Consider
what he is saying, say, in 167-169. We have to exercise freedom to permit the
beauty of the Face of Christ to appear so as to attract. The attitude of
conservation of the Tradition can be – and has been – misunderstood as
retrenchment. “Faithful” is understood semantically and culturally as holding
on to what is already possessed, when in reality, it is the sure way to lose it.
It’s like being on a roll in a ballgame (Carmelo’s 62 points the other night),
or six strikes in bowling, or a no-hitter going, or a 59 going in a round of
golf – and you stop and look back at yourself, objectify yourself and what you
are doing – and you freeze. As soon as you visualize and fear not failing or
being faithful, you freeze, fail and are unfaithful. The choke comes from the “self-referential.”
“Attitude” is an important word.
It is not thought or idea or concept. It is subjective orientation, or
the direction in which the person or subject is facing. Wojtyla explains it in “Sources
of Renewal” p. 17 as the characteristic of Vatican II. It’s the phenomenology
that characterizes the whole of the Council. Once it turns back, it is killed.
And it is so because it is such a deep reality in our very being. We are made
in the image of the divine Persons who are totally out of themselves. They are
a rush to service. Francis explained to the catechists in Buenos Aires that the
word “enthusiasm” meant “en Theos,” in
God, or God within. We cannot be afraid of failing – because you just can’t
fail. You make mistakes and God picks up the pieces. The only mistake is not to
chance it. We must be in a rush to service. You can’t wait for the security and
insurance of getting it right. If you do, it means that you think you are in
control when you’re not. And if you are,
you are wrong.
Consider then that we have to
use ingenuity and imagination to communicate the beauty that is Love Incarnate which
strikes to the heart. Which means that you have to put your whole heart in it. Look
at this sentence: “Each particular Church should encourage the use
of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past but also
drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the
faith in a new “language of parables”.[132]We must be bold enough
[parrhesia] to discover new signs and new symbols,
new flesh [it sounds like a call to
write songs like Richard Rogers {and I am thinking of “If I loved you” from
Carousel] to embody and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty
which are valued in different cultural settings, including those unconventional
modes of beauty which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove
particularly attractive for others.” And this following sentence is an
incredible piece of semantics. It should adorn fronispieces of altars so we
always read it:
“Rather than experts in dire predictions,
dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we should appear as
joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and
beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.”
And
then friendship in a society characterized by the isolation of the individual
in his possessions: “Some people think
they are free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain
existentially orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and
become drifters, flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To
accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy
supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to
the Father.”
Here are just two numbers from the text of EG:
167.
Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the “way of beauty” (via
pulchritudinis).[129] Proclaiming
Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something
right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new
splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression
of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with
the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism[130] which
would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but
rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and
enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it. If,
as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful,[131] the
incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable and
draws us to himself with bonds of love. So a formation in the via
pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith.
Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization,
building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of
contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of
parables”.[132]We
must be bold enough to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh to embody
and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in
different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty
which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove particularly attractive
for others.
168.
As for the moral component of catechesis, which promotes growth in fidelity to
the Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again and again the
attractiveness and the ideal of a life of wisdom, self-fulfilment and
enrichment. In the light of that positive message, our rejection of the evils
which endanger that life can be better understood. Rather than experts in dire
predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we
should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the
goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.
169.
In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at the same time
obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly given over to
morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and sympathetically at
others whenever necessary. In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral
workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal
gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity
– into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals
before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). The pace
of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness
and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in
the Christian life.
170.
Although it sounds obvious, spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever
closer to God, in whom we attain true freedom. Some people think they are free
if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially
orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters,
flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To accompany them would
be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their
self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father.
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