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The Cocoon: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 16: 19-31

10/20/2016

 
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This post is a homily on the Gospel for September 25, 2016, which is the parable concerning the treatment of the beggar St. Lazarus and the rich man, who died and went to his just punishment as a result of failing to show compassion and help Lazarus while he lived (Luke 16: 19-31).  The homily is by Fr. Joseph Cisetti.

                 
                                                                                                         
                                                  THE COCOON
 

                                               
          One of the many wonders of nature is a cocoon.  A caterpillar, a worm like creature that crawls upon the ground encloses itself in a type of tomb and then emerges transformed and flies through the air.  We rightly see that as a type of death and resurrection. 
 
          An image for the Gospel today is that of a cocoon but it is a different type of a cocoon.  Rather than a transformation into beauty, there is a deformation into misery that takes place.  The Gospel never says that this rich man committed an atrocity or killed anyone, but it is as if he is closed in on himself.  Perhaps without being fully aware of it, he is lulled into a self-absorbing stupor that does not seem to go beyond his clothes, his meals and his own doorstep.  His wealth is something that he spends on himself and not something he shares with others, not something that he uses to bless others.  He is drawn himself so tightly into his cocoon that he cannot seem to see beyond himself. 
 
          In the end, our possessions are not owned by us, but loaned to us.  They are entrusted to us; obviously so that we can meet our basic needs, but also so that we can help and even bless others.
 
          In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, early on in story, Ebenezer Scrooge says to the ghost of Jacob Marley, “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.”  And the ghost exclaims, “Business!  Mankind was my business.  The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business.” 
 
          This disturbing parable tells us to pay attention, to wake up and to not be absorbed by ourselves.  St. Augustine described sin as being caved in on oneself.  Sin closes us in on ourselves and charity draws us out of ourselves and that is where we find joy.  The word “ecstasy” literally means to stand outside of oneself.
 
          We are called to live lives of intentional faith that include actions of intentional faith at times perhaps in big ways but also in every little way because mankind is our business.  The common welfare is our business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, are all our business.
 
          This parable tells to pay attention to Moses and the prophets, that is, to pay attention to God’s word given to us in the Scriptures and to God’s word made flesh in the person of Jesus, who did return from the dead and who calls us to new life with Him.  Compared to the rest of the world, most of us, even those of modest means, can seem to be the rich man. 
 
          The five brothers represent us.  We are not to expect some sort of special personalized message, but rather we listen to what we have been told and an also act on it loving God and our neighbor.   
 
          Growing up, parents and teachers may have reminded us that our actions have consequences but today the Gospel reminds us that our inactions also have consequences.  There is more to being good than not being bad.  We can sin by what we do but we can also sin by what we fail to do. 
 
          Mother [now Saint] Teresa remarked that you can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have eyes to see.  So too, we can find Lazarus all over the world if we have eyes to see.  Lazarus can be all around us in those physically suffering, but also in those spiritually suffering and to help serve Him we have the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
 
          The corporal works of mercy, based largely on Matthew 25, are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, to visit the sick and imprisoned, to clothe naked and welcome the stranger and to bury the dead.  The spiritual works of mercy are to counsel the doubtful and comfort the afflicted, to instruct the ignorant and to admonish sinners, to bear wrongs patiently and forgive offenses willingly and to pray for the living and the death.  May we have eyes to see Lazarus, hearts to love him and arms to serve using that with which we have been blessed to bless him.  
 
          Informed by the word, sustained by prayer, encouraged by one another and nourished by the Eucharist, let us ask for the grace to not be imprisoned in the cocoon of self-absorption but rather live generous and joyful lives aware of the consequences of selfishness and inaction.
 
          Mankind is our business.  The common welfare is our business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, are all our business.  


A Deeper Freedom

10/8/2013

 
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One major problem affecting our country, our world, sometimes our families, and even possibly ourselves, is addiction.  Addictions can take over and destroy lives.  It may be in the form of drugs, alcohol, gambling, or pornography.  What seems to be an exercise of freedom:  I can do what I want because I’m free; instead, becomes a form of slavery: I cannot, not do this.  It is often very cruel slavery.
                    
In the gospel (Luke 14: 1, 7-14) Jesus warns against another type of addiction.  It is something we all want and to a certain extent need: attention, recognition, prestige and honor.  When we become addicted to these things we put our lives or at least our emotional well being into the hands of others.  Why?  Why would we make our happiness and our self worth dependent upon what others do or not do? 

            Jesus speaks both of being a guest and being a host.  What he gives in both instances is not just pointers about good manners, although that can be important.  What he shares is a way of life and an insight into the kingdom of God.  Jesus speaks of humility and generosity.

            We can see humility as weakness, being a doormat, putting ourselves down, lack of ambition to do good, etc. but this is false humility. Real humility is something different.

            Real humility is rooted in one word–honesty, about ourselves, about others and about God.  Real humility is neither exalting ourselves nor putting ourselves down. These two extremes are in fact rather similar.  Whether you speak well of yourself or speak poorly, you are still talking about yourself. 

            Real humility is how we come to know God as the first reading from the Book Sirach (Sir 3: 17-18, 20, 28-29) tells us.  Real humility is the narrow way we that we heard Jesus speak of last week.  Real humility includes the ability to listen to really listen to another person

Perfect humility is to realize the depths of God’s love for us.[1]

            Humility is something freeing; pride is a high maintenance item.  When we are humble, we don’t care where we are seated at the table.  When we are humble we do not get too worked up over who is named employee of the month.   To be proud is to be worried about many things, but to be humble is to be free.

            A couple of months ago I was in a conversation with a group of people.  There was an older woman who was recounting a young man she had known in her youth.  She said, “I thought he was the handsomest thing.”  Then she added, “Of course, he thought the same thing.”  In the end, she preferred a man a little less handsome but a little more humble.   In other words, humility is attractive.

            Jesus says the truth will set you free.   If humility is based on truth than humility will also set you free.

            We have models of humility in our own lives:  People who live their lives and their faith with quiet dignity and virtue.  We see the same in the saints.  We have another, more important model in Jesus.  Jesus was humble but not weak.  Jesus was humble but not a doormat.  Jesus was humble and yet he spoke very challenging words both about himself and to others.

            As Catholic Christians we are to share the sometimes challenging truths of our faith not arrogantly but with a confident humility and a humble confidence.

            In his humility, Jesus took the last place, not in the corner of a banquet hall but in front of the world, with the fate of a common criminal, mocked, naked and tortured to death on a cross.  Jesus took that last place as a model of strong humility.  Because of this, God highly exalted him and he sits at the banquet of kingdom of heaven.  On the Cross, Jesus not only saved us, he gave us model of humility that is not weak but very strong.

            Humility leads us to generosity.  In truth, in humility, we come to realize that all is gift and as we have been given so should we give.  St. Paul understood this.  St. Therese understood this.  The cornerstone of our church quotes her who said, “Everything is grace.” 

            That is why Jesus says to give when you cannot be repaid.  Otherwise, generosity and hospitality just become forms of self-seeking.  True generosity involves the sincere gift of self, it is glad when it cannot be repaid. 

            Again, we have models of this in those around us and in the saints.   Again, our model of generosity is also found most perfectly in Jesus.  On the cross he not only showed humility but generosity, a generosity carried on by his resurrection and a generosity that continues to overflow to us in this and every celebration of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the new covenant we hear of in the second reading.  The covenant made in sincerity and truth.  It says that the blood of Christ is more eloquent than that of Abel.  The blood of Abel cried out for vengeance.  The blood of Christ cried out for forgiveness and mercy.

            The way of Christ is the way of humility and generosity.  It is the way of freedom.  It frees us from the addiction to honors and recognition.  To do this is also an act of faith.  It calls us to trust and lead lives of intentional faith which can lead us to intentional humility and intentional generosity.

            As disciples of Jesus we are to be ready to take the last place.  Jesus may put us somewhere else but Christians are ready to take the last place.  Should Jesus take us by the hand and lead us to the last place with him,[2] may we respond with humility and generosity.  The way of Christ is the way of humility and generosity.  The way of Christ is the way of freedom.                                                            


  [1]Cf. The Cloud of Unknowing, (New York: Image Books, 1973), 65.
  [2]Cf. Clarence Enzer, Everyone’s Way of the Cross (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1986).


Author:  Reverend Joseph I. Cisetti
September 1, 2013–22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Indulgences

2/22/2013

 
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Indulgences: Springboard for Revolution During the Time of Martin Luther

The Catholic Encyclopedia online notes: 

Once it is admitted that Christ left the Church the power to forgive sins, the power of granting indulgences is logically inferred. Since the sacramental forgiveness of sin extends both to the guilt and to the eternal punishment, it plainly follows that the Church can also free the penitent from the lesser or temporal penalty. This becomes clearer, however, when we consider the amplitude of the power granted to Peter (Matthew 16:19): ‘I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.’ (Cf. Matthew 18:18, where like power is conferred on all the Apostles.)[1]

Indulgences are a remnant of early penitential practice when penances were publically performed. Mortal sin was punished by exclusion from the Eucharist, sometimes for years of penance, during which fasting and prayer were called for.  The early Church withheld “absolution” (but not of guilt) until satisfaction was made.   “Regarding the nature of this absolution given by the bishop, various opinions have been put forward. According to one view, it was the remission, not of guilt but of the temporal punishment; the guilt had already been remitted by the absolution which the penitent received in confession before he entered on the public penance.”  Public penances for mortal sin could be severe.  Penances were lessened for those who were ill or in danger of death.   Among the forms of commutation of the penance were pilgrimages, especially to places like Jerusalem or Rome. It was the report of the ill treatment given these pilgrims by the Muslims that led to the Crusades. At the Council of Clermont in 1095 where the First Crusade was organized they provided: "Whoever, out of pure devotion and not for the purpose of gaining honor or money, shall go to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God, let that journey be counted in lieu of all penance."

When individual confession became the rule, absolution was given immediately after confession (assuming the penitent was sorry for their sins and had a firm purpose of amendment) and lighter penances than those shown in the canons were assigned.   Secret confession goes back to the time of the Apostles but even in the days of Pope Leo the Great (440-461) he declares an abuse, “contrary to the Apostolic rule" the reading out in public of a written statement of their sins drawn up by the faithful.   Penance was said or done immediately after Confession.  Indulgences were a form of penance.  They could not forgive sins nor were they a substitute for true contrition. Rather, it was a remission of some or all of the punishment due from sins already forgiven granted by the Church to those who met all the conditions for the indulgence.  It was based on the Church’s “treasury of grace” earned by Christ for living persons through absolution and for the dead, as a petition.   The grace won by Christ is “God’s saving will in the fullness of love to individual human persons, which also includes purification and overcoming of the punishment due to sin.”   This is why the preconditions always include personal, genuine repentance by the sinner and the restoration of the damaged order in so far as this is possible. 

  The Church showed concern for the misuses and abuses of indulgences.  For example, Pope Boniface in 1382 condemned the practice of some religious who were claiming indulgences forgave sin and selling them for money.  In 1420 the Archbishop of Canterbury was reprimanded for initiating an indulgence by Pope Martin V.  In 1450 Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, then Apostolate Legate to Germany, corrected those claiming that indulgences forgave sins. Pope Sixtus IV reserved judgment to the Holy See in cases previously delegated to the Holy See.  By 1500 the papacy reserved for itself the right to grant indulgences because of abuses by bishops or priests.  Nonetheless, the uneducated did not always make the distinctions between eternal punishment and temporal punishment and some comforted themselves by thinking they were buying their salvation thanks to abuses which found their way back into Church before the Reformation.

Initiated by Pope Julius II and revived by Pope Leo X,  a plenary indulgence was offered to all those who confessed their sins, received the Eucharist, and contributed according to their means to construction costs of the new St. Peter’s (which is still in use today).   Some papal indulgences were administered by local bishops.  For example, the young and ambitious Archbishop Albert of Mainz and Magdeburg was one who decided to foster the sale of indulgences in his territories in an effort, in large part, to pay Rome for a dispensation permitting him to rule two dioceses.  He enlisted the Dominicans to proclaim the indulgence, but some like Johan Tetzle did this, Luther alleged, in such a crude way it seemed like grace was for sale. Was the problem was the way they were administered by Tetzle and others? Yes, but perhaps Tetzle was not the villain Luther made him out to be.  Recently historians say he received unmerited odium.  For example, Luther in his 95 theses accuses him of using the jingle, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul out of purgatory springs.”  This goes back at least to 1482 and Teztle denies it. In fact, he wrote in his defense, A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences. He went on to get his doctorate in theology but retired to a monastery in 1518, broken in spirit by what was probably unjust criticism. Luther himself wrote him “that the agitation was not that of his creation, but that the child had an entirely different father.” But Luther, nonetheless, falsely charged that Tetzle had preached impiously against the Virgin Mary.

Whether or not Tetzle was guilty is not as significant as the fact that the Church was not sufficiently guarding against abuses in indulgences to preclude Luther using this issue as a springboard for his revolution against the Catholic Church. Certainly the Church addressed this problem and many other needed reforms in the Council of Trent, when they ended all selling of indulgences.  But a great irony is pointed out by Msgr. Patrick O’Hare in his book, Luther: The Facts About, when he notes:

What hypocrisy to roll up the white’s of one’s eyes in pretence of holy horror at the Catholic doctrine of indulgences, which is severity itself compared with their sweeping act of faith which alone suffices to wash all man’s sins away, and put him at once, without penance or purgatory, into the company of angels in Heaven.”


[1] “Indulgences,” Catholic Encyclopedia online.


St. Ephrem: Lyre of the Holy Spirit

10/29/2012

 
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 St. Ephrem (or Ephraim):  

 "Lyre of the Holy Spirit"

 Born into a Christian family the fourth century in Nisibis, in Syria, St. Ephrem (306-373) was baptized as an adult and became a teacher.  Known for saintly qualities he was ordained to the diaconate before the year 338 A.D., serving four bishops of Nisibis.Some believe he later became a priest. 

  

We know little about his life except for his beautiful hynms, written to combat the many heresies prevalent at the time. He used these songs to communicate the truths of the faith. The originality, imagery, and beauty of his hymns captured the hearts of the Christians so much so, that Ephrem is credited with awakening the Church to the value of music and poetry in spreading and fortifying the faith. Here is one of his beautiful hymns about Mary that compares her with Eve:

Mary and Eve in their symbols resemble a body, one of whose eyes is darkened and blind,
while the other is bright and clear, providing light for the whole.
(Hymns on the Church, XXXVII.4).

In her virginity Eve put on leaves of shame, but Your mother has put on
in her virginity a garment of glory that encompasses all, while to Him who covers all
she gives a body as a tiny garment.
(Hymns on the Nativity, XVII.4). 

A Chariot of flesh did Mary become, enabling her to escort the Fiery One in her bosom.
The angel stood amazed at the Daughter of Man as she carried the Lord of all humanity.
 (Hymns on Mary, XVI.1; Bride of Light, p.99).

He was a prolific writer, using a variety of poetic forms and writing in Syrian, winning the title "lyre of the Holy Spirit." He was said to have received his diaconate from St. Basil in Cappadocia and to have been an influence on him despite his short visit there. He battled against Manichean, Marcionite and Aryan heresies. 

Sometime in 364 he settled on Mount Edessa living as an ascetic, writing at Edessa (what is now Urfa) 100 miles east of his home. "The soul is your bride, the body is your bridal chamber..." 

 Writing on the profundity of  Holy Scripture he says: "Lord who can grasp all of the wealth of just one of your words? What we understand is much less than we leave behind, like thirsty people who drink from a fountain. For your word Lord has many shades of meaning, just as those who study have many different points of view. The Lord has colored his word with many views so that each person who studies it can see in it what he loves. He has hidden many treasures in His word so that each of us is enriched as we meditate on it. The word of God is a tree of life that from all its parts offers you fruit that is blessed. It is like that rock opened in the desert that from all its parts gave forth a spiritual drink." He who comes into contact with some share of its treasure should not think that the only thing contained in the word is what he himself has found. He should realize that he has only been able to find that one thing from among many others. Nor because only that one part has become his should he say that the word is void and empty and look down upon it. But because he could not exhaust it, he should give thanks for it riches and be glad that you were overcome and do not be sad that it overcame you. The thirsty man rejoices when he drinks and is not downcast because he cannot empty the fountain. Rather let the fountain quench your thirst then have your thirst quench the fountain because if your thirst is quenched when the fountain is not exhausted, you can drink from it again whenever your thirsty. But if when your thirst is quenched the fountain also is dried up, your victory will bode evil for you. So be grateful for what you have received and don't grumble about the abundance left behind. What you have received and what you have reached is your share and what remains is your heritage. What at one time you were unable to receive because of your weakness, you will be able to receive at other times if you persevere. Do not have the presumption to try to take in one draft what can not be taken in one draft and do not abandon out of laziness what you may only consume little by little."

Prayer:  St. Ephrem, lyre of the Holy Spirit, who put music and poetry in the service of God, pray for us and intercede for us that we might receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit to enrich our ministry and deepen our faith.



Post Title.

3/10/2012

 
Church History and Guilt

An Excerpt from Cardinal Ratzinger’s Book:

Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith (pp. 279-283)

          "When we look at this constant story of “mea culpa” in the Church, we may ask ourselves---and I, too, have asked myself this –what exactly is surprising about it, what is new about this Holy Year?  My impression—and I should like to offer this for discussion here—is that something changed at the beginning of the modern era, when Protestantism created a new kind of church history, with the aim of showing that the Catholic Church was not merely stained with sin, as she has always known and said, but that she was, allegedly, completely corrupted and ruined and no longer the Church of Christ; rather, she has, on the contrary, become an instrument of the Antichrist.  Consequently—since she was corrupt through and through—she was said to be no longer the Church but an anti-church.  At this point, something had obviously changed.  A Catholic historiography now necessarily grew up in opposition to this picture, with the aim of showing that the Catholic Church—despite those sins that could not be denied and were more than obvious—was nonetheless the Church of Christ and remained the Church of the holy saints, the holy Church.  At that time when two kinds of historiography were opposed to each other and when the Catholic historians felt obliged to write apologetics to demonstrate that in spite of everything the quality of holiness still remained in the Church, then necessarily the voice in which sins are confessed in the Church becomes more quiet." 

          "The position became still worse in the course of the Enlightenment; let us recall Voltaire’s “Écrasez I’Infâme!”  Ultimately, the accusations were growing in scope right up to those of Nietzsche, in which the Church appears, no longer as merely failing to do the will of Christ, but as the great evil of all evils afflicting mankind, as effecting the alienation of man from himself, something from which he must finally be liberated in order to become once more himself.  We see the same theme, differently worked out, in Marxism.  For Marxism, too, the Church, Christianity as such, alienates man from himself, gives its sanction to oppression, and stands in the way of progress.  Since the Enlightenment, many deplorable historical realities have been exaggerated into real myths—the Crusades, the Inquisition, the burning of witches—and these have grown far beyond the historical facts into mythical bugbears that not merely justify but positively demand the rejection of the Church.  Any attempt to see history as being a little less black and white, to distinguish a little more clearly the various ways in which different people were responsible, to see the complexity of these phenomena and to see what the various people responsible were trying to do, is condemned beforehand as a concession to inhumanity.  When certain distressing facts grow into a kind of negative confession of faith and are no longer able to be seen in the context of forces and effects that can be distinguished from one another, then it becomes more difficult for the faithful to join in the confession of being at fault:  it would now seem necessary to make clear that the Church, in spite of it all, has been and still remains an instrument of salvation, a force for good and not for the destruction of man."

          "Today we find ourselves in a new situation, in which the Church can, with greater freedom, invite us to return to the confession of sins and can thus also invite other people to confession and to a more profound reconciliation.  We have seen the enormous destruction wrought by various kinds of atheism, which brought forth a new level of anti-humanism, of the destruction and ruin of man.  The atrocities that the atheistic systems of the twentieth century have invented and practiced cast all previous horrors into the shadows; we cannot take them in without shuddering.  The rejection of the Church, the rejection of God and of Christ, does not save anyone; on the contrary—we can see what appalling capacities it unchains within man.  The question is once more posed for everyone:  Where are we?  What can save us?  Thus, we can admit to guilt with a new openness and, at the same time, recognize with a new gratitude the gift of the Lord, which he grants to us through the Church and which all the sins in her have never been able and never will be able to ruin or spoil."

          "To end with, I should like very briefly to formulate three criteria for dealing correctly with the church’s guilt and for the right way to purify our memory."

          "The first criterion:  The present-day Church cannot set herself up as a tribunal to deliver judgments on previous generations—even though sins of the past are necessarily implicated in the “mea culpa”; for without the sins of the past, we are unable to understand the situation of today.  It is neither possible nor permissible for the Church to dwell arrogantly in the present day, to feel herself exempt from sins and to make out that it is the sins of others, of the past, that are the source of evil.  The confession of the sins of other people does not set us free from acknowledging the sins of the present day.  Rather, it helps to awaken our own consciences and to open up the way toward conversion for us all."

          "A second criterion:  Confessing, according to Augustine, means: “Doing the truth”² That is why it demands, above all, the discipline and the humility belonging to truth, not to deny all the evil that has been carried out in the Church, yet also to avoid marking up against ourselves, in false modesty, sins that were never committed or concerning which where is no historical certainty."

          "Third criterion:  Again in accordance with Augustine, we have to say that a Christian confessio peccati always has to go hand in hand with a confessio laudis.  In any honest examination of conscience we can see that for our part in every generation we have done much that is evil.  Yet we can also see that, in spite of our sins, God has always purified and renewed the Church and has always entrusted great things to fragile vessels.  And who could fail to recognize how much good has been done, for example, in the past two centuries by new religious congregations and by lay movements in the sphere of education, in the social sector, in efforts on behalf of the weak, the sick, the poor, and the suffering, even while those centuries were at the same time ravaged by the atrocities of the atheistic systems?  It would be failing in honesty to see only our evil and not the good that God has effected through the faithful—in spite of their sins.  The Church Fathers saw this paradox of guilt and grace as being summed up in the words of the Bride in the Song of Songs: “Nigra sum sed formosa” (Song I:4).  “I am stained with sins, yet beautiful”—beautiful through your grace and through what you have done.  The Church is able to confess the sins of the past and of the present in all openness and confidence, in the knowledge that evil will never completely ruin her; in the knowledge that the Lord is stronger than our sins and renews his Church again and again, that she may continue to be the instrument of God’s good works in our world."

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12/24/2011

 
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Spiritual Sense of Scripture




 
  


"The spiritual sense may be defined as the meaning derived from the biblical text when 'read under the influence of the Holy Spirit,' in the context of the Paschal Mystery of Christ and of the new life which flows from it" according to the Pontifical Biblical Commission document,
"Interpreting  the Bible in the Church" (1994).  It is the passion, death and resurrection of  Christ which provides a fresh context in which the ancient biblical texts can be  seen as fulfillment and consummation in Christ.  As Pius XII  observed:

      For God alone could have known this spiritual  meaning
     and have revealed it to us. Now our Divine Savior points out to us and  teaches
      us this same sense in the Holy Gospel; the Apostles also, following the  example
      of the Master, profess it in their spoken and written words; the  unchanging
      tradition of the Church approves it; and finally the most ancient  usage of the
      liturgy proclaims it . . .


One example given by the Pontifical Biblical  Commission (PBC) was the covenant oath which established David's throne forever,  which the New Testament revealed is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  The PBC speaks  of the new context as "life in the Spirit." 
  
Old Testament texts that relate directly to the pashcal mystery of Christ may have a spiritual sense as their literal sense. This is frequently the case in the New Testament. Hence there isn't always a distinction  between the two senses. 

On the other hand, John 19: 33-36 records that the two soldiers did not break the legs of our Lord on the Cross because he was already dead and says that this was so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled, referring  to Exodus 12: 46.  However, this latter passage refers to the Passover of the  lamb that God required the Israelites to celebrate annually.  It is only when we  reflect on the Exodus passage in light of the paschal mystery that we see the  spiritual sense emerge according to Fr. Bernard Orchard.

What is important here is that the principle of coming to know and see the spiritual sense of Scripture, which was rejected by the "reformers" during the Reformation, was annunciated by Vatican II as a "revival of the great patristic tradition" (Dei Verbum 12c). Perhaps we should 
remember the injunction of St. Jerome, "Whoever interprets the gospel in a spirit and mentality other than those in which it was written disturbs believers  and perverts the gospel of Christ . .  ." (quoted by Pope Leo XII in Providentissimus Deus 5).



  


 

 




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Lectio Divina

11/9/2011

 
Lectio Divina: A Popular Revival Underway

Our Holy Father has recently urged Catholics to renew an ancient practice in the Church, namely to initiate the regular devotional practice of lectio divina.

In lectio divina the Scriptures are opened up to their interior or hidden meaning by the action of the Holy Spirit, as our spirit is lifted up from earth to heaven to "touch heavenly secrets."  This occurs through a four stage process that includes reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation.  As Guigo II, ninth abbot of the Grand Chartreuse, writing in the twelfth century described it concisely:

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11/9/2011

 
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Pope Pius XII: A Much Maligned, but Saintly Pope

7/23/2011

 
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Pope Pius XII:  A Saintly but much Maligned Pope

Since 1963, when Rolf Hochhuth's play THE DEPUTY accused Pius XII of, in effect, complicity in the Nazi genocide, it has been a commonplace of editorial writers that the Vatican was a silent, and therefore a guilty, bystander to the murder of six million Jews. Here are some interesting facts documented by numerous historians that critics of this Pope should know:

1) Before he became Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Pacelli drafted the papal encyclical, MIT BRENNEDNDER SORGE, in which Pius XI denounced Nazi paganism and racism; the document was smuggled into Germany in March, 1937 and read from all Catholic pulpits, which infuriated the Nazis.

2) It is well documented by Jewish scholars like Joseph Lichten of B'nai B’rith that Pius used the assets of the Vatican to ransom Jews from the Nazis and that the Vatican under Pius ran an extensive network of hide-outs. Even the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gondolfo, was used to hide fugitive Jews. The Pope, moreover, took personal responsibility for the children of deported Jews;

3) Largely as a result of the Church's efforts, the Jews in Italy had a far higher survival rate under Nazi occupation than was the case in other countries [67% were killed in other other countries only 15% in Italy]; estimates of the number of Jews saved by the Vatican's efforts range up to several hundred thousand; this was one reason why the chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, converted to Catholicism at the end of the war and took the baptismal name of "Eugencio," the Pope's first name.

4) In appreciation of what Pius did for the Jews, the World Jewish Congress made a large cash gift to the Vatican in 1945; in the same year, Rabbi Herzog of Jerusalem sent a "special blessing" to the Pope "for his lifesaving efforts on behalf of the Jews during the Nazi occupation of Italy"; and when Pius died in 1958, Israel's Foreign Minister Golda Meir gave a him moving eulogy at the United Nations for the same reason.

5) What was to be gained by Pius's speaking out publically and condemning the Nazis actions? Both the International Red Cross and the World Council of Churches came to the same conclusion as the Vatican: relief efforts for the Jews would be more effective if the agencies remained relatively quiet; yet, you never hear anybody attacking the Red Cross for its "silence" about the Holocaust [or any other church]. It is well to note that the holocaust included persecutions of Catholics (i.e., an estimated 3 million were executed) as well. Despite his intervention, 3000 Catholic priests were murdered by the Nazis in Germany, Austria, Poland, France, and other countries; Catholic schools were shut down, Catholic publications were forced out of print or strictly censored, and Catholic churches closed. Polish cardinal, Prince Sapieha, begged the Pope not to make public protests, which would only increase the persecution of his people.

6) In 1942, the Catholic hierarchy of Amsterdam spoke out vigorously against the Nazi treatment of the Jews; the Nazi response was a redoubling of round-ups and deportations; by the end of the war, 90 percent of the Jews in Amsterdam were liquidated. Jewish relief officials were in complete agreement that a public attack by the Vatican against the Nazis would have had little effect on Hitler and would jeopardize the lives of Jews who were being hidden in convents, monasteries, churches, etc.

7) Pope Pius's 1942 Christmas message lamented that hundreds of thousands were being persecuted "solely because of their race or ancestory." The German ambassador to the Vatican complained that Pius was "clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews." A NEW YORK TIMES editorial on Christmas day, 1942 praised Pius as "a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent."

8) A recent report shows that Pave the Way Foundation representative for Germany, historian and investigative researcher Michael Hesemann, discovered a number of very important original documents in his research of the open archives of Santa Maria dell Anima Church, which is the National Church of Germany in Rome. These documents indicate that although the Germans shipped 1007 Roman Jews to their death at Auschwitz, that the Pope was working behind the scenes to protect Jews and actually saved 11,400 Jews. How?  The documents note:

"The Pope then sent his nephew, Prince Carlo Pacelli, to meet with Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal. Bishop Hudal, head of the National Church of Germany in Rome, was by some accounts, sympathetic to the Nazi's and had good relations with them. Prince Carlo Pacelli told Hudal that he was sent by the Pope, and that Hudal must write a letter to the German Governor of Rome, General Rainier Stahel, to demand that the arrests stop."

Bishop Hudal's letter to General Stahel stated: "Just now, a high Vatican source [...] reported to me that this morning, the arrest of the Jews of Italian nationality has started. In the interest of a peaceful dialogue between the Vatican and the German military command, I ask you with urgency to give the order to immediately stop these arrests in Rome and the surrounding area. The German reputation in foreign countries requires such a measure and also the danger that the Pope would openly protest against it."

The letter was then hand-delivered to General Stahel by a close confidant to Pope Pius XII, German Father Pancratius Pfeiffer, superior general of the Society of the Divine Savior, who personally knew General Stahel.  The following morning, General Stahel responded by telephone: "I forwarded the affair immediately to the local Gestapo and to Himmler personally, Himmler ordered that, concerning the special status of Rome, these arrests are to be stopped immediately."

These events are further confirmed by the testimony obtained during the investigation of relator (high Judge) to the cause of Pius XII, Jesuit Priest Father Peter Gumpel.  Fr Gumpel stated that he personally spoke to General Dietrich Beelitz, who was then liaison officer between Kesselring's office and Hitler's command. General Beelitz listened in to the Stahel-Himmler telephone conversation and confirmed that General Stahel used a threat of military failure to Himmler if the arrests were to continue. To see actual documents which show what the Pope actually did click here and register for free access to the web archive.

9) New York Rabbi David Dalin, a historian of the Holocaust, says "The Jewish people had no greater firend in the 20th century" and claims Pius XII saved more Jews than the celebrated Schindler. He argues that Pius XII was not "Hitler's Pope" as a new book of that title by John Cornwell claims, but "the greatest defender that we Jews ever had, and precisely at the time we needed it. For more information go to:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/PIUS12.HTM

http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/ZPIUS12.HTM

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4/14/2011

 
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Church History: Apostolic Succession

 
          
In writing the first Church history to come down to us Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea (260-341) noted:

I confess that it is beyond my power to produce a perfect and complete history, and since I am the first to enter upon the subject, I am attempting to traverse as it were a lonely and untrodden path. I pray that I may have God as my guide and the power of the Lord as my aid, since I am unable to find even the bare footsteps of those who have traveled the way before me, except in brief fragments . . . (Church History, Book I) 

Eusebius thus records a concern that modern historians would share, namely that history is an imperfect science.  History is based upon a fragmented record of the past and cannot be recreated perfectly. His prayer, on the other hand, is reflective of his world view as a Christian. In fact, all Christian historians, hopefully,  share a common world view grounded in faith. 

Historians are well aware that it is not possible to eliminate all bias from one’s history since history is, in fact, an interpretation of the events and culture of a particular era seen through the lense of the historian.  Though the historian seeks primary sources and strives for a level of impartiality, considering alternative theses and perspectives, he or she can never completely divorce themselves from their world view.  Distinguished Church historian Warren H. Carroll, author of a five volume work, A History of Christendom, observes, “For the believing Christian, the dividing line between history and apologetics is always rather shadowy and artificial, since all truth is fundamentally one, and Christianity is pre‑eminently a historical religion" (Vol. I,  287).

So we should not be surprised to observe that Eusebius begins by establishing the divinity of Christ and the divine institution of his Church.  Nor is it surprising to see him discuss the concept of apostolic succession as a primary focus, to demonstrate the historical basis of what some mistakenly consider only a theological concept.  He sought to “preserve the memory of the successions of the apostles of our Saviour; if not indeed of all, yet of the most renowned of them in those churches which are the most noted, and which even to the present time are held in honor.”  But first he testifies concerning St. Peter and St. Paul that:

both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans, in the following words: ‘You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy…’ (Book 2)

        Eusebius goes on to mention both Linus and Clement as successors to the Chair of Peter and mentions the challenge facing him when he notes:

But the number and the names of those among them that became true and zealous followers of the apostles, and were judged worthy to tend the churches founded by them, it is not easy to tell, except those mentioned in the writings of Paul.

He notes that Paul’s disciples are mentioned both in his epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles, pointing out, “Timothy, so it is recorded, was the first to receive the episcopate of the parish in Ephesus, Titus of the churches in Crete.”  Eusebius cites the writings of Tertullian and St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who argue that it is precisely apostolic succession which proves the Church Christ established against other heretical claimants.  Thus, Bishop Irenaeus in an effort to oppose the Gnostic heretics wrote:

It is possible, then, for everyone in every church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the apostles which has been made known to us throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their successors down to our own times, men who neither knew nor taught anything like what these heretics rave about" (Against Heresies 3:3:1 [A.D. 189])

            Evidence of apostolic succession then, can be found in Scripture and the writings of the Early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus.  The Second Vatican Council states:

In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors.  They gave them 'their own position of teaching authority'.  (Dei Verbum 7)

 Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time." (Dei Verbum 8)

Thus, we observe in the earliest Church history of Eusebius and in the Early Church Fathers provide evidence of the concept of apostolic succession being used to distinguish the Church Christ established from others who would make similar claims.  Apostolic succession is essential to the Church Christ established, which is truly catholic.


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