lay people, to an organization operated by a board of seven to 13 elected lay people. This board would exclude the pastor and include the bishop only as an advisory member.
The prelate noted: "This parish board would have virtually unchecked powers […]. Your bishop would have virtually no relationship with the 87 parishes. They could go off independently. They could break off and go their own way. The pastors would be figureheads, simply working for a board of trustees."
The dioceses of Bridgeport and Hartford issued statements Tuesday reporting that today's hearing was postponed, but added that the bill is still alive and that it must be protested as unconstitutional.
Bishop Lori said: "You have to understand how radically this departs from the teaching of the Church and the discipline of the Church, and how gravely unconstitutional it is for a state to try to move in and reorganize the internal structure of a Church. It is a grave violation of religious liberty."
He asserted: "This is a thinly veiled attempt to silence the Church on important issues of the day, but especially with regard to marriage. The judiciary committee is driving this to dismantle the Church as best as they can."
The committee announced that they decided to "table any further consideration of this bill for the duration of this session, and ask the attorney general his opinion regarding the constitutionality of the existing law."
Meanwhile, the Bridgeport Diocese stated: "While we are pleased by this action, we are not convinced that this unconstitutional bill is dead."
It called Catholics to rally today "to speak personally and passionately in defense of religious freedom and the First Amendment rights of the U.S. Constitution."
It continued: "The state should be celebrating the Roman Catholic Church, not denigrating it. Let’s work together for the common good."
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NEWS BRIEFS
Cardinal Stafford Urges Bankers to Apologize
Says They Are Responsible for Economic Crisis
ROME, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- An American cardinal is appealing to bankers to assume responsibility for causing the current global economic downturn, and to apologize for causing it.
American Cardinal James Francis Stafford, the major penitentiary, said this today on Vatican Radio during an interview on the Internal Forum, an annual course on matters of conscience, organized by the Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary.
"Our world is complex," he said. "Let us think of the economic world, which is now called global: The sins in this economic and global world are different in their complexity and depth from those in the past."
"For example, this economic crisis is rooted in the lack of respect, on the part of the world's leaders, for other people. Bankers must assume moral responsibilities and ask God for forgiveness for these complex sins," he added.
According to Cardinal Stafford, "it is important to discover the theological and pastoral dimension of sin," which "is not an offense against the law but, above all, is an offense against a person, a Divine Person, against the Triune God and against human persons."
"It is important for us, ordained ministers, to rediscover the faith when it points out that Jesus Christ is the Savior, the Redeemer of our sins," he added.
The Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary was created in the 12th century with the essential task of receiving the confession of sins that can only be forgiven directly by the Pope given their gravity, and of granting dispensations and graces reserved to the Supreme Pontiff.
The apostolic constitution "Pastor Bonus" confirms that the competence of the Apostolic Penitentiary is concerned with those matters that pertain to the internal forum (questions of conscience), as well as everything that pertains to the granting and use of indulgences.
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INTERVIEW
On the Pillars of the Lay Mission (Part 2)
Interview With Founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
By Carmen Elena Villa
LIMA, Peru, MARCH 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Ecclesial movements can help Catholics live according to God's plan, and receive the formation they need to pursue holiness in daily life, affirms Luis Fernando Figari.
Figari is the founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a society of apostolic life born in Peru in 1971 and approved by Pope John Paul II in 1997. Its members are laymen and priests who live with full availability for the apostolate.
He also founded the Christian Life Movement, the Marian Community of Reconciliation and the Servants of the Plan of God in addition to other associations that are part of what is called the Sodalit Family. He is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Here, Figari speaks with ZENIT about how relativism is affecting formation and what needs to be done about it.
Part 1 of this interview appeared Tuesday.
Q: You mention in your book ["Formation and Mission," soon to be published in English] the four ruptures that man lives in his reality of sin: with God, with oneself, with others and with creation. In what way can man, in the heart of the new ecclesial movements, live reconciliation in his life in each one of these four ambits?
Figari: Above all, I wouldn't say that the reality of the human being is only sin. It is also a reality of grace, of growth in the faith, of fidelity to the divine plan, of a hunger for holiness, of desiring to encounter oneself with Jesus and to reach the fullness of eternal life in the communion of love.
It is true that in the world in which we find ourselves the consequences of the first sin are made painfully manifest, but there is also the awe-inspiring mystery of God's love that comes to meet the human being in the Incarnation and in the ascensional dynamic of the Resurrection and the Ascension, nourishing the hope of the traveler in search of eternity.
It seems fitting to remember that Péguy evoked the value of hope, and though naming her "a little girl, nothing at all," linking her to faith and charity, poeticized that together with them, hope "will endure worlds." The reconciliation brought by the Lord Jesus offers all men and women of the Church a concrete path of hope, a path that embraces divine mercy, gifts that come from God.
The theme of reconciliation has its origin in Scripture. In the New Testament is found the reconciling key: Jesus. God sends the Reconciler to the world.
St. Paul can be considered the first exponent of a theology of reconciliation. The pontifical magisterium reflects this profound reality. Contemporarily -- a period that we are going to extend retrospectively to Leo XIII with whom the 20th century begun -- references to reconciliation are recurrent in the teachings of the Popes. These reach a significant peak from the pontificate of Pope Paul VI until the present day.
"As I listen to the outcry of man," said Pope John Paul II a few years ago, "and see how, throughout life's circumstances, he manifests a longing for reconciliation with God, with himself and with his neighbor, I have thought, by the Lord's grace and inspiration, to vigorously propose this original gift of the Church which is reconciliation."
His teachings have allowed for an important deepening of the theological and pastoral reflection of reconciliation, especially in Latin America. The Servant of God took a fundamental anthropological approximation to the relations of the human being, which suffer on account of rupture. Faced with this reality he proposed an invaluable key for the man of today when speaking of what he called the "fourfold reconciliation."
For a culture weighed down by forces of rupture, of secularism, consumerism, materialism and other tendencies of this type that threaten the very identity of the human person, reconciliation has the virtuality of directing itself to the entire man. This certainly facilitates a response to the gifts received.
The human being finds himself called to commit himself from a lived faith, from the encounter with the Lord Jesus to overcome the ruptures that wound him and that make his unhappiness that much more burdensome.
Reconciliation comes loaded with hope, encouraging and helping the person to reconcile with God, with himself, with his fellow humans and all of creation, lending it the meaning that it has in the divine plan. Each person is invited to live reconciliation, in his own vocation, in the characteristics of life to which he is called.
The movements, like all other realities of the Church, are ambits to live in concrete, situated reality, reconciliation, a gift of God in Christ Jesus. The ecclesial movements that hold a greater existential emphasis in reconciliation will better help their members to live its fundamental anthropological dimensions and to receive its strength, aimed at healing the ruptures.
Q: In your writings you always refer to the presence of Mary. How do you find that she encourages and guides the new reality of ecclesial movements, particularly in the Sodalit Family?
Figari: It is no novelty that the Virgin Mary illuminates the realities of Christian life, her being the perfect disciple of her Son, the Lord Jesus.
In a book that I read while doing my theological studies I came across a thought that strongly impacted me: "In Mary is manifest who Christ is." Later it impressed me to hear the bishops who came together in Puebla say that the Church, "turns to Mary so that the Gospel takes on more flesh, grows closer to the heart of Latin America." They are intense words that evoke Chapter 8 of "Lumen Gentium."
All of this -- it was as if it began forming a spring, and on the other hand from the beginnings of my pilgrimage of faith there erupted with extraordinary potency in my consciousness the words of Christ from the heights of the cross. His testament was driven into the depths of my heart: "Behold, your Mother." It was precisely the path of filial love that was opened and its inerasable seal marked me profoundly.
It is Christ himself who points out his Mother and offers her to us as our Mother. How [could I] not advance along the path of love that the Reconciler himself pointed out? I didn't have to ponder much, and from that moment recognizing the Marian dimension of Christian life has been increasingly fundamental in my life of faith.
This experience, or one like it, ought to be one for every son and daughter of the Church. Her touch upon the movements, precisely on account of their ecclesial nature, cannot be diluted or hidden. The Sodalit Family, born in the celebration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, intensely lives filial piety toward the Most Holy Virgin. Drawing closer to Mary we discover that she is full of Jesus. Everything in her invites us to center ourselves in the Lord Jesus.
Q: Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, says in the presentation of your book that the formation of lay Christians is passing through a neuralgic moment because of the influence of relativism. How do you believe that the ecclesial movements can be for their members centers of ecclesial formation, fidelity to the truth, and to the pontifical magisterium?
Figari: Today, Pilate's skeptical question is widespread: What is truth? The irony is evident: the blindness of he who forms the question and who is also in the presence of truth itself, the Lord Jesus.
In today's times, there has come into question the possibility of accessing the truth and even the existence of truth itself. In all of this there is an impressive lack of realism. Relativism and subjectivism are becoming for many the customary mode of thinking.
There is also an aggressive sensualism that collaborates in this destructive process. But, the human being is a seeker of truth; it is something that he has rooted in his being. This is a characteristic and a necessity.
The Petrine ministry revindicates human reason in these times of irrationality and renouncement of what is human. In this sense the Popes faithfully repeat that human reason is open to the search for the truth in all things of this world, as well as to the illumination of supernatural truth, that comes to meet him through the faith of the Church, illuminating his earthly pilgrimage.
Here, it is evident that that they follow the example of the Lord Jesus, who faced with people who lived lies, error, and faraway from reality, responded by helping them discover themselves and go forward in the search of the truth of things, of reality.
Committing himself in the search for truth leads the baptized person to encounter himself with the mystery of the Church, to love the Church, to listen to her teachings and to follow her when she points out the route to find the Lord Jesus. While traveling this course of life the person discovers the symphony of the truth, and listening to it, he will come upon the Lord's words to Peter, and will discover the importance of the pontifical magisterium in order to advance through this life to its definitive end.
With Peter and under Peter, a strong accent common in ecclesial movements, one learns to live the happiness of Christian life and to unfurl oneself according to the plan of God, which directs one toward a full conformation with Christ. It is from this experience of encounter and of faith, of love and of fidelity, that one feels the urgency of sharing this lived experience and the ardor of the evangelization.
Q: Recently in Lima there was the 1st Congress of Sodalit Spirituality. Can you tell us a bit what this experience meant for this spiritual family?
Figari: That's correct, a little while ago culminated this impacting event. There, for five days more than 1,200 people arrived from different countries in the Archdiocese of Lima.
The first thing that comes to mind is that it has been an immense blessing not only for the spiritual family but also for the Church. The Sodalit Family is deeply rooted in the Church and its members without a doubt understand that the gifts received are not only for them but are open to the entire Church.
That is precisely the meaning of charisms, that they don't enclose upon themselves but extend to the entire People of God for the edification of all. They have been days of intense prayer, of reflection, of admiration, of immense gratitude to God, giver of all good. It has been a beautiful opportunity to deepen in some facets that constitute the spirituality itself in the great framework of the Catholic spirituality.
The diverse pieces of art that accompanied the congress -- paintings, photography, beautiful and numerous sculptures of terra cotta and alabaster, together with music -- were also an occasion to comprehend that Catholic art not only hasn't disappeared, but that from its vitality and creativity it seeks to reflect today the mysteries of the faith and the beauty of God's creation. Faced with so many blessings I think that every member of the spiritual family born around the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae ought to lift up to God a profound offering of thanks.
[Translation by Adam Ureneck]
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Part 1 of this interview: http://www.zenit.org/article-25324?l=english
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WORDS MADE FLESH
A Burning Love for the Father's House
Biblical Reflection for 3rd Sunday of Lent 2009
By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB
TORONTO, MARCH 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- In the Scripture readings for the Third Sunday of Lent (Year B), I would like to focus our reflection on two powerful images present in the texts: that of Jesus purifying Jerusalem's Temple, and St. Paul's message of the cross of Jesus Christ. Both the purifying action of Jesus and Paul's understanding of the cross can be of tremendous help to us as we grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus Christ this Lenten season.
John's account of Jesus' cleansing of the temple is in sharp contrast to the other Gospel accounts of this dramatic story. In the Synoptic Gospels, this scene takes place at the end of the "Palm Sunday Procession" into the holy city. With the people shouting out in triumph, Jesus entered into the temple area, not to do homage but to challenge the temple and its leaders. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and upset the stalls of those selling birds and animals for the sacrifice. What a teaching moment this was! Jesus quoted from the Scriptures: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations ... but you have made it a den of robbers" (Mark 11:17, Isaiah 56:6-7, Jeremiah 7:11).
In the Fourth Gospel, the cleansing of the temple takes place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and not at the beginning of the events of the last days of Jesus' life. The startling words and actions of Jesus in the temple, whether they are from the Synoptic accounts or John's account, took on new meaning for later generations of Christians. "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" The temple was not a commercial center or shopping mall but rather a holy place of the Father. Like the prophets before him, Jesus tried to awaken the hearts of his people.
Jesus' disciples recall him saying in the temple the words of Psalm 68:10: "Zeal for your house will consume me." I have often understood this verse to mean: "I am filled with a burning love for your house." When the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans, and both Jews and Christians grieved at its loss, the followers of Jesus recalled this incident in the temple. Now they could see new meaning in it; it was a sign that the old temple was finished but a new temple was to be built. This new temple would not be of stone and wood and gold. It would be a living temple of holy people (I Peter 2:4-6; Ephesians 2:19-22).
Extreme Jesus
One intriguing aspect of today's Gospel story is the portrait of an angry Jesus in the temple-cleansing scene that gives way to two extremes in our own image of the Lord. Some people wish to transform an otherwise passive Christ into a whip-cracking revolutionary.
Others would like to excise any human qualities of Jesus and paint a very meek, bland character, who smiled, kept silent and never rocked the boat. The errors of the old extreme, however, do not justify a new extremism.
Jesus was not exclusively, not even primarily, concerned with social reform. Rather, he was filled with a deep devotion and burning love for his Father and the things of his Father. He wanted to form new people, created in God's image, who are sustained by his love, and bring that love to others. Jesus' disciples and apostles recognized him as a passionate figure -- one who was committed to life and to losing it for the sake of truth and fidelity.
Have we given in to these extremes in our own understanding of and relationship with Jesus? Are we passionate about anything in our lives today? Are we filled with a deep and burning love for the things of God and for his Son, Jesus?
Message of the cross
In writing to the people of Corinth, Paul was addressing numerous disorders and scandals that were present. True communion and unity were threatened by groups and internal divisions that seriously compromised the unity of the Body of Christ. Rather than appealing to complex theological or philosophical words of wisdom to resolve the difficulties, Paul announces Christ to this community: Christ crucified. Paul's strength is not found in persuasive language, but rather, paradoxically, in the weakness of one who trusts only in the "power of God" (I Corinthians 2:1-4).
In St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (1:18, 22-25), we hear about "the message of the cross that is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." For St. Paul, the cross represents the center of his theology: To say cross means to say salvation as grace given to every creature.
Paul's simple message of the cross is scandal and foolishness. He states this strongly with the words: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. It was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."
The "scandal" and the "foolishness" of the cross are precisely in the fact that where there seems to be only failure, sorrow and defeat, precisely there, is all the power of the boundless love of God. The cross is the expression of love and love is the true power that is revealed precisely in this seeming weakness.
St. Paul has experienced this even in his own flesh, and he gives us testimony of this in various passages of his spiritual journey, which have become important points of departure for every disciple of Jesus: "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:9); and even "God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something" (1 Corinthians 1:28).
The Apostle to the Gentiles identifies himself to such a degree with Christ that he also, even in the midst of so many trials, lives in the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself up for his sins and those of everyone (cf. Galatians 1:4; 2:20).
Today, as we contemplate Jesus' burning love for the things of his Father, and the saving mystery of his cross, let us pray these words:
O God, whose foolishness is wise and whose weakness is strong,
by the working of your grace in the disciplines of Lent
cleanse the temple of your Church and purify the sanctuary of our hearts.
May we be filled with a burning love for your house,
and may obedience to your commandments
absorb and surround us along this Lenten journey.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, the man of the cross,
your power and your wisdom,
the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.
[The readings for this Sunday are Exodus 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 and John 2:13-25. For use with RCIA, Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 and John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42]
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Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, chief executive officer of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada, is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He can be reached at: rosica@saltandlighttv.org.
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On the Net:
For those using Year A Readings for the Catechumenate (RCIA), Lenten Reflection 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqiklxOVxhE&feature=related
Salt and Light Catholic Television Network Web site: http://www.saltandlighttv.org
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Wednesday's Audience
On St. Boniface
"His Ardent Zeal for the Gospel Always Impresses Me"
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square.
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Dear brothers and sisters:
Today we pause to consider a great missionary of the 8th century, who spread Christianity in Central Europe, precisely in my homeland as well: St. Boniface, who has been recorded in history as the "apostle of the Germans."
We have not a little information about his life, thanks to the diligence of his biographers: He was born to an Anglo Saxon family in Wessex around the year 675 and was baptized with the name Winfred. He joined the monastery very young, attracted by the monastic ideal. Possessing notable intellectual capacities, he seemed headed toward a tranquil and brilliant career as a scholar: He was a professor of Latin grammar, wrote a few treatises and also composed some poems in Latin.
Ordained a priest at close to 30 years of age, he felt called to the apostolate among the pagans of the continent. Great Britain, his land, evangelized just 100 years before by the Benedictines guided by St. Augustine, manifested a faith that was so solid and a charity that was so ardent that it sent missionaries to Central Europe to announce there the Gospel. In 716, Winfred, with some companions, headed to Friesland (in present day Holland), but he clashed with the opposition of the local leader and the attempt at evangelization failed.
Having returned to his homeland, he didn't lose his zest and two years later, he went to Rome to speak with Pope Gregory II and to receive direction. The Pope, according to a biographer's account, received him "with a smiling face and a gaze full of kindness," and in the following days, had with him "important discussions" (Willibaldo, Vita S. Bonifatii, ed. Levison, pp. 13-14). And finally, after having given him the new name of Boniface, he entrusted him with official letters and the mission to preach the Gospel among the peoples of Germany.
Comforted and sustained by the support of the Pope, Boniface got to work in the preaching of the Gospel in those regions, fighting against the pagan cults and strengthening the bases of Christian and human morality. With a great sense of duty, he wrote in one of his letters: "We are firm in the fight in the day of the Lord, because days of affliction and misery have arrived ... We are not muted dogs, nor tacit observers, nor mercenaries who flee before the wolves. We are instead diligent pastors who watch over the flock of Christ, who announce to important persons and normal ones, to the rich and the poor, the will of God ... in opportune moments and inopportune ones ... " (Epistulae, 3,352.354: MGH).
With his tireless activity, with his organizational gifts, with his flexible and amiable character despite its firmness, Boniface obtained great results. The Pope then "declared that he wanted to confer on him episcopal dignity, so that with greater determination he could thus correct and return to the path of truth those who were mistaken, feel that he was supported by the greater authority of the apostolic dignity, and would be more accepted by everyone in the office of preaching since all the more for this reason it seemed he had been ordained by the apostolic prelate" (Otloho, Vita S. Bonifatii, ed. Levison, lib. I, p. 127).
It was the Supreme Pontiff himself who consecrated him "regional bishop" -- that is, for all of Germany, and Boniface revived his apostolic efforts in the territories entrusted to him and extended his action as well to the Church of Gaul. With great prudence, he restored ecclesiastical discipline, convoked various synods to ensure the authority of the sacred canons, and reinforced the necessary communion with the Roman Pontiff, a point that he carried especially in his heart. The successors of Pope Gregory II also held him in most high consideration: Gregory III named him archbishop of all the Germanic tribes, sent him the pallium and gave him the faculty to organize the ecclesiastical hierarchy in those regions (cf. Epist. 28: S. Bonifatii Epistulae, ed. Tangl, Berolini 1916). Pope Zachary confirmed him in his post and praised his work (cf. Epist. 51, 57, 58, 60, 68, 77, 80, 86, 87, 89: op. cit.). And Pope Stephen III, recently elected, received from him a letter in which he expressed his filial attention (cf. Epist. 108: op. cit.).
The great bishop, besides this work of evangelization and organization of the Church through the foundation of dioceses and the celebration of synods, did not fail to favor the foundation of various monasteries, masculine and feminine, so that they would be like a lighthouse to irradiate the faith and human and Christian culture in the territory. From the Benedictine cenobites of his homeland, he had called men and women monks who lent a most valuable and precious service in the task of announcing the Gospel and spreading the human sciences and arts among the populations.
He considered in fact that the work for the Gospel should be also work for a true human culture. Above all the monastery of Fulda -- founded around 743 -- was the heart and center of the irradiation of the spirituality and the religious culture: There the monks, in prayer, in work and in penance, endeavored to tend toward sanctity; they formed themselves in the study of sacred and secular disciplines, preparing themselves for the announcement of the Gospel, to be missionaries. Therefore thanks to Boniface, to his men and women monks -- the women too had a very important part in this work of evangelization -- this human culture also flourished, which is inseparable from the faith and reveals its beauty.
Boniface himself has left us significant intellectual works -- above all his copious collection of letters, wherein the pastoral letters alternate with official letters and those of a private nature, which reveal social events and above all his rich human temperament and deep faith. He composed as well a treatise of "Ars grammatica," in which he explained the declinations, verbs and syntax of Latin, but which for him was also an instrument to spread the faith and the culture. Attributed to him as well is an "Ars metrica," that is, an introduction to how to make poetry, and various poetic compositions, and finally, a collection of 165 sermons.
Though he was already advanced in years -- he was close to 80 -- he prepared himself for a new evangelizing mission: With some 50 monks, he returned to Friesland, where he had begun his work. Almost as a foretelling of his imminent death, alluding to the journey of life, he wrote to his disciple and successor in the See of Mainz, Bishop Lullus: "I want to complete the aim of this trip, I cannot in any way renounce the desire to depart. The day of my end is near and the time of my death draws near; leaving the mortal remains, I will rise to the eternal reward. But you, most dear son, ceaselessly call the people from the labyrinth of error, complete the construction of the already begun basilica of Fulda, and there you will place my body grown old with long years of life" (Willibaldo, Vita S. Bonifatii, ed. cit., p. 46).
While he was beginning the celebration of Mass in Dokkum (in present day North Holland), on June 5, 754, he was assaulted by a band of pagans. Placing himself at the front with a serene face, he "prohibited his [companions] to fight, saying: "Cease, sons, to combat, abandon the war, because the testimony of Scripture warns us not to return evil for evil, but good for evil. This is the day awaited for some time, the time of our end has arrived. Courage in the Lord!" (ibid. pp. 49-50).
Those were his last words before falling beneath the blows of his aggressors. The remains of the bishop-martyr were taken to the monastery of Fulda, where he received a dignified burial. Already one of his first biographers described him with this affirmation: "The holy Bishop Boniface can be called the father of all the inhabitants of Germany, because he was the first to engender them in Christ with the word of his holy preaching; he confirmed them with his example and finally gave his life for them, greater love than this cannot be given" (Otloho, Vita S. Bonifatii, ed. cit., lib. I, p. 158).
After centuries, what message can we take from the teaching and the prodigious activity of this great missionary and martyr? A first point is evident to one who approaches Boniface: the centrality of the Word of God, lived and interpreted in the faith of the Church, a Word that he lived, preached and gave testimony to unto the supreme gift of himself in martyrdom. He was so impassioned by the Word of God that he felt the urgency and the duty of taking it to others, even at his personal risk. Upon it, he supported his faith, the spreading of which he had solemnly made a pledge to in the moment of his episcopal consecration: "I integrally profess the purity of the holy Catholic faith and with the help of God, I want to remain in the unity of this faith, in which without any doubt is all of the salvation of Christians" (Epist. 12, in S. Bonifatii Epistolae, ed. cit., p. 29).
The second obvious point, a very important one, which emerges from the life of Boniface is his faithful communion with the Apostolic See, which was a firm and central point in his missionary work. He always conserved that communion as a rule of his mission and he left it almost as a testament. In a letter to Pope Zachary, he affirmed: "I never fail to invite and to submit to the obedience of the Apostolic See those who want to remain in the Catholic faith and in the unity of the Roman Church and all those that in this mission God gives me as listeners and disciples" (Epist. 50: in ibid. p. 81).
A fruit of this determination was the firm spirit of cohesion around the Successor of Peter that Boniface transmitted to the Churches in his mission territory, uniting England, Germany and France with Rome and contributing in such a determinant way to plant the Christian roots of Europe that they have produced fecund fruits in successive centuries.
For a third characteristic that Boniface draws to our attention: He promoted the encounter between the Roman-Christian culture and the Germanic culture. He knew in fact that to humanize and evangelize the culture was an integral part of his mission as a bishop. Transmitting the ancient patrimony of Christian values, he implanted in the German peoples a new style of life that was more human, thanks to which the inalienable rights of the person were better respected. As an authentic son of St. Benedict, he knew how to unite prayer and work (manual and intellectual), pen and plow.
The valiant testimony of Boniface is an invitation for all of us to welcome in our life the Word of God as an essential point of reference, to passionately love the Church, to feel that we are co-responsible for its future, to seek unity around the Successor of Peter. At the same time, he reminds us that Christianity, favoring the spreading of culture, promotes the progress of man. It falls to us, then, to measure up to a patrimony that is so prestigious and make it bear fruit for the good of the generations to come.
His ardent zeal for the Gospel always impresses me: At 40 years old, he leaves a beautiful and fruitful monastic life, the life of a monk and a professor, to announce the Gospel to the simple, to the barbarians; at 80 years of age, once again, he goes to a zone where he foresaw his martyrdom. Comparing this ardent faith of his, this zeal for the Gospel, to our faith so often lukewarm and bureaucratic, we see that we have to renew our faith and how to do it, so as to give as a gift to our times the precious pearl of the Gospel.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis on the early Christian writers of East and West, we now turn to Saint Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans. Born in England and baptized with the name Winfrid, he embraced the monastic life and was ordained a priest. Despite his promise as a scholar, he sensed the call to proclaim the Gospel to the pagans of the Continent. After an initial setback, he visited Rome and was charged by Pope Gregory II with the mission to evangelize the Germanic peoples. Taking the name Boniface, he worked tirelessly for the spread of the faith and the promotion of Christian morality, established bishoprics and monasteries throughout northern Europe, and contributed in no small way to the growth of a Christian culture. He crowned his witness to Christ by a martyr's death, and was buried in the great monastery of Fulda. Saint Boniface continues to inspired us by his example of missionary zeal, his complete fidelity to the word of God and the integrity of the Catholic faith, his strong sense of communion with the Apostolic See, and his efforts to promote the fruitful encounter of Germanic culture with the Roman-Christian heritage.
I offer a warm welcome to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. I also greet the many student groups present today. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially the visitors from England, Denmark, Vietnam and the United States, I cordially invoke God's blessings of joy and peace!
[The Holy Father then said:]
It was with deep sorrow that I learned of the murders of two young British soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland. As I assure the families of the victims and the injured of my spiritual closeness, I condemn in the strongest terms these abominable acts of terrorism which, apart from desecrating human life, seriously endanger the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland and risk destroying the great hopes generated by this process in the region and throughout the world. I ask the Lord that no one will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence and that all will increase their efforts to continue building - through the patient effort of dialogue - a peaceful, just and reconciled society.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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