Thursday, December 31, 2015

To be "at sixes and sevens"

I observed to Ralph Coti this a.m. that I was "at sixes and sevens." He immediately shot back the following:

FYI: To be "at sixes and sevens" is a British English idiom used to describe a state of confusion or disarray.


Origin and early history

The phrase probably derives from a complicated dice game called "hazard".[1] It is thought that the expression was originally "cinque and sice"[1] (from the French numerals for five and six). These were considered to be the riskiest numbers to shoot for (to "set on"), and those who tried for them were considered careless or confused.
A similar phrase, "to set the world on six and seven", is used by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Troilus and Criseyde. It dates from the mid-1380s and seems from its context to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life".[2] William Shakespeare uses a similar phrase in Richard II, "But time will not permit: all is uneven, And every thing is left at six and seven".
The phrase is also used in Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), where the captain, confused as to what choices to make in his life, exclaims in the opening song of Act II, "Fair moon, to thee I sing, bright regent of the heavens, say, why is everything either at sixes or at sevens?"

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

THE CHILD

Pope Francis says that watching how children interact and play can teach us a lot about the relationship we should have with Jesus.

   Noting that many saints have shown us a great devotion to the Infant Jesus, particularly St. Therese of Lisieux, the Pontiff said: from Him, we see the humility of God.
   “He, the great, is humble and is made a child. This is a real mystery! God is humble. This is beautiful,” Francis said.
   “We can learn a lot from Him if we look at the lives of children. It is a good habit that parents and grandparents have, to look at children, what they do.”
   The first characteristic: the desire for attention.
“They must be the focus, why? Because they are proud? No! Because they need to feel protected.  And it is necessary for us to put Jesus at the center of our lives and to know, even if it could seem paradoxical, that we have a responsibility to protect Him. He wishes to be in our arms, wishes to be cared for and to be able to fix His gaze on us.”

Abandoning our logic

   Next, children love to play. God plays as a child. But to play with a child, "means abandoning our logic to enter theirs."
   If we want a child to have fun, the Holy Father observed, we have to figure out what pleases them, rather than selfishly making them do what we want.
This, he said, is a lesson for us: “Before Jesus, we are called to give up our pretense of autonomy - and this is the core of the problem: our pretense of autonomy - to welcome instead the true form of freedom, which consists in knowing who we have in front of us and serving Him. He, this child, is the Son of God who comes to save us. He came among us to show us the face of the Father, which is rich in love and mercy.”
“Hold, then, the Child Jesus in our arms, putting ourselves at His service: He is the source of love and serenity,” the Pope recommended, encouraging the faithful to go to the nativity scenes in our homes and kiss the Child, telling him, "Jesus, I want to be humble like you, humble like God.”


The Divinization of the Human Person



The treatise of St Hippolytus,  On the Refutation of All Heresies (Ch. 10, 33-34)

The word made flesh makes us divine.

Our faith is not founded upon empty words; nor are we carried away by mere caprice or beguiled by specious arguments. On the contrary, we put our faith in words spoken by the power of God, spoken by the Word himself at God’s command. God wished to win men back from disobedience, not by using force to reduce him to slavery but by addressing to his free will a call to liberty.
  The Word spoke first of all through the prophets, but because the message was couched in such obscure language that it could be only dimly apprehended, in the last days the Father sent the Word in person, commanding him to show himself openly so that the world could see him and be saved.
  We know that by taking a body from the Virgin he re-fashioned our fallen nature. We know that his manhood was of the same clay as our own; if this were not so, he would hardly have been a teacher who could expect to be imitated. If he were of a different substance from me, he would surely not have ordered me to do as he did, when by my very nature I am so weak. Such a demand could not be reconciled with his goodness and justice.
  No. He wanted us to consider him as no different from ourselves, and so he worked, he was hungry and thirsty, he slept. Without protest he endured his passion, he submitted to death and revealed his resurrection. In all these ways he offered his own manhood as the first fruits of our race to keep us from losing heart when suffering comes our way, and to make us look forward to receiving the same reward as he did, since we know that we possess the same humanity.
  When we have come to know the true God, both our bodies and our souls will be immortal and incorruptible. We shall enter the kingdom of heaven, because while we lived on earth we acknowledged heaven’s King. Friends of God and co-heirs with Christ, we shall be subject to no evil desires or inclinations, or to any affliction of body or soul, for we shall have become divine.
  Whatever evil you may have suffered, being man, it is God that sent it to you, precisely because you are man; but equally, when you have been deified, God has promised you a share in every one of his own attributes. The saying Know yourself means therefore that we should recognise and acknowledge in ourselves the God who made us in his own image, for if we do this, we in turn will be recognised and acknowledged by our Maker.

  So let us not be at enmity with ourselves, but change our way of life without delay. For Christ who is God, exalted above all creation, has taken away man’s sin and has re-fashioned our fallen nature. In the beginning God made man in his image and so gave proof of his love for us. If we obey his holy commands and learn to imitate his goodness, we shall be like him and he will honour us. God is not beggarly, and for the sake of his own glory he has given us a share in his divinity.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Holiness Either As Encounter With Christ - or Clericalism

“None of us can say, ‘I’m a saint; I’m perfect; I’m already saved.’ No. We should always accept this offer of salvation, and that’s what the Year of Mercy is for” – Francis December 6, 2015

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
On this second Sunday of Advent, the liturgy places us in the school of John the Baptist, who preached a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” And perhaps we ask ourselves, “Why do we have to convert? Conversion is for an atheist who becomes a believer or a sinner who becomes just. But we don’t need it. We are already Christian.”
We can ask ourselves this and in this regard say, “we’re ok.” But that’s not true. Thinking like this, we don’t realize that it is precisely because of this presumption — that we are Christians, good in every way, that we’re doing the right thing — precisely because of this presumption we must convert: from the supposition that, overall, things are going well like they are and we don’t need any conversion.
But let us ask: Is it true that in the various situations and circumstances of life, we have in us the same sentiments that Jesus had? Is it true that we feel as Christ felt? For example, when we suffer some evil or some affront, can we react without animosity and forgive from the heart those who ask us for forgiveness? How difficult it is to forgive, eh? How difficult! “You’re going to pay for this” — that phrase comes spontaneously, yes? Or when we are called to share joys and sadnesses, do we know how to truly cry with the one who cries and rejoice with the one who rejoices? Or when we should share our faith, do we know how to do it with courage and simplicity, without being ashamed of the Gospel? And in this way, we can ask ourselves so many questions. We’re not alright. We should always convert, to have the sentiments that Jesus had.
The voice of the Baptist still cries in humanity’s deserts of today, which are — what are the deserts of today? — they are the closed minds and the hardened hearts. And [his voice] calls us so that we ask ourselves if we actually are following the right path, living a life according to the Gospel. Today, as then, he admonishes us with the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord!” It is a pressing invitation to open the heart and receive the salvation that God incessantly offers, almost stubbornly, because he wants us all to be free of the slavery of sin. But the text of the prophet amplifies this voice, pre-announcing that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” And salvation is offered to every man, and every people, without excluding anyone, to each one of us. None of us can say, “I’m a saint; I’m perfect; I’m already saved.” No. We should always accept this offer of salvation, and that’s what the Year of Mercy is for: to advance farther in this journey of salvation, this path that Jesus has taught us. God wants all mankind to be saved through the mediation of Jesus, the only mediator. 
Therefore, each one of us is called to make Jesus known to those who still do not know him. But this is not to proselytize. No. It is to open a door. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” St. Paul declared. If Our Lord Jesus has changed our lives, and he changes it every time we draw close to him, how can we not feel a passion to make him known to those we find at work, at school, in our communities, in the hospital, in meeting places? If we look around us, we find people who would be disposed to beginning — or beginning again — a journey of faith if they were to find Christians who are in love with Jesus. Shouldn’t we be and couldn’t we be these Christians? 
I leave you with this question: Am I truly in love with Jesus? Am I convinced that Jesus offers me and gives me salvation? And, if I am in love, I have to make him known! But we should be courageous: make low the mountains of pride and rivalry; fill in the valleys dug by indifference and apathy; make straight the pathways of our laziness and our comforts.
May we be aided in this by Our Lady — who is Mother and who knows how to do it — to bring down the walls and the obstacles that impede our conversion, that is, our journey toward the encounter with the Lord. He alone. Only Jesus can fulfill all the hopes of man!


Friday, December 25, 2015

Magic in the Moonlight - Woody Allen


   I just saw the movie this afternoon. An Eglish aristocratic intellectual gnostic (attractive guy) is brought by a friend to debunk an American (attractive girl) who has the fame of a medium. She has access to the unseen world. Both he and she are engaged - to different people: he to an attractive intellectual (unseen) and she to an absurdly boyish son of unspeakable wealth. The background is the '20's wild, easy life brought home with great New Orleans Jazz (Al Hirt), Cole Porter, etc. and vintage '20s cars which you are put in to drive around lucious mountain seascapes. The message is almost absurdly center stage and the fun of it and the gorgeous scenery are almost awkwardly at the service of getting the question stated: is  there a world of mystery, beauty and love (God as Creator and Purposeful Designer becomes quite explicit) beyond the sensually ecstatic on the one hand, and the boiler-plate, drab cotidien and depressive on the other. It even explicitly bluts out"is there a God?" It's quite shocking to hear that in an American movie.

 Of course, he and she fall in love with each other  after fun reversals which proves the point. It is a beautiful dance worthy of "My Fair Lady," "An Affair to Remember" and "Sleepless in Seatle," but it carries more punch than the three because the big question on the table is, "is there a God." The protagonist even begins to explicitly pray for the life of his aunt, but suddenly shakes himself out of the "delusion" he is falling into. It's a Woody Allen movie revealing what is most probably going on in Woody in real life. I think it's a good watch, and certainly fun while the large question is played out before you. It ends in a kiss.

Christmas Day: The Savior- Robert Barron


In the Gospel of Luke, we discover the Annunciation to Mary. Here is what the angel Gabriel says to the Virgin: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33).

No first-century Israelite would have missed the meaning here: this child shall be the fulfillment of the promise made to King David. He will be the king of the world, the one who would bring unity and peace to the nations.

The angel confirms this to the shepherds in the fields: “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord: (Luke 2:11). Saviour is Soter in Greek, which means “healer.” This was rendered in Latin asSalvator, Saviour in English. In old myths and legends, the true king would bring healing to his country, just as a wicked king would make the whole country sick.

Further, this healer is “Christ and Lord.” Christosmeans anointed, and this has a clear Davidic overtone, for David had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel, and all of his successors had been anointed. This baby will be the point of ordering for the entire world; he'll be the ruler and governor, the one who sets the tone.

And this is further emphasized by calling him “Lord”—Kyrios in Greek, Dominus in Latin. He is the one who should dominate us, rule over every aspect of us. 

With the angel’s next words, everything is turned upside down: “And this shall be the sign to you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” The new David, Christ the Lord, the Dominus, the center and orderer of all things, the emperor of the universe…is a baby? And a baby wrapped up so it can’t move? And lying where? In the grubby place where the animals eat?

Here is all of the poetry and all of the drama of Christmas. Indeed, the divine power is made manifest in weakness, for the divine power is nothing other than love, giving oneself away, being bound to the other, becoming food for those around you.

Finally, alongside the single angel there appeared an entire army of angels. We should not get sentimental about these angels. These aren't cute, chubby babies playing harps. They represent the army of heaven, which is more powerful than all of the armies of earth. The Prince of Peace has an army that is more powerful than anything that is in the world.

There are the glad tidings of Christmas. A new king has come, bringing with him an army of heavenly messengers, and he intends to bring peace and unity to the nations.

Opus Dei, “Sulanitis” and Divine Mercy - Confirmation of the Divine Origen of Opus Dei



The Foundation of Opus Dei and Divine Mercy

“At different time, Fernando Valenciano and Rafael Caamagno both hear St. Josemaria Escriva relate a curious event. One day in 1929, he had received a rather strange letter. It was strange because it was written by a Salesian nun, from France, not known to him, who signed her name “Sulanitis.” She ws engaged in spreading devotion to the Merciful Love as Margaret Mary Alacoque had propagated devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was also strange, because this nun could not even have known about the existence of Opus Dei, which at that time was only ‘what God wants,’ ‘what God is asking me,’ ‘God’s affair.’ The Work, which St. Josemaria had seen for the first time a few months earlier, had neither structure nor base, neither name nor address. Strangest of all, the letter said this: the final solution for the Work would come, exactly as God wished, but after much searching.
                When St. Josemaria spoke of this, he did not add any explanations. He only added the incontrovertible fact: ‘The letter is in our archives.’”[1]

               


[1] Pilar Urbano “The Man of Villa Tevere,” Scepter (2011) 70.

Christmas Eve 2015 Pope Francis

Here is a Vatican translation of the text of the homily Pope Francis gave this evening when he celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Tonight “a great light” shines forth (Is 9:1); the light of Jesus’ birth shines all about us. How true and timely are the words of the prophet Isaiah which we have just heard: “You have brought abundant joy and great rejoicing” (9:2)! Our heart was already joyful in awaiting this moment; now that joy abounds and overflows, for the promise has been at last fulfilled. Joy and gladness are a sure sign that the message contained in the mystery of this night is truly from God. There is no room for doubt; let us leave that to the skeptics who, by looking to reason alone, never find the truth. There is no room for the indifference which reigns in the hearts of those unable to love for fear of losing something. All sadness has been banished, for the Child Jesus brings true comfort to every heart.
Today, the Son of God is born, and everything changes. The Saviour of the world comes to partake of our human nature; no longer are we alone and forsaken. The Virgin offers us her Son as the beginning of a new life. The true light has come to illumine our lives so often beset by the darkness of sin. Today we once more discover who we are! Tonight we have been shown the way to reach the journey’s end. Now must we put away all fear and dread, for the light shows us the path to Bethlehem. We must not be laggards; we are not permitted to stand idle. We must set out to see our Saviour lying in a manger. This is the reason for our joy and gladness: this Child has been “born to us”; he was “given to us”, as Isaiah proclaims (cf. 9:5). The people who for for two thousand years has traversed all the pathways of the world in order to allow every man and woman to share in this joy is now given the mission of making known “the Prince of peace” and becoming his effective servant in the midst of the nations.
So when we hear tell of the birth of Christ, let us be silent and let the Child speak. Let us take his words to heart in rapt contemplation of his face. If we take him in our arms and let ourselves be embraced by him, he will bring us unending peace of heart. This Child teaches us what is truly essential in our lives. He was born into the poverty of this world; there was no room in the inn for him and his family. He found shelter and support in a stable and was laid in a manger for animals. And yet, from this nothingness, the light of God’s glory shines forth. From now on, the way of authentic liberation and perennial redemption is open to every man and woman who is simple of heart. This Child, whose face radiates the goodness, mercy and love of God the Father, trains us, his disciples, as Saint Paul says, “to reject godless ways” and the richness of the world, in order to live “temperately, justly and devoutly” (Tit 2:12).
In a society so often intoxicated by consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance, appearances and narcissism, this Child calls us to act soberly, in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential. In a world which all too often is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin, we need to cultivate a strong sense of justice, to discern and to do God’s will. Amid a culture of indifference which not infrequently turns ruthless, our style of life should instead be devout, filled with empathy, compassion and mercy, drawn daily from the wellspring of prayer.
Like the shepherds of Bethlehem, may we too, with eyes full of amazement and wonder, gaze upon the Child Jesus, the Son of God. And in his presence may our hearts burst forth in prayer: “Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation” (Ps 85:8).

To Vatican Workers:

'And while I thank you, I also want to ask forgiveness for the scandals that have happened in the Vatican.'




Below is a ZENIT translation of Pope Francis' address to the employees of the Holy See and of Vatican City State, with their respective families, for the exchange of Christmas greetings, yhis morning in the Vatican:
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters, welcome!
Christmas, now close, offers us a beautiful occasion to meet with one another and to exchange greetings. 
First of all, I wish to thank you for your work, for the commitment you have to do things well always, even when there is no recognition. So often one does something well and it is not acknowledged. I would like to thank particularly those among you who for the many years have been doing the same type of work -- work that is often hidden; and who seek to do things as they should be done. We know that this is normal, it is simply to do one’s duty, but we also know that it’s not easy for us human beings; we are not machines – thank God! – and sometimes we are in need of an incentive, or of some change. I congratulate you who feel just pride in doing the normal everyday things to the best. Thank you! We go forward, in the different realms of work, collaborating together, with patience, seeking to help one another. 
And while I thank you, I also want to ask forgiveness for the scandals that have happened in the Vatican. However, I would like my attitude and yours, especially in these days, to be above all that of prayer, to pray for the persons involved in these scandals, so that the one who has done wrong repents and is able to rediscover the right way. 
There is something else I want to say to you, perhaps the most important thing: I encourage you to take care of your marriage and your children. To take care and not neglect them: to play with your children. Marriage is like a plant. It’s not like a closet, which one puts there in the room, and it’s enough to dust it every now and then. A plant is alive, it is taken care of every day: one sees how it’s doing, gives it water, and so on. Marriage is a living reality: a couple’s life is never taken for granted, in any phase of the course of the family. We remind ourselves that the most precious gift for the children is not things but the love of the parents. And I do not intend only the love of parents for the children, but in fact the love of parents between them,namely, the conjugal relation. This does you, and also your children, so much good! Don’t neglect the family!
Hence, first of all cultivate the “plant” of marriage, which you spouses are, and at the same time take care of the relation with your children, also here, focusing more on the human relation than on things. Speak to your children, listen to them, ask them what they think. This dialogue between parents and children does so much good! It makes the children grow in maturity. We focus on mercy, on daily relations, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, and we take care of the grandparents. Grandparents are so important in the family. Grandparents have memory; they have wisdom. Do not leave grandparents to one side! They are very important. A young lady was telling me that she has a seven-year-old son, and that the grandmother, in her nineties, lives with her, but that she is not altogether well, and she was advised to put her in a rest home. And this wise lady, who hasn’t studied at a university, answered the one who was advising her to put the grandmother in a home of rest: “No! I want my son to grow beside his grandmother!” She knew the good that grandparents do to grandchildren. Take care of peace in the family: we all know there is quarrelling in the family. When there is no quarrelling in a marriage, it seems abnormal. What is important is that the day not end without making peace.
The Jubilee is to be lived also in the domestic Church, not only in great events! What’s more, the Lord loves one who practices mercy in ordinary circumstances. I wish you this: that you experience the joy of mercy, beginning in your family. 
Thank you for your work, forgive the scandals and go forward. Go forward in this community and bring my greeting and good wishes to your dear ones, to the elderly and to the sick. And, please, continue to pray for me. Thank you again and happy Christmas!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Pope Francis taps an American as spokesman in communications shakeup
By John L. Allen Jr.


Associate editor December 21, 2015

ROME — In moves that clearly seem to afford English-speaking communications officials in the Vatican greater influence and visibility, Pope Francis has named two key aides to new roles, including putting the first American in line eventually to serve as his personal spokesman.
On Monday, the Vatican announced that Greg Burke, a former Time magazine and Fox News correspondent in Rome who has served as senior communications adviser to the Secretariat of State since 2012, has been named the new vice director of the Holy See Press Office.
Although the announcement did not say so explicitly, it’s believed that the appointment sets Burke up as heir apparent to the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the 73-year-old Jesuit who’s headed the press office and acted as spokesman for both Popes Benedict XVI and Francis since 2006.
Burke replaces the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, an Italian Passionist priest who has served as the vice-director of the Press Office since 1995. The appointment takes effect Feb. 1.
Two days earlier, the Vatican announced that the Rev. Paul Tighe, previously the No. 2 official at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, had been named to a new role as an “adjunct secretary” at the Pontifical Council for Culture under Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.
The appointment means that the 57-year-old Irishman and protégé of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Dublin will become a bishop.
Although specifics of Tighe’s new role still have to be worked out, the Council for Culture has a reputation for launching some of the most creative initiatives in the Vatican, such as the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” project for dialogue with non-believers, as well as the Vatican’s participation in the 2015 Expo in Milan, and it’s expected that Tighe will have a fairly broad administrative mandate.
Currently the Vatican’s senior Irishman, Tighe has served as secretary of the Council for Social Communications since 2008.
Both Burke and Tighe are seen as among the most accessible, and effective, communications personnel in the Vatican, making them natural points of contact not only for media outlets, but also for a wide range of other individuals and organizations seeking to engage the institution.
If Burke does eventually take over as the primary papal spokesman, he would be the first American to hold that role. In most other ways, however, it would be a return to form for the Vatican Press Office, as the St. Louis native is both a layman and a member of the Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Prior to Lombardi, the Press Office was led for 22 years by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, a Spanish layman and Opus Dei member, as well as a former correspondent with the Spanish newspaper ABC and head of Rome’s Foreign Press Club.
In the short term, however, Burke is expected to keep a low profile and defer to Lombardi to avoid impressions of a “lame duck” administration.
The 56-year-old Burke is credited with significantly expanding the Vatican’s social media capacities, including the December 2012 launch of a papal Twitter account, and in general for helping to craft a more media-savvy approach. He’s seen as having the respect of reporters who cover the Vatican, in part because he comes out of that world and appreciates the demands of media culture.
To some extent, Burke is expected to focus on relations with the international press, especially in English. Up to now, that void has been filled by the Rev. Thomas Rosica, who heads the Salt and Light Catholic media operation in Canada and has acted as a de facto Vatican spokesman for English-speaking media despite not being based full-time in Rome.
It’s expected that Rosica will continue to be involved in some form, although a division of labor with Burke is yet to be worked out.
Neither Tighe nor Burke may be replaced in their present positions, which could disappear or be rethought as part of a broader reconfiguration of Vatican communications operations.
When Francis created a new “Secretariat for Communications” in June under Italian Monsignor Dario Viganò, it signaled a reduced role for the Council for Social Communications under Italian Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, which had been the Vatican’s primary communications “think tank” as well as dealing with most broadcast media.
Some insiders expected Tighe to return to Ireland to lead a diocese, but the decision to keep him on at what’s perceived to be among the Vatican’s most dynamic departments suggests a desire to keep his expertise and contacts in Rome.
In Burke’s case, the post of “senior communications adviser” was an ad-hoc position created at the peak of the first Vatican leaks scandal in late 2011 and 2012 under Benedict XVI, and it’s not immediately clear whether a successor will be named.
In yet another personnel shift, the Vatican also announced Monday that Italian layman Stefano D’Agosotini, a longtime official of Vatican Television, has been named the new director of the television service. He replaces Viganò in that role.


For Christmas, the Re-offering of C. Bergoglio's Talk (2001) on Giussani's Book "L'Attractiva Gesu"

We offer here excerpts from the talk given by His Eminence Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio during the book presentation in the huge Buenos Aires book fair, April 27, 2001.

I agreed to present this book by Father Giussani for two reasons. The first and more personal one is the good that this man has done me, in my life as a priest, through the reading of his books and articles. The second reason is that I am convinced that his thought is profoundly human and reaches man’s innermost longings. I dare say that this is the most profound, and at the same time understandable, phenomenology of nostalgia [memory] as a transcendental fact (underline mine). There is a phenomenology of nostalgia, nóstosalgos, feeling called home, the experience of feeling attracted to what is most proper for us, most consonant with our being. In the context of Fr. Giussani’s reflections, we encounter instances of a real phenomenology of nostalgia.

The book presented today, “
El atractivo de Jesucristo [L’Attractiva Gesu],” is not a theological treatise, it is a dialogue of friendship; these are table conversations between Father Giussani and his disciples. It is not a book for intellectuals, but for people who are men and women. It is the description of that initial experience, which I shall refer to later on, of wonder which arises in dialogue about daily experience that is provoked and fascinated by the exceptionally human and divine presence and gaze of Jesus Christ. It is the story of a personal relationship–intense, mysterious, and concrete at the same time–of an impassioned and intelligent affection for the person of Jesus, and this enables Fr. Giussani to come to the threshold, as it were, of Mystery, to speak familiarly and intimately with Mystery.

Everything in our life, today just as in Jesus’ time, begins with an encounter. An encounter with this Man, the carpenter of Nazareth, a man like all men and yet different. The first ones, John, Andrew, and Simon, felt themselves to be looked at into their very depths, read in their innermost being, and in them sprang forth a surprise, a wonder that instantly made them feel bound to Him, made them feel different.

When Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?”, “his ‘Yes’ was not the result of an effort of will, it was not the fruit of a ‘decision’ made by the young man Simon: it was the emergence, the coming to the surface of an entire vein of tenderness and adherence that made sense because of the esteem he had for Him–therefore an act of reason;” it was a reasonable act, “which is why he could not not say ‘Yes.’”

We cannot understand this dynamic of encounter which brings forth wonder and adherence if it has not been triggered–forgive me the use of this word–by mercy. Only someone who has encountered mercy, who has been caressed by the tenderness of mercy, is happy and comfortable with the Lord. I beg the theologians who are present not to turn me in to the Sant’Uffizio or to the Inquisition; however, forcing things a bit, I dare to say that the privileged locus of the encounter is the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ on my sin.

In front of this merciful embrace–and I continue along the lines of Giussani’s thought–we feel a real desire to respond, to change, to correspond; a new morality arises. We posit the ethical problem, an ethics which is born of the encounter, of this encounter which we have described up to now. Christian morality is not a titanic effort of the will, the effort of someone who decides to be consistent and succeeds, a solitary challenge in the face of the world. No. Christian morality is simply a response. It is the heartfelt response to a surprising, unforeseeable, “unjust” mercy (I shall return to this adjective). The surprising, unforeseeable, “unjust” mercy, using purely human criteria, of one who knows me, knows my betrayals and loves me just the same, appreciates me, embraces me, calls me again, hopes in me, and expects from me. This is why the Christian conception of morality is a revolution; it is not a never falling down but an always getting up again.

As we shall see, this authentic, in a Christian sense, conception of morality which Giussani presents has nothing to do with the spiritualistic-type quietisms of which the shelves of the religious supermarkets of today are full. Trickery. Nor with the Pelagianism so fashionable today in its different, sophisticated manifestations. Pelagianism, underneath it all, is a remake of the Tower of Babel. The spiritualistic quietisms are efforts at prayer and immanent spirituality which never go beyond themselves.

Jesus is encountered, just as 2,000 years ago, in a human presence, the Church, the company of those whom He assimilates to Himself, His Body, the sign and sacrament of His Presence. Reading this book, one is amazed and filled with admiration at the sight of such a personal and profound relationship with Jesus, and thinks it is unlikely to happen to him. When people say to Fr. Giussani, “How brave one has to be to say ‘Yes’ to Christ!” or, “This objection comes to my mind: it is evident that Fr. Giussani loves Jesus and I don’t love Him in the same way,” Giussani answers, “Why do you oppose what you think you don’t have to what you think I have? I have this yes, only this, and it would not cost you one iota more than it costs me.… Say “Yes” to Jesus. If I foresaw that tomorrow I would offend Him a thousand times, I would still say it.” Thérèse of Lisieux says almost exactly the same thing: “I say it, because if I did not say ‘Yes’ to Jesus I could not say ‘Yes’ to the stars in the sky or to your hair, the hairs on your head…” Nothing could be simpler: “I don’t know how it is, I don’t know how it might be: I know that I have to say ‘Yes.’ I can’t not say it,” and reasonably; that is to say, at every moment in his reflections in this book, Giussani has recourse to the reasonableness of experience.

It is a question of starting to say “You” to Christ, and saying it often. It is impossible to desire it without asking for it. And if someone starts to ask for it, then he begins to change. Besides, if someone asks for it, it is because in the depths of his being he feels attracted, called, looked at, awaited. This is the experience of Augustine: there from the depths of my being, something attracts me toward Someone who looked for me first, is waiting for me first, is the almond flower of the prophets, the first to bloom in spring. It is the quality which God possesses and which I take the liberty of defining by using a Buenos Aires word: God, in this case Jesus Christ, always primerea, goes ahead of us. When we arrive, He is already there waiting.

He who encounters Jesus Christ feels the impulse to witness Him or to give witness of what he has encountered, and this is the Christian calling. To go and give witness. You can’t convince anybody. The encounter occurs. You can prove that God exists, but you will never be able, using the force of persuasion, to make anyone encounter God. This is pure grace. .Pure grace. In history, from its very beginning until today, grace always primerea, grace always comes first, then comes all the rest.


Blogger: I consider this text in bold italics to convey an intense depth of truth

Jesus Christ, "The Great Gift of God"


Vatican City, Dec 20, 2015 Ahead of Christmas, Pope Francis spoke on the surprise of God and his great gift in sending Jesus Christ to save mankind.
“God gives us all of Himself by giving His one and only Son, who is all his joy – and only with the heart of Mary, the humble and poor daughter of Zion, become the Mother of the Son of the Most High, that we can rejoice and be glad for the great gift of God and for His unpredictable surprise.”
The Pope prayed that the Virgin Mary may help us to “perceive the wonder.”
“So let it be with the birth of Jesus – the gift of gifts – the undeserved gift that brings us salvation, that it might also make us feel this wonder in meeting Jesus,” the pontiff said Dec. 20.
Thousands of pilgrims and tourists had gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the recitation of the Angelus on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Vatican Radio reports.
Pope Francis said that we cannot have the wonder of meeting Jesus “if we do not meet Him in another person, in history and in the Church.” His remarks stressed these three “places of wonder.”

Blogger: Since you are constitutively relational as image of the Son of God, unless you go out of yourself, you cannot have a true experience of yourself as image, the prototype of Whom is Jesus Christ. Therefore, you cannot know Christ unless you go out of yourself as gift to another. Hence, the place of the poor [and the rich] in your life.

Another person is a place “to discover a brother.” The Pope said that “from the moment in which Jesus was born, every visage carries the features of the Son of God – above all when it is the face of a poor person, because it was as a poor person that God entered the world and it was by the poor that He allowed himself to be approached first.”
Looking to history, “if we look with faith, we feel real wonder,” the Pope explained, warning against a wrongheaded approach.
“So many times we think we see it the right way, and instead we risk reading it backwards: it happens, for example, when history seems to us to be determined by the market economy, regulated by finance and business, dominated by the powers that be,” he said.
God then “shuffles the deck,” as shown by Mary’s Magnificat: “it is the Lord who casts down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly, who fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.”
Pope Francis said that the Church is also a place for wonder.
“To look on her with the wonder of faith means not just considering the Church only as a religious institution – which the Church is – but to feel her as a mother who, despite her warts and wrinkles – we have so many! – lets the contours of the bride beloved of and purified by Christ the Lord shine through.”
At the Angelus the Pope blessed the “bambinelli,” small statues and figurines of the Christ Child for Nativity scenes. Children traditionally bring these on the last Sunday of Advent. The Pope had a request for the children: “when you pray before your Nativity Scene, remember to pray also for me, as I shall remember you.”
The Pope’s comments also reflected on the disasters and conflicts of the world.
“My thoughts turn in this moment to the dear populations of India, recently stricken by a great flood,” he said.
Massive floods in the Indian city of Chennai Dec. 1-2 killed around 300 people and displaced thousands more. The city, whose population is close to 5 million, is now at risk of disease.
“Let us pray for these brothers and sisters, who are suffering as a result of this great calamity, and let us entrust the souls of the dead to the mercy of God,” the Pope said before leading the gathered crowd in praying a Hail Mary for the affected.
Pope Francis also spoke of the civil war in “our beloved Syria.” He voiced his appreciation for the U.N.-sponsored resolution for a peace process to end a conflict that has killed over 300,000 people.
“I encourage everyone to continue, with a generous spirit of confident willingness, toward cessation of violence and a negotiated settlement leading to peace.”
He then discussed Libya, saying a plan for a national unity government “invites hope for the future.”
For Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where an international court has ruled on a long-standing territory dispute, Pope Francis hoped for “a renewed spirit of fraternity” that will strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the two countries.


Monday, December 21, 2015

The Great Message to Families (Repeat from previous post)


* * * * * * * * * * * 
There is something else I want to say to you, perhaps the most important thing: I encourage you to take care of your marriage and your children. To take care and not neglect them: to play with your children. Marriage is like a plant. It’s not like a closet, which one puts there in the room, and it’s enough to dust it every now and then. A plant is alive, it is taken care of every day: one sees how it’s doing, gives it water, and so on. Marriage is a living reality: a couple’s life is never taken for granted, in any phase of the course of the family. We remind ourselves that the most precious gift for the children is not things but the love of the parents. And I do not intend only the love of parents for the children, but in fact the love of parents between them,namely, the conjugal relation. This does you, and also your children, so much good! Don’t neglect the family!
Hence, first of all cultivate the “plant” of marriage, which you spouses are, and at the same time take care of the relation with your children, also here, focusing more on the human relation than on things. Speak to your children, listen to them, ask them what they think. This dialogue between parents and children does so much good! It makes the children grow in maturity. We focus on mercy, on daily relations, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, and we take care of the grandparents. Grandparents are so important in the family. Grandparents have memory; they have wisdom. Do not leave grandparents to one side! They are very important. A young lady was telling me that she has a seven-year-old son, and that the grandmother, in her nineties, lives with her, but that she is not altogether well, and she was advised to put her in a rest home. And this wise lady, who hasn’t studied at a university, answered the one who was advising her to put the grandmother in a home of rest: “No! I want my son to grow beside his grandmother!” She knew the good that grandparents do to grandchildren. Take care of peace in the family: we all know there is quarrelling in the family. When there is no quarrelling in a marriage, it seems abnormal. What is important is that the day not end without making peace.
The Jubilee is to be lived also in the domestic Church, not only in great events! What’s more, the Lord loves one who practices mercy in ordinary circumstances. I wish you this: that you experience the joy of mercy, beginning in your family. 
Thank you for your work, forgive the scandals and go forward. Go forward in this community and bring my greeting and good wishes to your dear ones, to the elderly and to the sick. And, please, continue to pray for me. Thank you

To Workers at Vatican: Thank you, Forgive Us For the Scandals, Love Your Families.

'And while I thank you, I also want to ask forgiveness for the scandals that have happened in the Vatican.'


Dear Brothers and Sisters, welcome!
Christmas, now close, offers us a beautiful occasion to meet with one another and to exchange greetings. 
First of all, I wish to thank you for your work, for the commitment you have to do things well always, even when there is no recognition. So often one does something well and it is not acknowledged. I would like to thank particularly those among you who for the many years have been doing the same type of work -- work that is often hidden; and who seek to do things as they should be done. We know that this is normal, it is simply to do one’s duty, but we also know that it’s not easy for us human beings; we are not machines – thank God! – and sometimes we are in need of an incentive, or of some change. I congratulate you who feel just pride in doing the normal everyday things to the best. Thank you! We go forward, in the different realms of work, collaborating together, with patience, seeking to help one another. 
And while I thank you, I also want to ask forgiveness for the scandals that have happened in the Vatican. However, I would like my attitude and yours, especially in these days, to be above all that of prayer, to pray for the persons involved in these scandals, so that the one who has done wrong repents and is able to rediscover the right way. 
There is something else I want to say to you, perhaps the most important thing: I encourage you to take care of your marriage and your children. To take care and not neglect them: to play with your children. Marriage is like a plant. It’s not like a closet, which one puts there in the room, and it’s enough to dust it every now and then. A plant is alive, it is taken care of every day: one sees how it’s doing, gives it water, and so on. Marriage is a living reality: a couple’s life is never taken for granted, in any phase of the course of the family. We remind ourselves that the most precious gift for the children is not things but the love of the parents. And I do not intend only the love of parents for the children, but in fact the love of parents between them,namely, the conjugal relation. This does you, and also your children, so much good! Don’t neglect the family!
Hence, first of all cultivate the “plant” of marriage, which you spouses are, and at the same time take care of the relation with your children, also here, focusing more on the human relation than on things. Speak to your children, listen to them, ask them what they think. This dialogue between parents and children does so much good! It makes the children grow in maturity. We focus on mercy, on daily relations, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, and we take care of the grandparents. Grandparents are so important in the family. Grandparents have memory; they have wisdom. Do not leave grandparents to one side! They are very important. A young lady was telling me that she has a seven-year-old son, and that the grandmother, in her nineties, lives with her, but that she is not altogether well, and she was advised to put her in a rest home. And this wise lady, who hasn’t studied at a university, answered the one who was advising her to put the grandmother in a home of rest: “No! I want my son to grow beside his grandmother!” She knew the good that grandparents do to grandchildren. Take care of peace in the family: we all know there is quarrelling in the family. When there is no quarrelling in a marriage, it seems abnormal. What is important is that the day not end without making peace.
The Jubilee is to be lived also in the domestic Church, not only in great events! What’s more, the Lord loves one who practices mercy in ordinary circumstances. I wish you this: that you experience the joy of mercy, beginning in your family. 
Thank you for your work, forgive the scandals and go forward. Go forward in this community and bring my greeting and good wishes to your dear ones, to the elderly and to the sick. And, please, continue to pray for me. Thank you again and happy Christmas!

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Jesus Christ, the New David, Fulfilling the Promise to Abraham - The Global Kingdom: The Communio

Robert Barron: 23d day of Advent.
The New David
Along with Moses and Abraham, David was the most important figure of the Old Testament. His kingship represented the fulfillment of so many of the expectations of Israel, and his reign became synonymous with peace and empire.

Moreover, David had received an extraordinary promise, which is recorded in the second book of Samuel. Through the prophet Nathan, God informed David that his line would last forever, that a son of his body would rule forever.

During the long years that followed the time of David, Israel remained haunted by this great king and by this even greater promise. Soon after David’s reign, his united empire fell apart, and the kings of both north and south proved to be pretty pathetic characters. Still the people, prompted by their prophets, hoped that the definitive king would emerge from David’s line.

This is precisely the hope articulated by one of the minor prophets, Micah, a seer who lived and wrote in the eighth century BC, some 250 years after David. Channelling the words of the Lord, Micah says, “You Bethlehem-Ephratha, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to ruler in Israel; whose origin is from old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:1).

Why Bethlehem? Because that was the city of Jesse, the city of David. It was, across Israelite history, a tiny place, an insignificant “suburb” of Jerusalem, but it was David’s city, and the promise was that a descendant of David would be the great ruler.

Under David, for a brief and shining moment, Israel was united, but soon after David’s death, the nation fell apart. The dream then was that the new David would bring the tribes back together. 

But then there was an even greater dream. Listen again to Micah: “For now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” A united Israel would become a magnet to draw the rest of the world. When the whole world would come under this Davidic king, all would be well.

All of this is meant to signal to us just who this Jesus is and what his mission would be. Watch how, throughout his public life, how he gathers the tribes of Israel, going out to the woman at the well, to the man born blind, to Zacchaeus, and to the Gerasene demoniac. Notice how he engages in open table fellowship. Notice how he heals and forgives. He is not simply being a nice, inclusive fellow; he is doing what the Davidic Messiah was expected to do. He is gathering the nations in the new kingdom of God.

Blogger
Keep in mind that as David is king of Israel, Jesus Christ is King  of the Global Kiingdom whose extension is without limits, populated as intensely as the stars of the heavens and the sands on the shore[the promise made to Abram]. Christ, the God-man is the revelation and meaning of every man. There is only one anthropology and it is Christological. Therefore, there is no such thing as a natural man, nor a natural order. There is no morality that is merely "natural" as opposed to supernatural. Reality is ultimately Jesus Christ, one Person of two ontologically distinct natures, both dynamized by the one divine Person of the Son of the Father. In Christ, the Subject of all being, created and uncreated, is the divine Person of the Son. Christ is the re-starting of creation. Everything is new. It is divine (uncreated) and human (created). And everything takes its meaning from Him. The entire created physical cosmos is but the extension of his humanity that is His.
   And everything that precedes Christ in time in what we understand to be in a evolutionary way, is fulfilling what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, 4: 'He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his sons, according to the purpose of his will."

   Consider Newman on the seeds of truth having been scattered from the beginning of creation and within history, and so developing in time to maturity and emergence:“Now, the phenomenon, admitted on all hands, is this:—that great portion of what is generally received as Christian truth, is in its rudiments or in its separate parts to be found in heathen philosophies and religions. For instance, the doctrine of a Trinity is found both in the East and in the West; so is the ceremony of washing; so is the rite of sacrifice. The doctrine of the Divine Word is Platonic; the doctrine of the Incarnation is Indian; of a divine kingdom is Judaic; of Angels and demons is Magian; the connexion of sin with the body is Gnostic; celibacy is known to Bonze and Talapoin; a sacerdotal order is Egyptian; the idea of a new birth is Chinese and Eleusinian; belief in sacramental virtue is Pythagorean; and honours to the dead are a polytheism. Such is the general nature of the fact before us; Mr. Milman argues from it,—"These things are in heathenism, therefore they are not Christian:" we, on the contrary, prefer to say, "these things are in Christianity, therefore they are not heathen." That is, we prefer to say, and we think that Scripture bears us out in saying, that from the beginning the Moral Governor of the world has scattered the seeds of truth far and wide over its extent; that these have variously taken root, and grown up as in the wilderness, wild plants indeed but living; and hence that, as the inferior animals have tokens of an immaterial principle in them, yet have not [intellective: mine] souls, so the philosophies and religions of men have their life in certain true ideas, though they are not directly divine. What man is amid the brute creation, such is the Church among the schools of the world; and as Adam gave names to the animals about him, so has the Church from the first looked round upon the earth, noting and visiting the doctrines she found there. She began in Chaldea, and then sojourned among the Canaanites, and went down into Egypt, and thence passed into Arabia, till she rested in her own land. Next she encountered the merchants of Tyre, and the wisdom of the East country, and the luxury of Sheba. Then she was carried away to Babylon, and wandered to the schools of Greece [where she engendered Greek metaphysical thought from her revelation of creation: mine]. And wherever she went, in trouble or in triumph, still she was a living spirit, the mind and voice of the Most High; "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions;" claiming to herself what they said rightly, correcting their errors, supplying their defects, completing their beginnings, expanding their surmises, and thus gradually by means of them enlarging the range and refining the sense of her own teaching. So far then from her creed being of doubtful credit because it resembles foreign theologies, we even hold that one special way in which Providence has imparted divine knowledge to us has been by enabling her to draw and collect it together out of the world, and, in this sense, as in others, to suck the milk of the Gentiles and to suck the breast of kings.
“How far in fact this process has gone, is a question of history; and we believe it has before now been grossly exaggerated and misrepresented by those who, like Mr. Milman, have thought that its existence told against {233} Catholic doctrine; but so little antecedent difficulty have we in the matter, that we could readily grant, unless it were a question of fact not of theory, that Balaam was an Eastern sage, or a Sibyl was inspired, or Solomon learnt of the sons of Mahol, or Moses was a scholar of the Egyptian hierophants. We are not distressed to be told that the doctrine of the angelic host came from Babylon, while we know that they did sing at the Nativity; nor that the vision of a Mediator is in Philo, if in very deed He died for us on Calvary. Nor are we afraid to allow, that, even after His coming, the Church has been a treasure-house, giving forth things old and new, casting the gold of fresh tributaries into her refiner's fire, or stamping upon her own, as time required it, a deeper impress of her Master's image.
“The distinction between these two theories is broad and obvious. The advocates of the one imply that Revelation was a single, entire, solitary act, or nearly so, introducing a certain message; whereas we, who maintain the other, consider that Divine teaching has been in fact, what the analogy of nature would lead us to expect, "at sundry times and in divers manners," various, complex, progressive, and supplemental of itself. We consider the Christian doctrine, when analyzed, to appear, like the human frame, "fearfully and wonderfully made;" but they think it someone tenet or certain principles given out at one time in their fullness, without gradual enlargement before Christ's coming or elucidation afterwards. They cast off all that they also find in Pharisee or heathen; we conceive that the Church, like Aaron's rod, devours the serpents of the magicians. They are ever hunting for a fabulous primitive simplicity; we repose in Catholic fullness. They seek what never has been found; we accept and use {234} what even they acknowledge to be a substance. They are driven to maintain, on their part, that the Church's doctrine was never pure; we say that it never can be corrupt. We consider that a divine promise keeps the Church Catholic from doctrinal corruption; but on what promise, or on what encouragement, they are seeking for their visionary purity does not appear.”[1]

All of this is the Kingdom of God. That means that the Kingdom of God is a Person, with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Redemptoris Missio, #18). The Kingdom of God is not a political reality like a Christendom, but a Person. It is only by each becoming Christ by the sincere gift of self in the act of a living faith in ordinary secular life does the Kingdom become an intramundane reality. "If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you" (Lk. 11, 20). This gives us a new eschatology where the Kingdom is not to come as Christ only at the end of time, the present being a "vale of tears." He, (the eschaton), is now in the present moment the source of joy insofar as each is in the process going out of self to become another Christ.

The Church is not the Kingdom. It is as the sacrament of the Kingdom. Therefore, we preach the Kingdom (Person of Christ). We build the Church as the sacrament ("God gathered together as one all those who in faith look upon Jesus as the author of salvation and the source of unity and peace, and established them as the Church that for each and all it may be the visible sacrament of this saving unity (LG#9 ) that brings Him forth in time.

Pope Francis

The Kingdom of God, and the Church are not only in the center but in the periphery as the people of God. Consider what Pope Francis says in Evangelii Gaudium #32-33 making reference to John Paul II's call for help in exercising the papacy

"Pope John Paul II asked for help in finding 'a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation.'[35] We have made little progress in this regard. The papacy and the central structures of the universal Church also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion. The Second Vatican Council stated that, like the ancient patriarchal Churches, episcopal conferences are in a position 'to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegial spirit'.[36] Yet this desire has not been fully realized, since a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.[37] Excessive centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and her missionary outreach.

"33. Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: 'We have always done it this way.' I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities. A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will inevitably prove illusory. I encourage everyone to apply the guidelines found in this document generously and courageously, without inhibitions or fear. The important thing is to not walk alone, but to rely on each other as brothers and sisters, and especially under the leadership of the bishops, in a wise and realistic pastoral discernment."

This is an enormously important statement. And this is what Francis is talking about in so far as not seeking for clerical says of power, but to seek new ways, sow new seeds that will yield their fruit in time.


   Now, the light of this, consider that Francis is moving the Church from a Roman centralism to a communio that is her proper physiognomy, under the authority of the pope. In spite of the impression that we all live with, the Church is not a monarchy although it has been styled on that (perhaps unconsciously). Nor is the Church a democracy. The Church is the image of the Trinitarian God, Who is One, yet each Person is God. We live and move within that Mystery.



[1] John Henry Newman, “Essays Critical and Historical,” XI: Milman’s View of Christianity (1871), vol. 2, 232-233.

Ratzinger on the Church as Communio:

It can certainly be said that, at the time of the extraordinary Synod of 1985, which was to attempt an evaluation of the 20 years following the Council, there appeared a new effort to sum up conciliar ecclesiology in a basic concept: the ecclesiology of communio. I received this new focus of ecclesiology with joy and did my best to prepare it. Even so, it should be recognized first of all that the word communio does not have a central position in the Council. But if it is properly understood it can serve as a synthesis for the essential elements of conciliar ecclesiology. All of the essential elements of the Christian concept of communio are combined in the famous text of I Jn 1, 3, which can be taken as the criterion for the correct Christian understanding of communion: "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete". Here the starting point of communio is brought to the fore: the encounter with the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who comes to men and women through the Church's proclamation. So there arises communion among human beings, which in turn is based on communio with the Triune God. We have access to communion with God through the realization of the communion of God with man which is Christ in person; the encounter with Christ creates communion with him and thus with the Father in the Holy Spirit; and from this point unites human beings with one another. The purpose of all this is full joy: the Church carries an eschatological dynamic within her. In the words "full joy", we can glimpse a reference to the farewell discourse of Jesus, to the Easter mystery and to the return of the Lord in his Easter appearances, which prepare for his full return in the new world: "You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy . . . I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice . . . ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (Jn 16; 20; 22; 24). If the last sentence is compared with Lk 11,13 — the invitation to prayer in Luke — it clearly appears that "joy" and "Holy Spirit" are one and the same, and that the word "joy" in I Jn 1, 3, conceals the Holy Spirit who is not expressly mentioned here. The word communio therefore, based on the biblical context has a theological, Christological, salvation historical and ecclesiological character. It therefore has within it the sacramental dimension which in Paul appears explicitly: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one Bread, we who are many are one body . . . " (I Cor 10, 16 f.). The ecclesiology of communion is a profoundly Eucharistic ecclesiology. It is thus very close to the Eucharistic ecclesiology, which Orthodox theologians have developed convincingly in our century. Ecclesiology becomes more concrete and at the same time remains totally spiritual, transcendent and eschatological. In the Eucharist Christ, present in the bread and wine and giving himself ever anew, builds the Church as his body and through his risen body unites us to the Triune God and to one another. The Eucharist is celebrated in different places, and yet at the same time it is universal, because there is only one Christ and only one body of Christ. The Eucharist includes the priestly service of the repraesentatio Christi and thus the network of service, the synthesis of unity and multiplicity, which is already expressed in the word communio. Thus it can be said without a doubt that the concept incorporates an ecclesiological synthesis, which unites the discourse on the Church with the discourse on God and with life from God and with God, a synthesis that takes up all the essential intentions of the Second Vatican Council's ecclesiology and connects them in the right way.
For these reasons I was grateful and pleased when the Synod of 1985 made the concept of communion once again the focus of reflection. However, the years that followed show that no word is safe from misunderstandings, not even the best and most profound.