Lella on her blog
also cites this pIece from an Italian site which is motivated by a line from George Orwell who said that "In a time of universal deceit, to speak the truth is a revolutionary act". The byline is probably the pseudonym of a contemporary writer, adopting the pseudonym of a famous Italian writer, playwright and screenwriter in the 20th century, as well as the name of a character typifying the carefree contemporary man and his shallow 'easy life' (played by Vittorio Gassman) in an Italian classic of the 1960s. In any case, I found the piece striking - both for its title, which in this case, has nothing to do with the encyclical, but everything to do with the subject of this unexpected and unusual tribute - Benedict XVI, himself a light of the faith...
Light of faith
by Bruno Cortona
Translated from
July 12, 2013
There is a need for silence.
When all points of reference seem to yield and the solution of unsurmountable problems is left to God, the only remedy is a voluntary abstention from speech.
When a civilization is in ruin, when millenary walls start giving in to self-destruction, one must retire. The walls of the city nd its invisible confines must be abandoned. One flees the world to help save the world.
[It is what monastics of all religions have done through the centuries.]
One must seek help.
The old bulwarks must be left, new walls must be built to create oases of peace that can protect us from our own rages and from sin.
The power of our civilization was founded in silence, through the conservation of the pillars of wisdom, including those that come from paganism.
The seeds of truth must be protected and safeguarded so they can continue to sprout where needed,
One prays to the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life. One prays to bring down all that is undesirable around us and in us.
The ruins of a world we do not want will be compost for future fruits - compost because it is dung, matter that is not noble. Manure is manure until it is put to good use.
So we must conserve the seeds of our faith - we must implore the Almighty to give the faith new life.
We must conserve and nourish what is good. And to DO so, we must put on the armor of freedom and reason
One must have faith in order to have hope.
One must pray - in silence. If possible, far from the madding crowd.
A mute warrior fights his own battles, encouraged by his incessant dialog with God - he conserves the seeds and nourishes them in the fertile humus of prayer.
He lives in the true frontier. It is he who lives in the invisible reaches of the world, like the great Christians before him, like the holy Patron of Europe whose name he took.
You have unsheathed the white-hot spade of the Lord's glory, you have cleared away the battleground, and you do not seek applause nor consensus, because you are His alone.
You reflect the Light of the World, because you are holy, because you are able to shore up my tottering faith.
You are a most powerful weapon of God.
You are the invisible giant of our time because you are beyond any single age in history, and time will render due merit to you because you have not sought merit.
You will triumph, because you are the standard bearer for He who has already won.
You will not leave us, and you will fulfill your self-imposed mission triumphantly.
Because you are Benedict - the Blessed.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/07/2013 15:15]