You can tell it's the summer doldrums for papal news and commentary when Sandro Magister has to stretch as he does in this article, trying to find a common thread to tie in three 'disparate' themes - each of which, after all, deserves to be commented upon on its own.
His title and subtitle for this item shows the stretch:
August on Mount Tabor, for Saints and Sinners
On the Pope's agenda for this summer, three realities leap to the foreground:
the example of the Curé of Ars, the sacrament of confession, the feast of the Transfiguration.
Here's how and why.
A matter-of-fact title, I think, is much more suitable. Also, to begin with, both St. Jean Vianney and the Transfiguration were topical, and the emphasis on the confession goes with the veneration of Vianney who was best known for spending most of his day hearing confessions! Not to mention that the Pope has underscored this neglected sacrament often in the past four years. So it was far from random or coincidental that the themes have come up!
Summer themes: St. Jean Vianney,
confession, and the Transfiguration
ROME, August 10, 2009 – In recent days, the Pope and the Pope's newspaper have given strong and coordinated emphasis to a saint, a sacrament, and a liturgical feast that are usually downplayed or overlooked.
The saint is John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars.
The sacrament is that of the forgiveness of sins.
The feast is the one on August 6, of the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, one of the twelve major feasts on the Byzantine calendar, but ignored by most in the Latin Church.
1. THE HOLY CURÉ D'ARS
Benedict XVI dedicated the entire catechesis on Wednesday, August 5 to the Curé of Ars, at the 150th anniversary of the saint's death.
Papa Ratzinger intended to present him as a model above all for priests, for whom he has proclaimed a special Year for Priests. A model that is not confined to the past, but endowed with extraordinary prophetic power.
This is how Benedict XVI explains the enduring relevance of the holy Curé of Ars, even in the present age of the "dictatorship of relativism":
Far from reducing the figure of St. John Mary Vianney to an example, as admirable as it may be, of 19th century devotional spirituality, it is necessary on the contrary to grasp the prophetic power that marks his human and priestly personality with the greatest relevance.
In post-revolutionary France, which was experiencing a sort of 'dictatorship of rationalism' aimed at eliminating the very presence of priests and of the Church from society, he lived first of all – during his youth – an heroic concealment, traveling for kilometers at night in order to participate in the holy Mass.
Afterward – as a priest – he distinguished himself by a singular and fruitful pastoral creativity, capable of demonstrating that the reigning rationalism of the time was in reality far from satisfying the authentic needs of man, and therefore absolutely unlivable.
Dear brothers and sisters, 150 years after the death of the holy Curé of Ars, the challenges of today's society are no less demanding, on the contrary, they have become more complex.
If back then there was the 'dictatorship of rationalism', in the present era a sort of 'dictatorship of relativism' can be seen in many circles. Both appear to be inadequate answers to man's just demand to use his own reason fully as a distinctive and constitutive element of his identity.
Rationalism was inadequate because it does not take human limitations into account, and it presumes to elevate reason alone as the measure of all things, transforming it into a goddess; contemporary relativism destroys reason, because in fact it goes so far as to affirm that the human being cannot know anything with certainty beyond the field of positive science.
But today, like back then, man 'begging for meaning and fulfillment' goes in constant search of exhaustive answers to the fundamental questions that he does not cease to pose to himself.
But in what did the sanctity of this "anonymous priest from a remote village in the south of France" shine the most?
Above all in seeing him celebrate the Mass and hear confession, Benedict XVI answers. The life of the holy Curé d'Ars was completely dedicated to the Eucharist and to the sacrament of forgiveness. He lived "between the altar and the confessional."
There is an audacity in proposing such a model today. But the fact that this coincides with the heart of the Christian faith, and not with one of its marginal aspects, is confirmed by an article published in
L'Osservatore Romano on the same day as the pope's catechesis on the holy Curé of Ars.
2. THE SACRAMENT OF FORGIVENESS
The article concerned another saint - one of the most illustrious Fathers of the Church, the bishop of Milan in the fourth century, St. Ambrose. The author, theologian Inos Biffi, a leading expert on the Fathers and on medieval theology, begins this way:
"According to St. Ambrose, the merciful Christ or the mercy that comes from him is the reason why God created the world, and man in particular. Forgiveness is the first and last word about the world and about its history."
And further on:
"The most astonishing and most revealing text of Ambrose's theology of mercy as the substance and motive of creation can be read at the end of his commentary on the six days of creation: 'The Lord our God', he writes, 'created heaven, and I do not read that he rested. He created earth, and I do not read that he rested. He created the sun, the moon, the stars, and even then I do not read that he rested. But I read that he created man and that at this point he rested, having a being whose sins he could forgive' (Hexameron VI, IX, 10, 76).
"Man was created by God from the beginning as a being 'to be forgiven'. For this reason, there is rejoicing in heaven wherever mercy is exercised: creation reaches its end and its glory.
"St. Ambrose would not cease to evoke this divine plan, which would appear as the reason for which the Church and its ministers must be signs of pity. More than all the other Fathers of the Church, he felt the power of the grace that recreates, and through which guilt is absolved."
And how does God's forgiveness reached the repentant sinner, if not in the liturgical, sacramental act?
On the same page of
L'Osservatore Romano as Inos Biffi's article on St. Ambrose the "merciful confessor," there is another article in which art historian Timothy Verdon illustrates a masterpiece of liturgical art: the marvelous mosaic in the apse of the basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, built in the 6th century in Ravenna.
3. THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION
The mosaic depicts the Transfiguration. But in the place of Jesus is the jeweled cross. Beneath the cross is the bishop and martyr Apollinaris, dressed in Mass vestments and hands raised in a gesture of prayer, surrounded by the sheep of his flock. Further below is the altar of the actual celebration.
The earthly liturgy and heavenly liturgy are one and the same, in the light of the transfigured Christ. The significance of the actions of the earthly liturgy is given by the images standing above it:
"The anonymous artist has thus overlaid the meaning of the 'dazzling white garment' in the Gospel account with the significance of the successive 'exodus' – the death of Jesus, which is already a 'raising up' – in the single image of the jeweled cross, and this serves as the key to interpreting the community identity in the liturgical context, the revelation of a future 'transfiguration' of the praying people through the mystery present in the bread and wine changed into the body and blood of Christ."
And more on the Transfiguration: A front-page commentary in OR on August 5, written by American theologian Robert Imbelli
[I posted a full translation of this article on this thread, cross-posted also in the CIV thread] also adopts the Transfiguration as the key to interpreting the encyclical
Caritas in Veritate, and therefore the ultimate meaning of man and the cosmos.
The commentary begins like this:
"The Transfiguration, one of the most theologically rich feasts, reveals the true face of the Lord, the beloved Son of the Father, and the destiny to which the disciples and all men are called, revealing the truth of Christ and of all humanity, as St. Mark recounts: 'After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them' (9:2).
"Some Fathers of the Church have understood the words 'after six days' as an announcement of the fulfillment of creation. That is, the creation of Adam and Eve by God is fulfilled in the revelation of the true man, the new Adam, Jesus Christ, in whom the glory of God dwells bodily...
"In this light, therefore, the Transfiguration can be celebrated as the feast in which the Church proclaims its vision of comprehensive humanism. Contemplating the beauty of the transfigured Christ makes the disciples desire that the entire world be enveloped by the transfigured light, and act boldly according to this holy desire."
Imbelli cites this passage from
Caritas in Veritate:
Development requires attention to the spiritual life, a serious consideration of the experiences of trust in God, spiritual fellowship in Christ, reliance upon God's providence and mercy, love and forgiveness, self-denial, acceptance of others, justice and peace. All this is essential if 'hearts of stone' are to be transformed into 'hearts of flesh' (Ezek 36:26), rendering life on earth 'divine' and thus more worthy of humanity.
And immediately after this he writes:
"Paul VI demonstrated this mystery in his life. The image of the transfigured Lord energized the heart of his spirituality and his hope for the Church and humanity. It is a marvelous grace of Providence that this Pope died on the evening of the feast, August 6, 1978."
The cause of beatification is underway for the "servant of God" Paul VI, another great figure often undervalued and misunderstood, especially for his encyclical
Humanae Vitae. He is remembered each year on the feast of the Transfiguration, the day of his death.
In
Caritas in Veritate, Benedict XVI writes of him:
"Pope Paul VI illuminated the great theme of the development of peoples with the splendour of truth and the gentle light of Christ's charity. [...] Motivated by the wish to make Christ's love fully visible to contemporary men and women, Paul VI addressed important ethical questions robustly, without yielding to the cultural weaknesses of his time."
Just as the Curé d'Ars did against the "dictatorship of rationalism" of his time - offering the forgiveness of God in the light of the Transfiguration.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/08/2009 13:59]