December 24, 2012, Monday — Waiting

Pope Benedict had some words for all of us on the eve of Christmas.

“Truth takes us by the hand”

In one of the Pope’s recent Twitter messages — the Pope began sending occasional “tweets,” as the messages are called, on December 12, and is now “followed” by more than 2 million people — he said something worth meditating on this Christmas.

“We do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us,” the Pope wrote several days ago. “Christ, who is the truth, takes us by the hand.”

Perhaps it is worth repeating: “We do not possess the truth. The truth possesses us…”

There is much room for reflection just in these two phrases. For example, this “personification” of truth as something which can “possess” a person — as if truth itself is personal, alive, conscious — may be as profoundly comforting as it may be surprising. That is, when we have come — as it appears we humans are trying to come — into the knowledge (“gnosis“) of all the “things” of the universe, knowing the “truth” about everything from atoms and molecules and geology and astronomy and cosmology to forces and vectors and radiation and gravity and magnetism, and more, we will be in possession, still, of mere facts, mere “things,” luminous and lovely, but ultimately impersonal. Having surveyed and grasped (possessed) all the things under heaven, we will still simply be on the path toward being possessed by something still higher than all of this, the transcendent, the metaphysical, the personal… the divine, who, by definition, is utterly and eternally worthy, because holy…

But here is not the place for a lengthy reflection; it is almost Christmas!

The essential point of the Pope in this message is this: when truth seems far away, when we fall into confusion and fear, the way forward, the way out of confusion and toward truth, toward the peace of faith which comes from knowing and assenting to the truth, is receptivity… to receive from outside of ourselves the truth which we may have lost sight of, which may have become obscured for us.

In other words, when we are lost, we do not have to find our own way home; someone else will come to find us and bring us home.

The value of this teaching is that, if followed, it frees us from the heavy burden of feeling we must cut through all confusion, all doubt, on our own, through our own reasoning, by our own power of intellect. This is a heavy burden indeed, under which many stagger and, in the end, fall.

No, the Pope is saying, that is not the way.

Rather, the way is to place onself in an attitude of receptivity, of expectation, in order for the light of God, of His truth, to shine upon us, into whatever dark spaces there may be within us — especially at Christmas…

And this attitude of receptivity, or expectation, is, of course, the essence of Advent… to await the arrival of the expected Messiah.

Pope Benedict alluded to this same attitude of receptivity and trusting expectation when he prayed the noon Angelus yesterday.

From his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, addressing pilgrims and tourists gathered below on the fourth, and final, Sunday of Advent, Benedict reflected on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth — the Gospel reading for the day.

“The episode does not represent a mere gesture of courtesy, but dramatizes with great simplicity the encounter of the Old Testament with the New Testament,” the Pope said.

For Benedict, the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary, both pregnant, was that “watershed moment” when the Old Testament, reaching its fulfillment (that fulfillment would come some 33 years later, in the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday) met the New Testament.

The new covenant was about to begin to be “actuated,” or had just started to be actuated, after so long a period of waiting.

Elizabeth, elderly and yet, miraculously, fertile, is a figure of all Israel awaiting the Messiah, Benedict said.

The expression Elizabeth utters when she greets Mary — “Blessed art thou among women” — is one that, in the Hebrew Scriptures, is spoken to the warrior women Jael and Judith, whose efforts saved the nation of Israel from peril, he said.

“Now, it (this expression) is spoken to the gentle young woman who shall, before too long, give birth to the Savior of the World,” he said.

And so, in a sense, this meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is the first meeting between Judaism and Christianity, though both of the women are Jewish, and Christianity has not yet even begun to exist — except in the sense that Mary has already conceived Christ in her womb.

So this meeting between two Jewish women is also between two Christian women, that is, two followers of the Christos, the Messiah, who is already present in Mary’s womb, though he is not yet visible in the world.

At the moment of this epochal meeting, the two women embraced.

The two faiths were not yet sundered, because there was not yet any reason for their sundering.

Elizabeth and Mary embraced, and greeted each other, with much affection and love.

So the story of the Visitation expresses the beauty of mutual receiving and welcoming, the Pope said.

“Wherever there are those who welcome one another, where there is careful attention, wherever there are people who make room for another,” Benedict said, “there is God – and the joy that comes from Him.”

He added: “Let us imitate Mary in the Christmas season, visiting to those who are experiencing difficulty, especially the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly and little children, and let us also imitate Elisabeth, who received her guest as God, Himself.”

The Pope concluded by asking the faithful to pray that all men might seek God earnestly, and find that it is “God Himself who comes first to visit us.”

And so, as in the Pope’s teaching above, it is God who comes first to visit us, no matter what dark night we may be passing through, who comes toward us, who takes us by the hand…

After praying the Angelus, Pope Benedict greeted the pilgrims below in many languages. In English he said:

“Today, as we approach the Solemnity of our Lord’s Birth among us, let us strive again to make room in our hearts to welcome the Christ child with love and humility before such a great gift from on high. In anticipation, let me already wish you and your families a holy and peaceful Christmas!”

December 23, 2012, Sunday — An Act of Grace for Christmas

Pope Benedict has taken a “pre-Christmas decision” to grant his former butler, who stole papers from his desk and was for this sentenced to 18 months in prison, a full pardon. Paolo Gabriele will now be able to spend Christmas with his wife and three small children.

Pope Benedict pardons former butler Paolo Gabriele

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, just three days before Christmas, pardoned his former butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was serving an 18-month jail sentence for stealing confidential Vatican documents and handing them over to a journalist for publication, resulting in the “Vatileaks” scandal.

This photo from the Osservatore Romano, is the only photo of the meeting the Vatican will be releasing.

The Pope yesterday morning visited Gabriele personally in his Vatican cell to inform him of the decision, the Vatican said in a statement. The Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said the two had a “very intense” conversation for about 15 minutes, privately and alone.

On October 6, a Vatican tribunal, after a brief trial, found Gabriele guilty of removing and/or photocopying dozens of the Pope’s private documents and leaking them to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who published them in May.

Gabriele said in his testimony that he acted out of love for the Church. He said he had taken the documents in order to “jar” the Vatican in some way, in order to force top officials — and eventually the Pope himself — to face more directly a number of cases where special agendas seemed to be placing private or partial interests ahead of the interests of the Universal Church. In this sense, Gabriele saw himself as a “whistleblower,” not as the agent of any group, in or out of the Church, seeking to harm the Church. The Vatican tribunal judges said in their sentence that they believed Gabriele’s description of his motivation, and for this reason reduced his sentence from 3 years to a year and a half.

Now Gabriele is free.

“This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his acceptance of Mr Gabriele’s request for pardon,” the Vatican statement said.

In November the court convicted a computer expert, Claudio Sciarpelletti, of helping Gabriele leak the papal documents. Sciarpelletti, who pleaded innocent, was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of two months. He is already back at work in his old job, and a full pardon is also expected soon for him, Father Lombardi said.

What has not been made clear is whether the “Vatileaks” case is now completely closed, or not.

A few days ago, Pope Benedict, unexpectedly, received in audience three cardinals — the Spaniard Julian Herranz, the Slovak Josef Tomko and the Italian Salvatore De Giorgi — who comprise the special “cardinals’ commission” the Pope himself set up to investigate the “Vatileaks” case, alongside the investigation of the Vatican court and the Vatican police department.

It is said in Rome that the three cardinals continued to gather testimony and evidence about the case even after Gabriele’s trial and sentencing in October. This suggests that perhaps there is still an ongoing investigation. But what this investigation (if it is continuing) consists of, why it might be continuing, and what it might lead to (if anything), is not clear.

The Text of the Vatican Communique

Here is the text of the Vatican communique from yesterday, first in Italian, then in English translation:

COMUNICATO DELLA SEGRETERIA DI STATO, 22.12.2012

Questa mattina il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha fatto visita in carcere al Sig. Paolo Gabriele, per confermargli il proprio perdono e per comunicargli di persona di avere accolto la sua domanda di grazia, condonando la pena a lui inflitta. Si è trattato di un gesto paterno verso una persona con cui il Papa ha condiviso per alcuni anni una quotidiana familiarità.

Successivamente, il Sig. Gabriele è stato scarcerato ed è rientrato a casa. Benché non possa riprendere il precedente lavoro e continuare a risiedere in Vaticano, la Santa Sede, confidando nella sincerità del ravvedimento manifestato, intende offrirgli la possibilità di riprendere con serenità la vita insieme alla sua famiglia.

Bollettino Ufficiale Santa Sede

“This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and communicate in person his decision to grant Mr Gabriele’s request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter. This constitutes a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years.

“Mr Gabriele was subsequently released from prison and has returned home. Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life.”

Official Holy See Bulletin

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The butler’s future

“Although he (Paolo Gabriele) cannot continue his prior work or continue to live inside Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in the sincerity of his apparent repentance, intends to offer him the possibility of taking up again with serenity his life together with his family,” Father Lombardi said.

Lombardi indicated that the Vatican will find Gabriele a different job outside of Vatican City, and a different residence, also outside of the city.

And so ends the “Vatileaks” case — with a gesture of forgiveness from the Pope, and the return of a father to his family, just in time for Christmas.

December 17, 2012, Monday — The Cause of Paul VI Proceeds… But What of Pius XII? A week ago, the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted in favor of Pope Paul VI’s “heroic virtue.” This clears the way for Paul’s beatification (though a miracle still must be approved). Paul’s beatification could occur during 2013, perhaps at the end of the “Year of Faith.” Still, the “elephant on the room” — the long-delayed cause of Pope Pius XII — remains. Why is Pope Paul’s cause apparently proceeding more quickly than that of Pope Pius, declared “Venerable” in 2009? Some say there is a desire in the Curia to “canonize” the Council, which Paul VI presided over from 1963-1965. Still, some think Benedict could take the opportunity of Paul’s beatification to beatify Pius XII alongside him — the “Pope of the Council” and “the Pope most cited in the Council’s 16 documents”… “Cardinals vote unanimously in favour of Paul VI’s canonization” The cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave the “go ahead” on December 10 for Paul VI’s beatification, Italian Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli reported on his VaticanInsider website on December 14. “The late Pope’s Positio – the collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared a saint – was approved unanimously by all present,” Tornielli reported (the Vatican has not officially released the news). “All bishops and cardinals expressed themselves in favour of the ‘heroic virtues’ of Giovanni Battista Montini, elected Pope with the name Paul VI in 1963 and deceased in 1978. Theologians, who voted separately, also voted unanimously in favor.” The next move? Pope Benedict will have to sign a “Decree of Heroic Virtues.” This is expected later this week, on Thursday, December 20 (the day the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, will be received by the Pope). “It is highly likely Benedict XVI will approve the beatification,” Tornielli writes. Tornielli noted that this decision to declare Paul VI “Venerable” immediately after the vote will be taken (if it is taken, as is expected) much faster than the decision Benedict took in December 2009, after months of delay, to declare Pius XII “Venerable.” Prior to any beatification, a second step is necessary: the recognition of a miracle, usually an inexplicable healing which occurs through the intercession of the person appealed to in prayer. Fr. Antonio Marrazzo, the postulator of Paul VI’s cause, believes that an unborn child — an embryo — was healed 16 years ago in California through Paul VI’s intercession. “During the pregnancy, doctors had found a serious problem with the fetus and because of the effects this problem was known to have on the brain, the only possible solution for the young mother was to have an abortion,” Tornielli writes. “The woman wanted to go through with the pregnancy and entrusted herself to the intercession of Paul VI, the Pope who wrote the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. The child was born without any health impairments.” A second unexplainable case of healing involving a nun diagnosed with a tumor may also be presented for examination, Tornielli said.Tornielli concludes that Pope Benedict “intends to proceed as quickly as possible” noting that “2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Montini’s election as Pope and the 35th anniversary of his death (in 1978).” Thus, the beatification of Pope Paul VI is expected in late 2013. Protests against the decision Another Vatican journalist, Salvatore Izzo, reporting on December 16 (yesterday) on Tornielli’s article, observes that “the hypothesis of a rapid beatification, however, has prompted the protests of (Catholic) traditionalists, who do not wish to see  the Pope who conducted the Second Vatican Council raised to the altars.” Izzo noted that the popular Italian traditional Catholic website, Messainlatino, had been “deluged” with “emails of protest.” “Until the moment when the Holy Father has placed his signature on the decree, we will continue to express very grave reservations regarding such an inopportune decision,” the editors of the Messainlatino.it website write. (The original Italian: “Fino a quando la firma del Sommo Pontefice non sara’ apposta al decreto noi continueremo ad esprimere fortissime riserve in merito a tale inopportuna decisione.”) They add: “Paul VI, not able to withstand the weight of many pressures also from the Curia… was too indulgent in his desire to please the false friends of the Church (internal and external).” (Original Italian: “Paolo VI, non reggendo il peso di molte pressioni anche della Curia… e indulse troppo nel voler compiacere i falsi amici della Chiesa (interni ed esterni).”) The editors do not deny “the many gestures and talks of Pope Montini in defense of the Church” (“i molti gesti e discorsi di Papa Montini, a difesa della Chiesa”) but note that he himself “publicly stated that instead of a springtime, the spirit of the Council had provoked a winter, and declared that the smoke of Satan had entered into the Church” (Italian: “accuso’ pubblicamente che invece della primavera, lo spirito del Concilio aveva provocato l’inverno. E denuncio’ che il fumo di Satana era entrato nella Chiesa“). The website said that, if Benedict XVI does sign the decree for Paul’s heroic virtue and for a miracle, and Paul is then beatified, they will, out of respect for Pope Benedict and his authority, not raise further protests. And What About Pius XII? The news that Paul VI may soon be beatified — and then, possibly, canonized as a saint — raised a question in many observers’ minds: What about Pope Pius XII? In comments following Izzo’s article (found athttp://paparatzinger6blograffaella.blogspot.it/2012/12/il-papa-potrebbe-firmare-giovedi-il.html), one Italian Catholic suggested that it is the world’s Jewish community which opposes Pope Pius’s beatification, and has asked the Vatican not to beatify Pius. “In the case of Pius XII, for the moment, there is the Jewish “nyet,’” this writer wrote. (Italian: “Su Pio XII c’è il niet ebraico, per ora.”) [Note: "Nyet" means "no" in Russian.] Still, Pope Benedict may actually decide to beatify Pope Pius XII together with Pope Paul VI toward the end of 2013, to close the “Year of Faith.” “If the Pope who brought the Council to an end and the Pope most cited in the Council documents were beatified together?” another person wrote. “It doesn’t seem to me that unrealistic.” (Italian: “Se il Papa che ha portato a termine il Concilio e il Papa più citato dai documenti conciliari venissero beatificati insieme? Non mi pare così irreale.” Another wrote that the beatification of Pope Pius XII would be simply “an act of justice toward a JUST MAN who saved many, many lives during the National Socialist extermination!” (Italian: “un atto di giustizia nei confronti di un GIUSTO che tante vite salvò durante lo sterrminio nazista!) A third writer said that the discussion of the beatification of Paul VI and reaction against the possible decision was ignoring the “elephant in the room,” that is, the long delayed cause of Venerable Pope Pius XII, that is, Pope Eugenio Pacelli (Italian: “l’elefante nella stanza, cioè il caso del sommo pontefice venerabile Pio XII, ovvero Papa Pacelli“). This person, too, suggested that Benedict may decide to beatify Pius alongside Paul VI later this year, as took place when John XXIII (considered a “progressive”) was beatified alongside Pius IX (considered a “conservative”) on September 3, 2000 (Italian: “si potrebbe realizzare ancora una volta un’accoppiata variegata come quella che fu Giovanni XXIII e Pio IX beati in una volta sola.”) Finally, a commentator asked whether the beatification of “so many Popes” makes sense. “Did not Pius XI (the Pope before Pius XII) and Benedict XV (the Pope during the First World War) also have merits, or not? Is it not perhaps that there is a desire to canonize the Second Vatican Council and to diminish the pre-conciliar Magisterium?” (Italian: “La beatificazione di tanti papi che senso ha? i precedenti, Pio XI e Benedetto XV, han meriti o demeriti? Non è che si voglia canonizzar il Vaticano II e sminuir il Magistero precedente?“) So there is considerable interest, and some discontent, in Italian Catholic circles in how Pope Benedict will decide to move forward on Paul VI, and when, and whether Benedict will decide to use Paul as a way to place an exclamation point of approval on the Second Vatican Council, or whether he may decide to place Pius XII beside Paul VI at that moment, thus emphasizing the continuity between the pre-conciliar and conciliar magisterium. Here is a link to the original article by Tornielli.http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/paolo-vi-paul-vi-pablo-vi-papa-el-papa-pope-20637/

The Pope’s “right hand”

Pope John Paul II did something similar in the late 1990s, naming his personal secretary at that time, Father (now Cardinal Archbishop of Cracow, Poland) Stanislaw Dziwisz, a bishop and, on February 7, 1998, making him at the same time the “adjunct Prefect” of the Papal Household alongside the new Prefect at the time, Harvey.

It is said in Rome that Gänswein, in staunchly protecting the time and energy of the Pope — which is, after all, his duty — has irritated many important cardinals and bishops, both in the Curia and around the world.

• How does the motu proprio overcome some of the confusion since Vatican II?
• Is this the start of the Benedictine Reform?
• The mind of Pope Benedict: How can the Church strengthen the sense of God’s presence in the Liturgy?

December 5, 2012, Wednesday — Missing Words

The officially published Vatican text of Pope Benedict’s remarks today at his General Audience does not contain several words that the Pope spoke “off the cuff”

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The missing words

“L’obbedienza non è un atto di costrizione, ma un abbandonarsi all’oceano della bontà di Dio.” (“Obedience is not an act of coercion, it is letting go, surrendering oneself to the ocean of the goodness of God.”) —Pope Benedict XVI, at his Wednesday General Audience in Rome today, December 5, 2012. These words were not in the prepared text of the Pope, but inserted by him as he spoke. The official text posted on the Vatican website does not contain these words.

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When the Pope departs from his script…

Reading reports today of the Pope’s teaching at his General Audience — which during these weeks is devoted to the Year of Faith and what Christian faith really means — I was startled when I came across this note on an Italian web site:

MERCOLEDÌ 5 DICEMBRE 2012

Attenzione: il testo della catechesi del Papa diffuso dalla Santa Sede non è completo. Mancano alcune parole pronunciate “a braccio”
Cari amici, il testo della catechesi del Santo Padre diffuso dal sito del Vaticano (e riportato sul blog del “Magistero”) omette alcune parole fondamentali di Benedetto XVI, quelle sull’obbedienza che non deve essere considerata come una “costrizione”.

Translated:

Wednesday, 5 December, 2012

Attention: the text of the catechesis of the Pope published by the Holy See is not complete. Missing are several words spoken “off the cuff”

Dear friends, the text of the catechesis of the Holy Father published by the Vatican’s web site (and also on the blog “Magistero”) omit some fundamental words of Benedict XVI, those on obedience which should not be seen as something “coerced”

Source: http://paparatzinger6blograffaella.blogspot.it/2012/12/attenzione-il-testo-della-catechesi-del.html

This Italian blogger went on to say that she had noticed the omission “immediately” because she had heard the Pope’s remarks herself live, and had decided to use precisely those words as the headline of her report on the catechesis — but then found that the words were not published in the official text.

This blogger also noted that Pope Benedict often adds brief phrases to his prepared texts to explain what he is saying even more clearly, and she argued that the Vatican should be more attentive to integrating these “unscripted” words into the official published texts.

This type of incident can create problems, she said, because many secular news agencies look precisely for the phrases that the Pope utters that are not scripted, and use those phrases in their stories.

She added: “It makes no sense to go on Twitter if one is slipping up on the ‘fundamentals,’ that is, on the words of the Holy Father.” (“Non ha senso andare su Twitter se si scivola sui ‘fondamentali’ e cioe’ sulla parola del Santo Padre.”)

The entire catechesis, in the original Italian, may be heard at this link: http://media01.radiovaticana.va/audiomp3/00347014.MP3

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The Text of the Catechesis

Here below is the text of the Pope’s catechesis from today. The words in bold-face were spoken by the Pope, but they were not included in the text as published on the Vatican web site:

A Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis

Marking the first week of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience catechesis to living the season as an act of faith in God’s benevolent plan for humanity.

Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the beginning of his letter to the Christians of Ephesus (cf. 1, 3-14), the apostle Paul raises a prayer of blessing [the Vatican text here omits the word "to"] God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – a prayer that we have just heard – that introduces us to live the season of Advent, in the context of the faith. The theme of this hymn of praise is God’s plan for man, defined in terms full of joy, wonder and gratitude, as a “benevolent plan” (see 9), mercy and love.

Why does the Apostle raise this blessing God, from the depths of his heart? Because he looks at his work in the history of salvation, culminating in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus, and he contemplates how Heavenly Father has chosen us even before the creation of the world, to be his sons in his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:14 s.; Gal 4:4 f.).

Therefore we exist from eternity in God, in a major project that God has kept within himself and decided to implement and to reveal in “the fullness of time” (cf. Eph 1:10). St. Paul helps us to understand, then, how all creation and, in particular, man and woman are not the result of chance, but a loving plan to respond to the eternal reason of God with the creative and redemptive power of his Word which creates the world.

This first statement reminds us that our vocation is not simply to exist in the world, being inserted in history, or even just being a creature of God, it is something greater: it is being chosen by God, even before the creation of the world, in the Son, Jesus Christ. In Him we exist, so to speak, already. God contemplates us in Christ, as adopted children.

The “benevolent plan” of God, which is qualified by the Apostle as a “loving plan” (Eph 1:5), is called “the mystery” of Divine will (v. 9), hidden and now revealed in the Person and work of Christ. The divine initiative precedes any human response: it is a free gift of His love that surrounds us and transforms us.

But what is the ultimate goal of this mysterious plan? What is the centre of God’s will? It is – Saint Paul tells us – to “bring all things back to Christ, the only head” (v. 10). In this expression we find one of the central formulations of the New Testament that make us understand the plan of God, his plan of love for humanity, a formulation in the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons placed at the core of his Christology : “to restore ” all reality in Christ. Perhaps some of you remember the formula used by Pope St. Pius X for the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “Instaurare omnia in Christo,” a formula that refers to this Pauline expression, and that was also the motto of this holy Pontiff . The Apostle, however, speaks more specifically of restoring the universe in Christ, and this means that in the great design of creation and history, Christ stands as the center of the entire journey of the world, the central pillar, that attracts the whole of reality to itself, to overcome dispersion and limitation and lead everything to the fullness desired by God (cf. Eph 1:23).

This “benevolent plan” has not been kept, so to speak, in the silence of God in the height of his heaven, but He has made it known by engaging with the man, to whom He has not only revealed something, but His very self. He has not simply communicated a set of truths, but He communicated Himself to us, to the point of becoming one of us, to being incarnate. The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum affirms: “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself (here the Pope added: non solo qualcosa di se, se stesso, “not only something about himself, but himself” [at 25:15 of the Vatican Radio recording]) — and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature” (n. 2).

God not only says something, He communicates with us, draws us into the divine nature, so that we are involved in the divine nature, deified.

God reveals His great plan of love engaging with man approaching him to the point of becoming himself is a man. The Council continues: “The invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself “(ibid.). By his intelligence and abilities alone man could not have reached this illuminating revelation — (here the Pope added: cosi luminosa ["so resplendent"] [24:03]) — of God’s love, it is God who has opened up His heaven and lowered himself to lead man into the abyss of his love.

As St. Paul writes to the Christians of Corinth: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God”(2:9-10).

And St. John Chrysostom, in a famous comment on the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians, invites us to enjoy all the beauty of this “benevolent plan” of God revealed in Christ, and St. John Chrysostom says: “What are you lacking? You have become immortal, you have become free, you have become a child, you have become righteous, you are a brother, you have become a joint heir, to reign with Christ, with Christ you are glorified. Everything is given to us, and – as it is written – ‘how will he not also give us everything else along with him?’ (Rom 8:32). Your firstfruits (cf. 1 Cor 15,20.23) is adored by angels [...]: what do you miss?” (PG 62.11).

This communion in Christ through the Holy Spirit, offered by God to all men with the light of Revelation, is not something that overlaps — sovvraporsi –with our humanity, but it is the fulfilment of the deepest human longings, of the desire for infinity and fullness that dwells in the depths of the human being, and opens it up not to a temporary and limited happiness, but eternal. St. Bonaventure — (here the Pope added “da Bagnoregio” “from Bagnoregio” [21:53]) — referring to God who reveals Himself and speaks to us through Scripture to lead us to Him, says this: “Sacred Scripture is [...] the book in which the words of eternal life are written so that not only we believe, but may also possess eternal life, in which we shall see, we shall love and all our wishes shall be realized” (Breviloquium, Ext., Opera Omnia V, 201S.).

And finally, Blessed Pope John Paul II recalled also that – and I quote – “Revelation has set within history a point of reference which cannot be ignored if the mystery of human life is to be known. Yet this knowledge refers back constantly to the mystery of God which the human mind cannot exhaust but can only receive and embrace in faith” (Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 14).

In this perspective, what is then, the act of faith? It is man’s response to God’s Revelation, which is made known, which shows His loving plan for humanity, and is, to use an expression of St. Augustine, allowing ourselves be grasped by the truth that is God, a truth that is love.

This is why St. Paul emphasizes that we owe God, who has revealed His mystery, “obedience of faith” (Rom 16:26; see 1.5, 2 Cor 10: 5-6), the attitude with which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals, and freely assenting to the truth revealed by Him” (Dei Verbum, 5).

Here the Pope then said, and this is the main passage omitted in the official text: Obedience is not an act of coercion, it is letting go, surrendering to the ocean of God’s goodness. (“L’obbedienza non è un atto di costrizione, ma un abbandonarsi all’oceano della bontà di Dio.”) [at 19:45 of the Radio Vatican recording]

The Pope then continued:

All this leads to a fundamental change in the way we deal with the whole of reality, everything appears in a new light, it is therefore a true “conversion,” faith is a “change of mentality” because the God who has revealed Himself in Christ, and has made known His plan, seizes us, draws us to Himself, becomes the meaning that supports life, the rock on which it can find stability.

In the Old Testament we find an intense expression on faith, which God entrusts the prophet Isaiah to communicate to the king of Judah, Ahaz. God says: “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm” (Is 7.9 b). There is therefore a link between being and understanding that expresses how faith is a welcoming into our lives God’s vision of reality, letting God guide us through His Word and Sacraments to understand what we must do, the path we must take, how to live. At the same time, however, it is precisely understanding according to God, seeing with His eyes that makes our lives more solid, which allows us to “stand”, not to fall.

Dear friends, Advent, the liturgical season that we have just begun and that prepares us for Christmas, places us before a the luminous mystery of the coming of the Son of God, the great “Benevolent Plan” with which he wants to draw us to Himself, to help us live in full communion of joy and peace with Him. Advent invites us once again, in the midst of many difficulties, to renew our awareness that God is present: He came into the world, becoming a man like us , to bring His plan of love to fullness. And God demands that we become a sign of his action in the world. Through our faith, our hope, our love, He wants to enter the world again and again. He wants — sempre di nuovo [16:59] — to shine His light in our night. Thank you.

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Here below is the entire original Italian text of the catechesis from the Vatican’s official website; the main phrase that the Pope spoke but which is not included in this official post are inserted in italic about 80% of the way through the text; this text is found at the link http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121205_it.html

BENEDETTO XVI

UDIENZA GENERALE

Aula Paolo VI
Mercoledì, 5 dicembre 2012

L’Anno della fede. Dio rivela il suo “disegno di benevolenza”

Cari fratelli e sorelle,

all’inizio della sua Lettera ai cristiani di Efeso (cfr 1, 3-14), l’apostolo Paolo eleva una preghiera di benedizione a Dio, Padre del Signore nostro Gesù Cristo, che ci introduce a vivere il tempo di Avvento, nel contesto dell’Anno della fede. Tema di questo inno di lode è il progetto di Dio nei confronti dell’uomo, definito con termini pieni di gioia, di stupore e di ringraziamento, come un “disegno di benevolenza” (v. 9), di misericordia e di amore.

Perché l’Apostolo eleva a Dio, dal profondo del suo cuore, questa benedizione? Perché guarda al suo agire nella storia della salvezza, culminato nell’incarnazione, morte e risurrezione di Gesù, e contempla come il Padre celeste ci abbia scelti prima ancora della creazione del mondo, per essere suoi figli adottivi, nel suo Figlio Unigenito, Gesù Cristo (cfr Rm 8,14s.; Gal 4,4s.). Noi esistiamo, fin dall’eternità nella mente di Dio, in un grande progetto che Dio ha custodito in se stesso e che ha deciso di attuare e di rivelare «nella pienezza dei tempi» (cfr Ef 1,10). San Paolo ci fa comprendere, quindi, come tutta la creazione e, in particolare, l’uomo e la donna non siano frutto del caso, ma rispondano ad un disegno di benevolenza della ragione eterna di Dio che con la potenza creatrice e redentrice della sua Parola dà origine al mondo. Questa prima affermazione ci ricorda che la nostra vocazione non è semplicemente esistere nel mondo, essere inseriti in una storia, e neppure soltanto essere creature di Dio; è qualcosa di più grande: è l’essere scelti da Dio, ancora prima della creazione del mondo, nel Figlio, Gesù Cristo. In Lui, quindi, noi esistiamo, per così dire, già da sempre. Dio ci contempla in Cristo, come figli adottivi. Il “disegno di benevolenza” di Dio, che viene qualificato dall’Apostolo anche come “disegno di amore” (Ef 1,5), è definito “il mistero” della volontà divina (v. 9), nascosto e ora manifestato nella Persona e nell’opera di Cristo. L’iniziativa divina precede ogni risposta umana: è un dono gratuito del suo amore che ci avvolge e ci trasforma.

Ma qual è lo scopo ultimo di questo disegno misterioso? Qual è il centro della volontà di Dio? E’ quello – ci dice san Paolo – di «ricondurre a Cristo, unico capo, tutte le cose» (v. 10). In questa espressione troviamo una delle formulazioni centrali del Nuovo Testamento che ci fanno comprendere il disegno di Dio, il suo progetto di amore verso l’intera umanità, una formulazione che, nel secondo secolo, sant’Ireneo di Lione mise come nucleo della sua cristologia: “ricapitolare” tutta la realtà in Cristo. Forse qualcuno di voi ricorda la formula usata dal Papa san Pio X per la consacrazione del mondo al Sacro Cuore di Gesù: “Instaurare omnia in Christo”, formula che si richiama a questa espressione paolina e che era anche il motto di quel santo Pontefice. L’Apostolo, però, parla più precisamente di ricapitolazione dell’universo in Cristo, e ciò significa che nel grande disegno della creazione e della storia, Cristo si leva come centro dell’intero cammino del mondo, asse portante di tutto, che attira a Sé l’intera realtà, per superare la dispersione e il limite e condurre tutto alla pienezza voluta da Dio (cfr Ef 1,23).

Questo “disegno di benevolenza” non è rimasto, per così dire, nel silenzio di Dio, nell’altezza del suo Cielo, ma Egli lo ha fatto conoscere entrando in relazione con l’uomo, al quale non ha rivelato solo qualcosa, ma Se stesso. Egli non ha comunicato semplicemente un insieme di verità, ma si è auto-comunicato a noi, fino ad essere uno di noi, ad incarnarsi. Il Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano II nella Costituzione dogmatica Dei Verbum dice: «Piacque a Dio nella sua bontà e sapienza rivelare se stesso [non solo qualcosa di sé, ma se stesso] e far conoscere il mistero della sua volontà, mediante il quale gli uomini, per mezzo di Cristo, Verbo fatto carne, nello Spirito Santo hanno accesso al Padre e sono così resi partecipi della divina natura» (n. 2). Dio non solo dice qualcosa, ma Si comunica, ci attira nella divina natura così che noi siamo coinvolti in essa, divinizzati. Dio rivela il suo grande disegno di amore entrando in relazione con l’uomo, avvicinandosi a lui fino al punto di farsi Egli stesso uomo. Il Concilio continua: «Il Dio invisibile nel suo grande amore parla agli uomini come ad amici (cfr Es 33,11; Gv 15,14-15) e vive tra essi (cfr Bar 3,38) per invitarli e ammetterli alla comunione con Sé» (ibidem). Con la sola intelligenza e le sue capacità l’uomo non avrebbe potuto raggiungere questa rivelazione così luminosa dell’amore di Dio; è Dio che ha aperto il suo Cielo e si è abbassato per guidare l’uomo nell’abisso del suo amore.

Ancora san Paolo scrive ai cristiani di Corinto: «Quelle cose che occhio non vide, né orecchio udì, né mai entrarono in cuore di uomo, Dio le ha preparate per coloro che lo amano. E a noi Dio le ha rivelate per mezzo dello Spirito; lo Spirito infatti conosce bene ogni cosa, anche le profondità di Dio» (2,9-10). E san Giovanni Crisostomo, in una celebre pagina a commento dell’inizio della Lettera agli Efesini, invita a gustare tutta la bellezza di questo “disegno di benevolenza” di Dio rivelato in Cristo, con queste parole: «Che cosa ti manca? Sei divenuto immortale, sei divenuto libero, sei divenuto figlio, sei divenuto giusto, sei divenuto fratello, sei divenuto coerede, con Cristo regni, con Cristo sei glorificato. Tutto ci è stato donato e – come sta scritto – “come non ci donerà ogni cosa insieme con lui?” (Rm 8,32). La tua primizia (cfr 1 Cor 15,20.23) è adorata dagli angeli […]: che cosa ti manca?» (PG 62,11).

Questa comunione in Cristo per opera dello Spirito Santo, offerta da Dio a tutti gli uomini con la luce della Rivelazione, non è qualcosa che viene a sovrapporsi alla nostra umanità, ma è il compimento delle aspirazioni più profonde, di quel desiderio dell’infinito e di pienezza che alberga nell’intimo dell’essere umano, e lo apre ad una felicità non momentanea e limitata, ma eterna. San Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, riferendosi a Dio che si rivela e ci parla attraverso le Scritture per condurci a Lui, afferma così: «La sacra Scrittura è […] il libro nel quale sono scritte parole di vita eterna perché, non solo crediamo, ma anche possediamo la vita eterna, in cui vedremo, ameremo e saranno realizzati tutti i nostri desideri» (Breviloquium, Prol.; Opera Omnia V, 201s.). Infine, il beato Papa Giovanni Paolo II ricordava che «la Rivelazione immette nella storia un punto di riferimento da cui l’uomo non può prescindere, se vuole arrivare a comprendere il mistero della sua esistenza; dall’altra parte, però, questa conoscenza rinvia costantemente al mistero di Dio, che la mente non può esaurire, ma solo accogliere nella fede» (Enc. Fides et ratio, 14).

In questa prospettiva, che cos’è dunque l’atto della fede? E’ la risposta dell’uomo alla Rivelazione di Dio, che si fa conoscere, che manifesta il suo disegno di benevolenza; è, per usare un’espressione agostiniana, lasciarsi afferrare dalla Verità che è Dio, una Verità che è Amore. Per questo san Paolo sottolinea come a Dio, che ha rivelato il suo mistero, si debba «l’obbedienza della fede» (Rm 16,26; cfr 1,5; 2 Cor 10, 5-6), l’atteggiamento con il quale «l’uomo liberamente si abbandona tutto a Lui, prestando la piena adesione dell’intelletto e della volontà a Dio che rivela e assentendo volontariamente alla Rivelazione che egli da» (Cost dogm. Dei Verbum, 5).

[Here the Pope said these words, which are not published as part of the official text: “L’obbedienza non è un atto di costrizione, ma un abbandonarsi all’oceano della bontà di Dio." ("Obedience is not an act of coercion, it is letting go, surrendering to the ocean of the goodness of God.")]

Tutto questo porta ad un cambiamento fondamentale del modo di rapportarsi con l’intera realtà; tutto appare in una nuova luce, si tratta quindi di una vera “conversione”, fede è un “cambiamento di mentalità”, perché il Dio che si è rivelato in Cristo e ha fatto conoscere il suo disegno di amore, ci afferra, ci attira a Sé, diventa il senso che sostiene la vita, la roccia su cui essa può trovare stabilità. Nell’Antico Testamento troviamo una densa espressione sulla fede, che Dio affida al profeta Isaia affinché la comunichi al re di Giuda, Acaz. Dio afferma: «Se non crederete – cioè se non vi manterrete fedeli a Dio – non resterete saldi» (Is 7,9b). Esiste quindi un legame tra lo stare e il comprendere, che esprime bene come la fede sia un accogliere nella vita la visione di Dio sulla realtà, lasciare che sia Dio a guidarci con la sua Parola e i Sacramenti nel capire che cosa dobbiamo fare, qual è il cammino che dobbiamo percorrere, come vivere. Nello stesso tempo, però, è proprio il comprendere secondo Dio, il vedere con i suoi occhi che rende salda la vita, che ci permette di “stare in piedi”, di non cadere.

Cari amici, l’Avvento, il tempo liturgico che abbiamo appena iniziato e che ci prepara al Santo Natale, ci pone di fronte al luminoso mistero della venuta del Figlio di Dio, al grande “disegno di benevolenza” con il quale Egli vuole attirarci a Sé, per farci vivere in piena comunione di gioia e di pace con Lui. L’Avvento ci invita ancora una volta, in mezzo a tante difficoltà, a rinnovare la certezza che Dio è presente: Egli è entrato nel mondo, facendosi uomo come noi, per portare a pienezza il suo piano di amore. E Dio chiede che anche noi diventiamo segno della sua azione nel mondo. Attraverso la nostra fede, la nostra speranza, la nostra carità, Egli vuole entrare nel mondo sempre di nuovo e vuol sempre di nuovo far risplendere la sua luce nella nostra notte.

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Note: A talk about the old Mass

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