Called to Communion

St. Thomas Aquinas is known for having written the Summa Theologica,  (among other works!) which was never finished.  He had a vision of Heaven and afterwards found it impossible to write anything further, and said of his Magnum Opus, "It is as straw!"  

Taken out of context, some would think his comment rendered the work useless;  this is far from the truth!  What he was stating was that in comparison to the Beatific Vision, nothing can compare. He had not yet written on Heaven, and found it impossible to address in writing what "eye has not seen, ear has not heard".  

I'm actually having a similar moment right now...

For our Ecclesiology course this semester, we are reading "Called to Communion" by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. The chapter, "A Company in Constant Renewal" is so amazing that it's almost COMPLETELY marked up at this point. I've dog-eared the pages at top and bottom to note passages for class or for personal edification, things to write about, things to re-read, etc. 

He says everything I want to say, but says it better, with a lot more knowledge and wisdom, and informs me where I'm lacking. Which is exactly what he SHOULD have been doing as a Cardinal, and now Pope!  

My blog...it is as straw!  I'm not sure I can ever write again after reading this book!  

It was interesting to see how he used a Thomistic format in his writing, at least to my untrained eye.  Throughout the chapter, he addressed first the objections and misunderstandings and summarized the answers of those who think the Church is a political organization.  After making a few such points, he responded with the "On the Contrary"(although not in those words) and gave the answer as to what the Church IS and why, revealing Truth, pointing out the divinity of the Church in a world that wants to make it human.  He clearly answered each objection.

It is only by allowing the Church to be divine, as she truly is, that we will ever, and the Church herself, can ever become fully human.  

I'm going to let the Pope speak for himself: 

"A church based on human resolutions becomes a merely human church. It is reduced to the level of the makeable, of the obvious, of opinion. Opinion replaces faith. And in fact, in the sself-made formulas of faith with which I am acquainted, the meaning of the words 'I believe' never signifies anything beyond 'we opine'. Ultimately, the self-made church savors of the 'self', which always has a bitter taste to the other self and just as soon reveals its petty insignificance. A self-made church is reduced to the empirical domain and thus, precisely as a dream, comes to nothing." 

 ~ (p. 139-140)

Wow.  

I can think of a few examples that exemplify that perfectly.  

Now, for a little Christian Anthropology compliments of the Pope:  

Michelangelo considered the proper activity of the artist to be an act of uncovering, of releasing - not of making. 

The same conception, applied to anthropology in general, is found in St. Bonaventure, who explains the path by which man truly becomes himself with the help of the likeness of the sculptor. The sculptor...does not make anything, rather his work is "ablatio" - the removal of what is not really part of the sculpture.  In the same way, continues Bonaventure, man, in order that God's image may shine radiantly in him, must first and foremost receive the purification whereby the divine Sculptor frees him from that dross that conceals the authentic figure of his being.

~ (p. 141-142)

Again...wow.  

And I'm seeing more of our foundation showing up now...last semester we read, in Spiritual Theology, Bonaventure's "Journey to the Mind of God", and this is what is being referenced in the above passage.  However, I don't think one must be familiar with that work in order to understand the above passage.  

There's so much here, so I'll leave you to ponder the two passages above.   Our Pope is a man of great wisdom who sees the world as it truly is, and is giving of himself in every way that he can in order to help us all understand the ends to which we are directed through the ministry of Christ through His Church. 

Pray for the Pope...he's leading us into the future, and needs us all to help him do this work. 

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The Renunciation of Truth does not Heal Man

Check out this article!

Yet other Catholics feel he did make a slip in his speech.

"He should apologize," said Jennifer Ferreris, 20, a theology student at Boston College who went to see the pope on Wednesday during her trip to Rome.

"Too much emphasis is placed on the fundamentalists of Islam, the militants, and not enough on the faith. We adore the same God. They have respect for the Virgin Mary."

Even if he suggested something many believe is true - about a link between violence in Islam, especially after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - critics say it is not necessarily the pope's job to say so. It could, they say, undermine his authority as a figure above conflict - or even feed a hatred against Muslims that they say is contrary to Christianity.

"I lost a little respect for him," Ferreris added. "Inadvertent as it might have been, he's the head of our church. He should be the most tolerant."



Did anyone catch the irony in the punch line here? Let me repeat it for you, and let me set the stage...a THEOLOGY student, referring to comments made by Pope Benedict XVI, thinks that he should be "THE MOST TOLERANT".

Apparently this "theology student" has never heard of a little gem by the title of "Truth and Tolerance", authored by none other than Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Pherhaps some excerpts from the Pope's own words, when writing as the Cardinal, will assist this "student" in further understanding of what tolerance is really about:

" There is nothing else for it; reason and religion will have to come together again, without merging into each other. It is not a matter of preserving the interests of old religious bodies. It is for the sake of man and the world.... yet persuasion can only be achieved with difficulty amid the multitude of pressures and demands to which people are subjected. We must venture an attempt to find the way, however, so as to make plausible once more, through various converging indications, something that for the most part lies far beyond the horizon of our own interests. (p. 84)


Now, the following REALLY sums it up:

Yet even Islam, with all the greatness it represents, is always in danger of losing balance, letting violence have a place and letting religion slide away into mere outward observance and ritualism. And there are, of course, as we all know but too well, diseased forms of Christianity--such as when the crusaders, on capturing the holy city of Jerusalem, where Christ died for all men, for their part indulged in a bloodbath of Moslems and Jews. What that means is that religion demands the making of distinctions, distinctions between different forms of religion and distinctions within a religion itself, so as to find the way to its higher points. By treating all content as comparably valid and with the idea that all religions are different and yet actually the same, you get nowhere. Relativism is dangerous in quite particular ways: for the shape of human existence at an individual level and in society. The renunciation of truth does not heal man. How much evil has been done in history in the name of good opinions and good intentions is something no one can overlook. (p. 204)



"The renunciation of truth does not heal man"

That may very well be one of the best things anybody ever said. Thank you, Pope Bendict XVI. Stand strong, Holy Father! You owe no apology!