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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
LENTEN
MEETING WITH THE CLERGY OF ROME
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Hall of Blessings
Thursday, 22 February 2007
www.zenit.org
Part I:
"Contemplation Is Expressed in Works of Charity"
Part II: "Do
Not Extinguish Charisms ... the Church Is One"
Part III: "The Pastor Leads the Way"
The first question was addressed to the Holy Father by Mons.
Pasquale Silla, Rector at the Shrine of Santa Maria del Divino Amore
at Castel di Leva, not far from Rome. Mons. Silla recalled Benedict
XVI's Visit to the Shrine on 1 May 2006 and his request to the
parish community for powerful prayer for the Bishop of Rome and his
collaborators, as well as for the priests and faithful of the
Diocese. In response to this request, the community of Our Lady of
Divine Love attempted to give the best possible quality to prayer in
all its forms, especially liturgical prayer: one of the results of
this commitment is the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist that
will begin at the Shrine on 25 March. In the field of charity, the
Shrine is concentrating on broadening its outreach, especially in
the area of welfare for minors, families and the elderly. In this
perspective, Mons. Silla asked Pope Benedict XVI for practical
instructions to enable the Shrine to play an increasingly effective
role in the Diocese.
Pope Benedict XVI: I would like first of all to say that I am glad
and happy to feel here that I am truly the Bishop of a large
Diocese. The Cardinal Vicar said that you are expecting light and
comfort. And I must say that to see so many priests of all
generations is light and comfort to me. Above all, I have already
learned something from the first question, and to my mind this is
another essential element of our Meeting. Here I can hear the actual
living voices of parish priests and their pastoral experiences;
thus, above all I can learn about your concrete situation, your
queries, your experiences and your difficulties, and live them not
only in the abstract but in authentic dialogue with real parish
life.
I now come to the first question. It seems to me, basically, that
you have also supplied the answer as to what this Shrine can do. ...
I know that this Marian Shrine is the one best loved by the people
of Rome. During the several Visits I paid to the ancient Shrine, I
also felt the age-old devotion. One senses the presence of the
prayer of generations and one can almost tangibly feel Our Lady's
motherly presence.
In the encounter with Mary, it is truly possible to experience an
encounter with the centuries-old Marian devotion as well as with the
desires, needs, sufferings and joys of the generations. Thus, this
Shrine, visited by people with their hopes, questions, requests and
sufferings, is an essential factor for the Diocese of Rome.
We are seeing more and more that Shrines are a source of life and
faith in the universal Church, hence, also in the Church of Rome. In
my Country, I had the experience of making pilgrimages on foot to
our national Shrine of Altötting. It is an important popular
mission.
Young people in particular go there. As pilgrims walking for three
days, they experience the atmosphere of prayer and an examination of
conscience and rediscover, as it were, their Christian awareness of
the faith. These three days of pilgrimage on foot are days of
confession and prayer, they are a true journey towards Our Lady,
towards the family of God and also towards the Eucharist.
Pilgrims go on foot to Our Lady, and with Our Lady they go to the
Lord, to the Eucharistic encounter, preparing themselves for
interior renewal with confession. They live anew the Eucharistic
reality of the Lord who gives himself, just as Our Lady gave her own
flesh to the Lord, thereby opening the door to the Incarnation.
Our Lady gave her flesh for the Incarnation and thereby made
possible the Eucharist, where we receive the Flesh that is Bread for
the world. In going to the encounter with Our Lady, young people
themselves learn to offer their own flesh, their daily life, so that
it may be given over to the Lord. And they learn to believe and
little by little to say "yes" to the Lord.
I would therefore say, to return to the question, that the Shrine as
such, as a place of prayer, confession and the celebration of the
Eucharist, provides a great service in the Church today for the
Diocese of Rome. I therefore think that the essential service, of
which, moreover, you have spoken in practical terms, is precisely
that of providing a place of prayer, of sacramental life and of a
life of practised charity.
If I have understood correctly, you spoke of four dimensions of
prayer. The first is personal. And here Mary shows us the way. St
Luke says twice that the Virgin Mary "kept all these things,
pondering them in her heart" (2:19; cf. 2:51). She was a person in
conversation with God, with the Word of God and also with the events
through which God spoke to her.
The Magnificat is a "fabric" woven of words from Sacred Scripture.
It shows us how Mary lived in a permanent conversation with the Word
of God, and thus, with God himself. Then of course, in life with the
Lord, she was also always in conversation with Christ, with the Son
of God and with the Trinitarian God. Therefore, let us learn from
Mary and speak personally with the Lord, pondering and preserving
God's words in our lives and hearts so that they may become true
food for each one of us. Thus, Mary guides us at a school of prayer
in personal and profound contact with God.
The second dimension you mentioned is liturgical prayer. In the
Liturgy, the Lord teaches us to pray, first of all giving us his
Word, then introducing us through the Eucharistic Prayer to
communion with the mystery of his life, the Cross and the
Resurrection.
St Paul once said we do not even know what to ask for: "we do not
know how to pray as we ought" (Rom 8:26); we do not know how to pray
or what to say to God. God, therefore, has given us words of prayer
in the Psalter, in the important prayers of the Sacred Liturgy, and
precisely in the Eucharistic liturgy itself. Here, he teaches us how
to pray.
We enter into the prayer that was formed down the centuries under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and we join in Christ's
conversation with the Father. Thus, the Liturgy, above all, is
prayer: first listening and then a response, in the Responsorial
Psalm, in the prayer of the Church and in the great Eucharistic
Prayer. We celebrate it well if we celebrate it with a "prayerful"
attitude, uniting ourselves with the Mystery of Christ and his
exchange as Son with the Father.
If we celebrate the Eucharist in this way, first as listening and
then as a response, hence, as prayer, using the words pointed out to
us by the Holy Spirit, then we are celebrating it well. And through
our prayer in common, people are attracted to joining the ranks of
God's children.
The third dimension is that of popular piety. An important Document
of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments speaks of this popular piety and tells us how to "guide
it". Popular piety is one of our strengths because it consists of
prayers deeply rooted in people's hearts. These prayers even move
the hearts of people who are somewhat cut off from the life of the
Church and who have no special understanding of faith.
All that is required is to "illuminate" these actions and "purify"
this tradition so that it may become part of the life of the Church
today.
Then comes Eucharistic Adoration. I am very grateful because
Eucharistic Adoration is being increasingly renewed. During the
Synod on the Eucharist, the Bishops talked a great deal about their
experiences, of how new life is being restored to communities with
this adoration, and also with nocturnal adoration, and how,
precisely in this way, new vocations are also born.
I can say that I will shortly be signing the Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation on the Eucharist, which will then be available to the
Church. It is a Document offered precisely for meditation. It will
be a help in the liturgical celebration as well as in personal
reflection, in the preparation of homilies and in the celebration of
the Eucharist. And it will also serve to guide, enlighten and
revitalize popular piety.
Lastly, you spoke to us of the Shrine as a place of caritas. I think
this is very logical and necessary. A little while ago I read what
St Augustine said in Book X of his Confessions: "I was tempted and I
now understand that it was a temptation to enclose myself in
contemplative life, to seek solitude with you, O Lord; but you
prevented me, you plucked me from it and made me listen to St Paul's
words: "Christ died for us all. Consequently, we must die with
Christ and live for all'. I understood that I cannot shut myself up
in contemplation; you died for us all. Therefore, with you, I must
live for all and thus practise works of charity. True contemplation
is expressed in works of charity. Therefore, the sign for which we
have truly prayed, that we have experienced in the encounter with
Christ, is that we exist "for others'".
This is what a parish priest must be like. And St Augustine was a
great parish priest. He said: "In my life I also always longed to
spend my life listening to the Word in meditation, but now -- day
after day, hour after hour -- I must stand at the door where the
bell is always ringing, I must comfort the afflicted, help the poor,
reprimand those who are quarrelsome, create peace and so forth".
St Augustine lists all the tasks of a parish priest, for at that
time the Bishop was also what the Kadi in Islamic countries is
today. With regard to problems of civil law, let us say, he was the
judge of peace: he had to encourage peace between the litigants. He
therefore lived a life that for him, a contemplative, was very
difficult. But he understood this truth: thus, I am with Christ; in
existing "for others", I am in the Crucified and Risen Lord.
I think this is a great consolation for parish priests and Bishops.
Even if little time is left for contemplation, in being "for
others", we are with the Lord.
You spoke of other concrete elements of charity that are very
important. They are also a sign for our society, in particular for
children, for the elderly, for the suffering. I therefore believe
that with these four dimensions of life he has given us the answer
to your question: What should we do at our Shrine?
Part II: "Do
Not Extinguish Charisms ... the Church Is One"
Fr Maurizio Secondo Mirilli, Parochial Vicar of Santa Bernadette
Soubirous Parish and head of the Diocesan Youth Programme,
emphasized the demanding task incumbent on priests in their mission
to instil faith in the new generations. Fr Mirilli asked the Pope
for a word of guidance on how to transmit the joy of the Christian
faith to youth, especially in the face of today's cultural
challenges, and also asked him to point out the priority topics on
which to focus in order to help young men and women to encounter
Christ in practice.
Pope Benedict XVI: Thank you for your work for teenagers. We know
that the young really must be a priority of our pastoral work
because they dwell in a world far from God. And in our cultural
context it is not easy to encounter Christ, the Christian life and
the faith life.
Young people require so much guidance if they are truly to find this
path. I would say -- even if I unfortunately live rather far away
from them and so cannot provide very practical instructions -- that
the first element is, precisely and above all, guidance. They must
realize that living the faith in our time is possible, that it is
not a question of something obsolete but rather, that it is possible
to live as Christians today and so to find true goodness.
I remember an autobiographical detail in St Cyprian's writings. "I
lived in this world of ours", he says, "totally cut off from God
because the divinities were dead and God was not visible. And in
seeing Christians I thought: it is an impossible life, this cannot
be done in our world! Then, however, meeting some of them, joining
their company and letting myself be guided in the catechumenate, in
this process of conversion to God, I gradually understood: it is
possible! And now I am happy at having found life. I have realized
that the other was not life, and to tell the truth", he confesses,
"even beforehand, I knew that that was not true life".
It seems to me to be very important that the young find people --
both of their own age and older -- in whom they can see that
Christian life today is possible, and also reasonable and feasible.
I believe there are doubts about both these elements: about its
feasibility, because the other paths are very distant from the
Christian way of life, and about its reasonableness, because at
first glance it seems that science is telling us quite different
things and that it is therefore impossible to mark out a reasonable
route towards faith in order to show that it is something attuned to
our time and our reason.
Thus, the first point is experience, which also opens the door to
knowledge. In this regard, the "catechumenate" lived in a new way --
that is, as a common journey through life, a common experience of
the possibility of living in this way -- is of paramount importance.
Only if there is a certain experience can one also understand. I
remember a piece of advice that Pascal gave to a non-believer
friend. He told him: "Try to do what a believer does, then you will
see from this experience that it is all logical and true".
I would say that one important aspect is being shown to us at this
very moment by Lent. We cannot conceive of immediately living a life
that is 100 percent Christian without doubts and without sins. We
have to recognize that we are journeying on, that we must and can
learn, and also, gradually, that we must convert. Of course,
fundamental conversion is a definitive act. But true conversion is
an act of life that is achieved through the patience of a lifetime.
It is an act in which we must not lose trust and courage on the way.
We must recognize exactly this: we cannot make ourselves perfect
Christians from one moment to the next. Yet, it is worth going
ahead, being true to the fundamental option, so to speak, then
firmly persevering in a process of conversion that sometimes becomes
difficult.
Indeed, it can happen that I feel discouraged so that I am in a
state of crisis and want to give up everything instantly. We should
not allow ourselves to give up immediately, but should take heart
and start again. The Lord guides me, the Lord is generous and with
his forgiveness I make headway, also becoming generous to others.
Thus, we truly learn love for our neighbour and Christian life,
which implies this perseverance in forging ahead.
As for the important topics, I would say that it is important to
know God. The subject "God" is essential. St Paul says in his Letter
to the Ephesians: "Remember that you were at that time... having no
hope and without God.... But now in Christ Jesus you who once were
far off have been brought near" (Eph 2: 12-13). Thus, life has a
meaning that guides me even through difficulties.
It is therefore necessary to return to God the Creator, to the God
who is creative reason, and then to find Christ, who is the living
Face of God. Let us say that here there is a reciprocity. On the one
hand, we have the encounter with Jesus, with this human, historical
and real figure; little by little, he helps me to become acquainted
with God; and on the other, knowing God helps me understand the
grandeur of Christ's Mystery which is the Face of God.
Only if we manage to grasp that Jesus is not a great prophet or a
world religious figure but that he is the Face of God, that he is
God, have we discovered Christ's greatness and found out who God is.
God is not only a distant shadow, the "primary Cause", but he has a
Face. His is the Face of mercy, the Face of pardon and love, the
Face of the encounter with us. As a result, these two topics
penetrate each other and must always go together.
Then of course, we have to realize that the Church is our vital
travelling companion on our journey. In her, the Word of God lives
on and Christ is not only a figure of the past but is present. We
must therefore rediscover sacramental life, sacramental forgiveness,
the Eucharist and Baptism as a new birth.
On the Easter Vigil, in his last mystagogical Catechesis, St Ambrose
said: "Until now we have spoken of moral topics; it is now time to
speak of the Mystery". He offered guidance in moral experience, in
the light of God of course, but which then opens to the Mystery. I
believe that today these two things must penetrate each other: a
journey with Jesus who increasingly unfolds the depths of his
Mystery. Thus, one learns to live as a Christian, one learns the
importance of forgiveness and the greatness of the Lord who gives
himself to us in the Eucharist.
On this journey, we are naturally accompanied by the saints. Despite
their many problems, they lived and were true and living
"interpretations" of Sacred Scripture. Each person has his saint
from whom he can best learn what living as a Christian means. There
are the saints of our time in particular, and of course there is
always Mary, who remains the Mother of the Word. Rediscovering Mary
helps us to make progress as Christians and to come to know the Son.
Fr Franco Incampo, Rector of the Church of Santa Lucia del Gonfalone,
presented his experience of the integral interpretation of the
Bible, on which his Community has embarked together with the
Waldensian Church. "We have set ourselves to listen to the Word", he
said. "It is an extensive project. What is the value of the Word in
the Ecclesial Community? Why are we so unfamiliar with the Bible?
How can we further knowledge of the Bible so that the Word will also
train the community to have an ecumenical approach?".
Pope Benedict XVI: You certainly have a more practical experience of
how to do this. I can say in the first place that we will soon be
celebrating the Synod on the Word of God. I have already been able
to look at the Lineamenta worked out by the Synod Council and I
think that the various dimensions of the Word's presence in the
Church appear clearly in it.
The Bible as a whole is of course enormous; it must be discovered
little by little, for if we take the individual parts on their own,
it is often hard to understand that this is the Word of God: I am
thinking of certain sections of the Book of Kings with the
Chronicles, with the extermination of the peoples who lived in the
Holy Land. Many other things are difficult.
Even Qoheleth can be taken out of context and prove extremely
difficult: it seems to theorize desperation, because nothing is
lasting and even the Preacher dies in the end, together with the
foolish. We had the Reading from it in the Breviary just now.
To my mind, a preliminary point would be to read Sacred Scripture in
its unity and integrity. Its individual parts are stages on a
journey and only by seeing them as a whole, as a single journey
where each section explains the other, can we understand this.
Let us stay, for example, with Qoheleth. First, there was the word
of wisdom according to which the good also live well: that is, God
rewards those who are good. And then comes Job and one sees that it
is not like this and that it is precisely those who are righteous
who suffer the most. Job seems truly to have been forgotten by God.
Then come the Psalms of that period where it is said: But what does
God do? Atheists and the proud have a good life, they are fat and
well-nourished, they laugh at us and say: But where is God? They are
not concerned with us and we have been sold like sheep for
slaughter. What do you have to do with us, why is it like that?
The time comes when Qoheleth asks: But what does all this wisdom
amount to? It is almost an existentialist book, in which it is said:
"all is vanity". This first journey does not lose its value but
opens onto a new perspective that leads in the end to the Cross of
Christ, "the Holy One of God", as St Peter said in the sixth chapter
of the Gospel according to John. It ends with the Crucifixion. And
in this very way is revealed God's wisdom, which St Paul was later
to explain to us.
Therefore, it is only if we take all things as a journey, step by
step, and learn to interpret Scripture in its unity, that we can
truly have access to the beauty and richness of Sacred Scripture.
Consequently, one should read everything, but always mindful of the
totality of Sacred Scripture, where one part explains the other, one
passage on the journey explains the other. On this point, modern
exegesis can also be of great help to us.
Let us take, for example, the Book of Isaiah. When the exegetes
discovered that from chapter 40 on the author was someone else --
Deutero-Isaiah, as he was then called -- there was a moment of great
panic for Catholic theologians.
Some thought that in this way Isaiah would be destroyed and that at
the end, in chapter 53, the vision of the Servant of God was no
longer that of Isaiah who lived almost 800 years before Christ.
"What shall we do?", people wondered.
We now realize that the whole Book is a process of constantly new
interpretations where one enters ever more deeply into the mystery
proposed at the beginning, and that what was initially present but
still closed, unfolds increasingly. In one Book, we can understand
the whole journey of Sacred Scripture, which is an ongoing
reinterpretation, or rather, a new and better understanding of all
that had been said previously.
Step by step, light dawns and the Christian can grasp what the Lord
said to the disciples at Emmaus, explaining to them that it was of
him that all the Prophets had spoken. The Lord unfolds to us the
last re-reading; Christ is the key to all things and only by joining
the disciples on the road to Emmaus, only by walking with Christ, by
reinterpreting all things in his light, with him, Crucified and
Risen, do we enter into the riches and beauty of Sacred Scripture.
Therefore, I would say that the important point is not to fragment
Sacred Scripture. The modern critic himself, as we now see, has
enabled us to understand that it is an ongoing journey. And we can
also see that it is a journey with a direction and that Christ
really is its destination. By starting from Christ, we start the
entire journey again and enter into the depths of the Word.
To sum up, I would say that Sacred Scripture must always be read in
the light of Christ. Only in this way can we also read and
understand Sacred Scripture in our own context today and be truly
enlightened by it. We must understand this: Sacred Scripture is a
journey with a direction. Those who know the destination can also
take all those steps once again now, and can thus acquire a deeper
knowledge of the Mystery of Christ.
In understanding this, we have also understood the ecclesiality of
Sacred Scripture, for these journeys, these steps on the journey,
are the steps of a people. It is the People of God who are moving
onwards. The true owner of the Word is always the People of God,
guided by the Holy Spirit, and inspiration is a complex process: the
Holy Spirit leads the people on, the people receive it.
Thus, it is the journey of a people, the People of God. Sacred
Scripture should always be interpreted well. But this can happen
only if we journey on within this subject, that is, the People of
God which lives, is renewed and re-constituted by Christ, but
continues to dwell in its own identity. I would therefore say that
there are three interrelated dimensions. The historical dimension,
the Christological dimension and the ecclesiological dimension -- of
the People on their way -- converge. A complete reading is one where
all three dimensions are present. Therefore, the liturgy -- the
common liturgy prayed by the People of God -- remains the privileged
place for understanding the Word; this is partly because it is here
that the interpretation becomes prayer and is united with Christ's
prayer in the Eucharistic Prayer.
I would like to add here one point that has been stressed by all the
Fathers of the Church. I am thinking in particular of a very
beautiful text by St Ephraim and of another by St Augustine in which
he says: "If you have understood little, admit it and do not presume
that you have understood it all. The Word is always far greater than
what you have been able to understand".
And this should be said now, critically, with regard to a certain
part of modern exegesis that thinks it has understood everything and
that, therefore, after the interpretation it has worked out, there
is nothing left to say about it. This is not true. The Word is
always greater than the exegesis of the Fathers and critical
exegesis because even this comprehends only a part, indeed, a
minimal part. The Word is always greater, this is our immense
consolation. And on the one hand it is lovely to know that one has
only understood a little. It is lovely to know that there is still
an inexhaustible treasure and that every new generation will
rediscover new treasures and journey on with the greatness of the
Word of God that is always before us, guides us and is ever greater.
One should read the Scriptures with an awareness of this.
St Augustine said: the hare and the donkey drink from the fountain.
The donkey drinks more but each one drinks his fill. Whether we are
hares or donkeys, let us be grateful that the Lord enables us to
drink from his water.
Fr Gerardo Raul Carcar, a Schönstatt Father who arrived in Rome from
Argentina six months ago and today is Vicar Cooperator of the Parish
of San Girolamo at Corviale, said that Ecclesial Movements and new
communities are a providential gift for our time. These are entities
with a creative impetus, they live the faith and seek new forms of
life to find the right place in the Church's mission. Fr Carcar
asked the Pope for advice on how he should fit into them to develop
a real ministry of unity in the universal Church.
Pope Benedict XVI: So I see that I must be briefer. Thank you for
your question. I think you mentioned the essential sources of all
that we can say about Movements. In this sense, your question is
also an answer.
I would like to explain immediately that in recent months I have
been receiving the Italian Bishops on their ad limina visits and so
have been able to find out a little more about the geography of the
faith in Italy. I see many very beautiful things together with the
problems that we all know. I see above all that the faith is still
deeply rooted in the Italian heart even if, of course, it is
threatened in many ways by today's situations.
The Movements also welcome my fatherly role as Pastor. Others are
more critical and say that Movements are out of place. I think, in
fact, that situations differ and everything depends on the people in
question.
It seems to me that we have two fundamental rules of which you
spoke. The first was given to us by St Paul in his First Letter to
the Thessalonians: do not extinguish charisms. If the Lord gives us
new gifts we must be grateful, even if at times they may be
inconvenient. And it is beautiful that without an initiative of the
hierarchy but with an initiative from below, as people say, but
which also truly comes from on High, that is, as a gift of the Holy
Spirit, new forms of life are being born in the Church just as,
moreover, they were born down the ages.
At first, they were always inconvenient. Even St Francis was very
inconvenient, and it was very hard for the Pope to give a final
canonical form to a reality that by far exceeded legal norms. For St
Francis, it was a very great sacrifice to let himself be lodged in
this juridical framework, but in the end this gave rise to a reality
that is still alive today and will live on in the future: it gives
strength, as well as new elements, to the Church's life.
I wish to say only this: Movements have been born in all the
centuries. Even St Benedict at the outset was a Movement. They do
not become part of the Church's life without suffering and
difficulty. St Benedict himself had to correct the initial direction
that monasticism was taking. Thus, in our century too, the Lord, the
Holy Spirit, has given us new initiatives with new aspects of
Christian life. Since they are lived by human people with their
limitations, they also create difficulties. So the first rule is: do
not extinguish Christian charisms; be grateful even if they are
inconvenient.
The second rule is: the Church is one; if Movements are truly gifts
of the Holy Spirit, they belong to and serve the Church and in
patient dialogue between Pastors and Movements, a fruitful form is
born where these elements become edifying for the Church today and
in the future.
This dialogue is at all levels. Starting with the parish priest, the
Bishops and the Successor of Peter, the search for appropriate
structures is underway: in many cases it has already borne fruit. In
others, we are still studying.
For example, we ask ourselves whether, after five years of
experience, it is possible to confirm definitively the Statutes for
the Neocatechumenal Way, whether a trial period is necessary or
whether, perhaps, certain elements of this structure need
perfecting.
In any case, I knew the Neocatechumens from the very outset. It was
a long Way, with many complications that still exist today, but we
have found an ecclesial form that has already vastly improved the
relationship between the Pastor and the Way. We are going ahead like
this! The same can be said for other Movements.
Now, as a synthesis of the two fundamental rules, I would say:
gratitude, patience and also acceptance of the inevitable
sufferings. In marriage too, there is always suffering and tension.
Yet, the couple goes forward and thus true love matures. The same
thing happens in the Church's communities: let us be patient
together.
The different levels of the hierarchy too -- from the parish priest
to the Bishop, to the Supreme Pontiff -- must continually exchange
ideas with one another, they must foster dialogue to find together
the best road. The experiences of parish priests are fundamental and
so are the experiences of the Bishop, and let us say, the universal
perspectives of the Pope have a theological and pastoral place of
their own in the Church.
On the one hand, these different levels of the hierarchy as a whole
and on the other, all life as it is lived in the parish context with
patience and openness in obedience to the Lord, really create new
vitality in the Church.
Let us be grateful to the Holy Spirit for the gifts he has given to
us. Let us be obedient to the voice of the Spirit, but also clear in
integrating these elements into our life; lastly, this criterion
serves the concrete Church and thus patiently, courageously and
generously, the Lord will certainly guide and help us.
Part III: "The Pastor Leads the Way"
Fr
Angelo Mangano, Parish Priest of San Gelasio, a parish that
since 2003 has been entrusted to the pastoral care of the World
Church Mission Community, spoke on pastoral work on the Feast of the
Chair of St Peter. He pointed out the importance of developing unity
between spiritual life and pastoral life, which is not an
organizational technique but coincides with the life of the Church
itself. Fr Mangano asked the Holy Father how to spread the concept
of pastoral service among God's People as the true life of the
Church, and how to ensure that pastoral work is always nourished by
conciliar ecclesiology.
Pope Benedict XVI: I think there are several questions here.
One question is: how can we inspire parishes with conciliar
ecclesiology and make the faithful live this ecclesiology? Another
is how should we behave and make pastoral work spiritual within us?
Let us start with the latter question. There is always a certain
tension between what I absolutely have to do and what spiritual
reserves I must have. I always see it in St Augustine, who complains
about this in his preaching. I have already cited him: "I long to
live with the Word of God from morning to night but I have to be
with you". Augustine nonetheless finds this balance by being always
available but also by keeping for himself moments of prayer and
meditation on the Sacred Word, because otherwise he would no longer
be able to say anything.
Here in particular, I would like to underline what you said about
the fact that pastoral work must never be mere strategy or
administrative work but must always be a spiritual task. Nor, of
course, can the latter be totally lacking either, because we are on
this earth and such problems exist: the efficient management of
money, etc. This too is a sector that cannot be totally ignored.
Nonetheless, the fundamental emphasis must be on the very fact that
being a pastor is in itself a spiritual act. You rightly referred to
John's Gospel, chapter 10, in which the Lord describes himself as
the "Good Shepherd". And as a first definitive moment, Jesus says
that the Pastor goes first. In other words, it is he who shows the
way, he is the first to be an example to others, the first to take
the road that is the road for others. The Pastor leads the way.
This means that he himself lives first of all on the Word of God; he
is a man of prayer, a man of forgiveness, a man who receives and
celebrates the sacraments as acts of prayer and encounter with the
Lord. He is a man of charity, lived and practised, thus all the
simple acts, conversation, encounter, everything that needs to be
done, become spiritual acts in communion with Christ. His "pro
omnibus" becomes our "pro meis".
Then, he goes before us and I think that in having mentioned this
"leading the way", the essential has already been said. Chapter 10
of John continues, saying that Jesus goes before us, giving himself
on the Cross. And this is also inevitable for the priest. The
offering of himself is also participation in the Cross of Christ,
and thanks to this we too can credibly comfort the suffering and be
close to the poor, the marginalized, etc.
Therefore, in this programme that you have developed, it is
fundamental to spiritualize daily pastoral work. It is easier to say
this than to do it, but we must try.
Moreover, to be able to spiritualize our work, we must again follow
the Lord. The Gospels tell us that by day he worked and by night he
was on the mountain with his Father, praying. Here, I must confess
my weakness. At night I cannot pray, at night I want to sleep.
However, a little free time for the Lord is really necessary: either
the celebration of Mass or the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours
and even a brief daily meditation following the Liturgy, the Rosary.
But this personal conversation with the Word of God is important; it
is only in this way that we can find the reserves to respond to the
demands of pastoral life.
The second point: you rightly underlined the ecclesiology of the
Council. It seems to me that we must interiorize this ecclesiology
far more, that of Lumen Gentium and of Ad Gentes, which is also an
ecclesiological Document, as well as the ecclesiology of the minor
Documents and of Dei Verbum.
By interiorizing this vision we can also attract our people to this
vision, which understands that the Church is not merely a large
structure, one of these supranational bodies that exist. Although
she is a body, the Church is the Body of Christ, hence, she is a
spiritual body, as St Paul said. She is a spiritual reality. I think
this is very important: that people see that the Church is not a
supranational organization nor an administrative body or power, that
she is not a social agency, but indeed that although she does social
and supranational work, she is a spiritual body.
I consider that in our prayers with the people, listening with the
people to the Word of God, celebrating the sacraments with the
People of God, acting with Christ in charity, etc., and especially
in our homilies, we should disseminate this vision. It seems to me,
in this regard, that the homily affords a marvellous opportunity to
be close to the people and to communicate the spirituality taught by
the Council. And it thus seems to me that if the homily is developed
from prayer, from listening to the Word of God; it is a
communication of the content of the Word of God.
The Council truly reaches out to our people, not those fragments in
the press that presented an erroneous image of the Council but the
true spirituality of the Council. Thus, we must always learn the
Word of God anew, with the Council and in the spirit of the Council,
interiorizing its vision. By so doing, we can also communicate with
our people and thus truly carry out a task that is both pastoral and
spiritual.
Fr Alberto Pacini, Rector of the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia,
spoke of perpetual Eucharistic Adoration -- especially of the
possibility of organizing night vigils -- and asked the Pope to
explain the meaning and value of Eucharistic reparation with
reference to sacrilegious thefts and satanic sects.
Pope Benedict XVI: In general we do not speak much about
Eucharistic Adoration, which has truly penetrated our hearts and
penetrates the hearts of the people. You have asked this specific
question about Eucharistic reparation. This has become a difficult
topic.
I remember, when I was young, that on the Feast of the Sacred Heart
we prayed using a beautiful prayer by Leo XIII and then one by Pius
XI in which reparation had a special place, precisely in reference,
already at that time, to sacrilegious acts for which reparation had
to be made.
I think we should get to the bottom of it, going back to the Lord
himself who offered reparation for the sins of the world, and try to
atone for them: let us say, try to balance the plus of evil and the
plus of goodness. We must not, therefore, leave this great negative
plus on the scales of the world but must give at least an equal
weight to goodness.
This fundamental idea is based on what Christ did. As far as we can
understand it, this is the sense of the Eucharistic sacrifice. To
counter the great weight of evil that exists in the world and pulls
the world downwards, the Lord places another, greater weight, that
of the infinite love that enters this world. This is the most
important point: God is always the absolute good, but this absolute
good actually entered history: Christ makes himself present here and
suffers evil to the very end, thereby creating a counterweight of
absolute value. Even if we see only empirically the proportions of
the plus of evil, they are exceeded by the immense plus of good, of
the suffering of the Son of God. In this sense there is reparation
which is necessary. I think that today it is a little difficult to
understand these things. If we see the weight of evil in the world
which is constantly increasing, which seems indisputably to have the
upper hand in history, one might -- as St Augustine said in a
meditation -- truly despair.
But we see that there is an even greater plus in the fact that God
himself entered history, he made himself share in history and
suffered to the very end. This is the meaning of reparation. This
plus of the Lord is an appeal to us to be on his side, to enter into
this great plus of love and make it present, even with our weakness.
We know that this plus was needed for us too, because there is evil
in our lives as well. We all survive thanks to the plus of the Lord.
However, he gives us this gift so that, as the Letter to the
Colossians says, we can associate in his abundance and, let us say,
effectively increase this abundance during our time in history.
I think that theology ought to do more to enable people to
understand this reality of reparation better. In history, there were
also some erroneous ideas. In the past few days I have been reading
the theological discourses of St Gregory Nazianzus, who at a certain
moment speaks of this aspect and asks: For whom did the Lord offer
his Blood? He states, the Father did not desire the Blood of the
Son, the Father is not cruel, it is not necessary to attribute this
to the Father's will, but history wanted it, the needs and
imbalances of history desired it; it was necessary to enter into
these imbalances and recreate true balance here. This is very
enlightening.
But it seems to me that we have not sufficiently mastered the
language to make this fact understood to ourselves, and
subsequently, also to others. We should not offer to a cruel God the
blood of God. But God himself, with his love, must enter into the
suffering of history, not only to create a balance, but also a plus
of love which is stronger than the abundance of the existing evil.
This is what the Lord invites us to do.
It seems to me a typically Catholic reality. Luther said: we cannot
add anything. And this is true. And then he said: our acts thus do
not count for anything. And this is not true, because the Lord's
generosity is revealed precisely in his invitation to us to enter
and also gives value to our being with him.
We must learn all this better and also be aware of the greatness and
generosity of the Lord and the greatness of our vocation. The Lord
wants to associate us with his great plus. If we begin to understand
it, we will be glad that the Lord invites us to do this. It will be
a great joy to be taken seriously by the Lord's love.
Fr Francesco Tedeschi, a lecturer at the Pontifical Urban
University who also serves at the Basilica of San Bartolomeo on the
Tiber Island in Rome, a site that is the memorial of nine 20th
century martyrs, reflected on the exemplarity and capacity for
attraction among young people of the figures of the martyrs. The
martyrs reveal the beauty of the Christian faith and witness to the
world that it is possible to respond to evil with good by basing
one's life on the strength of hope. The Pope did not choose to add
any further words on this reflection.
Pope Benedict XVI: The applause we have heard shows that you
yourself have given ample answers.... Therefore, I can only reply to
your question: yes, it is as you have said. And let us meditate upon
your words.
Fr Krzystzof Wendlik, Parochial Vicar of Santi Urbano e
Lorenzo Parish at Prima Porta, spoke of the problem of relativism in
our contemporary culture, and asked the Pope for an enlightening
word on the relationship between unity of faith and pluralism in
theology.
Pope Benedict XVI: What an important question! When I was
still a member of the International Theological Commission, we took
a year to address this problem. I was the speaker and I therefore
remember it quite well. Yet, I recognize that I am unable to explain
the matter in just a few words. I only wish to say that theology has
always been multiple. Let us think of the Fathers in the Middle
Ages, the Franciscan School, the Dominican School, then the Late
Middle Ages and so on. As we have said, the Word of God is always
larger than us. Therefore, we can never come to the end of the
outreach of his Word, and various approaches, various types of
reflection are necessary.
I would simply like to say: it is important that the theologian, on
the one hand, in his responsibility and professional capacity,
should seek openings that correspond with the needs and challenges
of our time.
On the other hand, he needs to be ever aware that all this is based
on the faith of the Church and so he must always refer to the
Church's faith. I think, if a theologian is personally and
profoundly rooted in faith and understands that this work is a
reflection on the faith, that he will be able to reconcile unity and
plurality.
The last question was asked by Fr Luigi Veturi, Parish Priest
of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini. He focused on the theme of
sacred art and asked the Pope whether this should be better
evaluated as a means for communicating faith.
Pope Benedict XVI: The answer could be very simple: yes! I
arrived here a little late because I first paid a visit to the
Pauline Chapel where restoration work has been underway for several
years. I was told that the work will take another two years. I could
glimpse between the scaffolding part of this miraculous artwork. And
it is worth restoring it well so that it will once again shine out
and be a living catechesis.
In saying this, I wanted to recall that Italy is particularly rich
in art, and art is a treasure of inexhaustible and incredible
catecheses. It is also our duty to know and understand it properly,
not in the way that it is sometimes done by art historians, who
interpret it only formally in terms of artistic technique.
Rather, we must enter into the content and make the content that
inspired this great art live anew. It truly seems to me to be a duty
-- also in the formation of future priests -- to know these
treasures and be able to transform all that is present in them and
that speaks to us today into a living catechesis.
Thus, the Church also appears as an organism -- neither of
oppression nor of power, as some people would like to demonstrate --
with a unique, spiritually fertile history, one which I would dare
to say is not to be found outside the Catholic Church. This is also
a sign of the Catholic Church's vitality, which, despite all her
weaknesses as well as her sins, has always remained a great
spiritual reality, an inspirer which has given us all these riches.
It is therefore our duty to enter into this wealth and to be capable
of making ourselves interpreters of this art. May this also be true
for pictorial and sculptural art, as well as for sacred music, which
is a branch of art that deserves to be revived. I would say that the
Gospel variously lived is still today an inspiring force that gives
and will give us art.
Above all, the most beautiful sculptures also exist today, which
show that the fertility of faith and of the Gospel are not
extinguished, that there are still musical compositions today.... I
believe that it is possible to emphasize a situation which is, let
us say, contradictory to art, an even somewhat desperate situation
of art.
The Church also inspires today, because faith and the Word of God
are inexhaustible. And this gives all of us courage. It gives us the
hope that the future world will also have new visions of faith and
at the same time, the certainty that the 2,000 years of Christian
art that have already passed are still valid and still a "today" of
the faith.
Well, thank you for your patience and your attention. My good wishes
for your Lent!
[Translation of Italian original issued by the Holy See]
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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