Benedict XVI writes about
the infancy of Jesus under
the protection of Mary
by Alain Besançon
Member, Institut de France
Translated from the 1/23/13 issue of
Besancon belongs to the Institut de France's Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, to which Cardinal Ratzinger was elected in 1992 to take the seat vacated by the death of Soviet physicist=peace activist Andrei Sakharov.
After the masterful JESUS OF NAZARETH, Vol. 2, dedicated to the last week of Christ's earthly life, nothing was more awaited than his account of the first week, as it were, of that life.
The Passion of Christ is narrated in all its smallest details in various chapters of the four Gospels. But the account of Jesus's birth is contained in only one page of Matthew, and two in Luke - which is practically all we know about it.
And yet, those scant accounts are the basis for some of the most popular feasts of Christian devotion, which are also dear even to those who may no longer have any memories of religion: the Annunciation, the Visitation, Christmas, Holy Innocents Day, the Epiphany, the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
And what a commanding space these events occupy in Western art and iconography, Painters immersed themselves literally with great joy into depicting these events that have come to be called 'the joyful mysteries'.
The infancy of Jesus is a difficult subject. It is understandable that the Pope left it for the end of his work on JESUS OF NAZARETH. Such scant documentation in the Gospels lends itself to every fantasy, to every error, and God knows how many have been perpetrated in the past 20 centuries.
It's a delectable game bag for 'historico-critical' exegetes who can advance countless arguments taken from universal history, the comparative history of religions, mythological studies, and even from a philological acquaintance with Scriptures and the practices of the Jewish world.
The stake is decisive, because it has to do with the central mystery of the faith, the Incarnation. Either the Baby Jesus is God (and man) from his conception, or he was just as particularly good man who met a tragic end.
Thus it is with some anxiety that one takes up this book that once again, the Pope signs in his double persona as Supreme Pontiff and as a 'private' theologian. It is quite different from the earlier two volumes.
It is not presented as a treatise, but rather as a succession of homilies and spiritual meditations that have the common thread of faith. This virtue is the necessary foundation for an authentic understanding of the text.
'Praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui' ('Faith supplements defective senses').
[To those who may not be familiar with it, the line comes from the Benediction hymn Tantum ergo by St. Thomas Aquinas.] Without the intelligence of the faith, the narrative would emerge as a legend woven out of absurdities.
But there is also science. With the method that is characteristic of Benedict XVI, he weaves together the Old Testament with the New as one single Revelation.
He is not content, like Matthew, to justify the words of the Gospel by citing the Psalms and the Prophets. Indeed, in the eyes of Jews or modern exegetes, those prophetio words do not singularly and clearly describe future events - they were not predictions.
Nor do the facts illustrate the ancient words. To use an expression by Joseph Ratzinger, the ancient words are 'senza padrone' - unattributable. And that the reality they contain is not directly recognizable, but only derive significance from the event in which they are realized. Without the event, we are only left with a
midrash haggadico, an interpretation of Scripture through narration.
Luke, on the other hand, has not constructed just another pious account, he refers to actual facts, and he has researched their significance through words that are clear - or, at least, 'waiting' to be heard and understood - in the light of faith. This is what the Church has always maintained.
Once he has established this methodological framework, Benedict XVI minutiously examines the few available verses, the few words that the evangelists considered enough information for the salvation of the world. It is up to us to find out up to what point they are inexhaustible. Nothing is ignored, and nothing is passed over.
Here's an example: The announcement of the birth and the virgin delivery. All the possible senses that Matthew and Luke could have meant are passed through a sieve.
What did Isaiah mean when he said, "And the virgin will conceive and deliver a son who will be called Emmanuel"? Is it addressed to King Ahaz, which therefore contains a political meaning for a specific historical circumstance? Or is it one of those 'expectant' words addressed to Israel and all men?
At the end of his inquiry, at the end of a word-by-word analysis and an exegesis which intends to be scientific, theological and spiritual, at the same time, the young girl from Nazareth is identified as the Seat of the Shekinah, throne of Wisdom, Ark of the Covenant, and all the titles that the Church has always attributed to the Mother of God, ever virgin.
One question has beleaguered Christians for some time. Because of the expression 'brothers of Jesus' in the Bible, many have asked - Why couldn't Mary have had other children?Is it not natural as well as conforming to the Torah?
One might have expected therefore, that without getting into an exegetical debate, the Pope would declare with authority that according to every theological evidence, such a supposition is unthinkable. Because that would send the dogma of the Incarnation crashing down, and therefore, the entire Catholic faith.
The Pope does not do so. He leaves the faithful to deduce for themselves that considering who the Virgin Mary is, as he has presented her, and who Joseph is, such a supposition would simply be impossible. Luther and Calvin thought so, too.
The Pope is so convinced of this that he applies an aphorism by Wittgenstein: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent".
The entire book is immersed in serenity. No polemics. Simply a calm reflection of great density that is also of great gentleness. Obviously in writing it, the Pope did so under the protection of the Virgin Mary, who is his principal subject.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/01/2013 20:16]