The Martyr's Cup... Eucharist.
by Mike Aquilina
In July of A.D. 64, during the tenth year of Nero's reign, a great
fire consumed much of the city of Rome. The fire raged out of control
for seven days�and then it started again, mysteriously, a day later.
Many in Rome knew that Nero had been eager to do some urban
redevelopment. He had a plan that included an opulent golden palace
for himself. The problem was that so many buildings were standing in
his way�many of them teeming wooden tenements housing Rome's poor and
working class.
Convenient Fire
The fire seemed too convenient for Nero's purposes�and his delight in
watching the blaze didn't relieve anybody's suspicions. If he didn't
exactly fiddle while Rome burned, he at least recited his poems. Nero
needed a scapegoat, and an upstart religious cult, Jewish in origin
and with foreign associations, served his purposes well. Nero, who was
a perverse expert at human torment, had some of its members tortured
till they were so mad they would confess to any crime. Once they had
confessed, he had others arrested.
He must have known, however, that the charges would not hold up. So he
condemned them not for arson, or treason, or conspiracy, but for
"hatred of humanity."
To amuse the people, he arranged for their execution to be a
spectacle, entertainment on a grand scale. The Roman historian Tacitus
(who had contempt for the religion, but greater contempt for Nero)
describes in gruesome detail the tortures that took place amid a party
in Nero's gardens.
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the
skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed
to crosses, or were doomed to the flames. These served to illuminate
the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open the gardens for
the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he
mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in
a chariot. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and
exemplary punishment there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was
not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty,
that they were being punished.
That is all we know about the first Roman martyrs. We know none of
their names. Tacitus doesn't tell us why they were willing to die this
way rather than renounce their faith. Yet this should be an important
question for us to consider. Why did the martyrs do this? What
prepared them to face death so bravely? To what exactly did they bear
witness with their death?
Let us begin with the witness we know best and ask ourselves: How can
we spot a Christian today? What are the unmistakable signs that tell
us we're with a fellow believer?
Christian Signs
In the first generation of the Church, there were several unmistakable
signs. St. Luke tells us that the first Christians, one and all,
"devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the
communion (koinonia), to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers"
(Acts 2:42). The teaching of the apostles, the communion, the breaking
of the bread, and the prayers.
This is a precious snapshot, because we do not know as much about
those first Christians as we would like to know. They were a small
group, not especially wealthy, without social or political status, and
often operating underground. What's more, over the next 275 years,
imperial and local governments tried fairly regularly to wipe out all
traces of Christianity�destroying not only the Christians' bodies, but
their books and their possessions as well. So what we have left are
the handful of documents that survived�mostly sermons, letters, and
liturgies�as well as a few other scraps of parchment or painted wood,
and the shards of pottery that the desert sands have preserved for us.
Yet what we see in those surviving documents and what we find in the
archeological digs confirm all that we learn in the Acts of the
Apostles, especially in one small detail: The first Christians
"devoted themselves to the apostolic teaching, to the communion, and
to the breaking of the bread and the prayers." One phrase
especially�the breaking of the bread�recurs in many of the scraps we
have from those first centuries, and it always refers to the
Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord's Supper.
Our first Christian ancestors devoted themselves to the Eucharist, and
that is perhaps the most important way they showed themselves to be
Christians. No Christian practice is so well attested from those early
years. No doctrine is so systematically worked out as the doctrine of
the Eucharist.
It was when they gathered for the Eucharist that all this�their common
life, their charity, their fidelity to the teaching of the
apostles�happened most clearly, directly, intensely. They experienced
fellowship with each other and together heard the apostles' teaching,
and they broke the bread in the accustomed way, as they said the
customary prayers.
So it was in the newborn Church. The Church took its identity from its
unity in belief and charity, which was sustained by the Eucharist.
A Eucharist Everywhere
Christianity spread rapidly through the Roman Empire. One modern
sociologist estimates that, in the centuries that concern us here, the
Church grew at a rate of forty percent per decade. By the middle of
the fourth century, there were 33 million Christians in an empire of
60 million people.
That meant that the Eucharist was celebrated everywhere. And the fact
that it was celebrated everywhere was itself a favorite theme of the
earliest church fathers. Justin the Martyr commented in the Dialogue
with Trypho that, by the year 150, "There is not one single race of
men . . . among whom prayers and Eucharist are not offered through the
name of the crucified Jesus."
The ancient Fathers commonly applied the Old Testament prophecy of
Malachi to the liturgy: "from the rising of the sun to its setting my
name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered
to my name, and a pure offering." Those lines found their way into
many Eucharistic prayers, where they remain even to this day. (They
appear, for example, in the third Eucharistic prayer in the Roman
Missal: "so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to
the glory of your name.")
As the Church moved outward from Jerusalem, this is what believers
did. They offered the Eucharist. The early histories tell us that the
first thing the Apostle Jude did when he established the Church in the
city of Edessa was to ordain priests and to teach them to celebrate
the Eucharist.
This is what the early Church was about. Everything that was good in
Christian life flowed naturally and supernaturally from that one great
Eucharistic reality: from the Christians' sacramental experience of
fellowship and communion, of the teaching of the apostles, of the
breaking of the bread, and of the prayers.
Real Martyrdom
But there was another dominant reality in the ancient Church. It is
something that appears just as often in the archeological record and
in the paper trail of the early Christians. That something is
martyrdom. Persecution.
Martyrdom occupied the attention of the first Christians because it
was always a real possibility. Shortly after Christianity arrived in
the city of Rome, the emperor Nero discovered that Christians could
provide an almost unlimited supply of victims for his circus
spectacles. The emperors needed to keep the people amused, and one way
to do so was by giving them spectacularly violent and bloody
entertainments.
The Christians' morality made them none too popular with their
neighbors anyway, so the citizens were more than willing to cheer as
the Christians were doused with pitch and set on fire, or sent into
the ring to battle hungry wild animals or armed gladiators. It was all
in a day's fun in ancient Rome. Over time, Nero's perverted whims
settled into laws and legal precedents, as later emperors issued
further rulings on the Christian problem. Outside the law, mob
violence against Christians was fairly common and rarely punished.
The Christians applied a certain term to their co-religionists who
were made victims of persecution. They called them "martyrs"�which
means, literally, witnesses in a court of law. And to the martyrs they
accorded a reverence matched only by their reverence for the Eucharist.
In fact, the early Christians used the same language to describe
martyrdom as they used to describe the Eucharist. We see this in the
New Testament Book of Revelation, when John describes his vision of
heaven. There, he saw "under the altar the souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." There,
under the altar of sacrifice, were the martyrs, the witnesses.
That image brings it all together. For, in those first generations of
the Church, the most common phrase used to describe the Eucharist was
"the sacrifice." Both the Didache and St. Ignatius refer to it as "the
sacrifice." And yet martyrdom, too, was the sacrifice.
God's Wheat Ground
And so, in A.D. 107, when Ignatius described his own impending
execution, he imagined it in Eucharistic terms. He said he was like
the wine at the offertory. He wrote to the Romans: "Grant me nothing
more than that I be poured out to God, while an altar is still ready."
Later in the same letter he wrote: "Let me be food for the wild
beasts, through whom I can reach God. I am God's wheat, ground fine by
the lion's teeth to be made purest bread for Christ." Ignatius is
bread, and he is wine; his martyrdom is a sacrifice. It is, in a
sense, a eucharist.
Ignatius's good friend Polycarp also died a martyr's death. Polycarp
was bishop of Smyrna, and had been converted by the Apostle John
himself. His secretary described the bishop's martyrdom, once again,
as a kind of eucharist. Polycarp's final words are a long prayer of
thanksgiving that echoes the great eucharistic prayers of the ancient
world and today. It includes an invocation of the Holy Spirit, a
doxology of the Trinity, and a great Amen at the end.
When the flames reached the body of the old bishop, his secretary
tells us that the pyre gave off not the odor of burning flesh but the
aroma of baking bread. In yet another martyrdom, then, we find a pure
offering of bread�a eucharist.
The Eucharistic images in Ignatius and Polycarp echo again in the
future writings and histories of the martyrs. Even in the court
transcripts, presumably taken down by pagan Romans, the Christians
reply to the charges against them with lines from the liturgy. They
lift up their hearts. And when they are sentenced, they say Deo
gratias�thanks be to God.
The story of the martyr Pionius proceeds in the words, verbatim, of
the eucharistic prayer: "and looking up to heaven he gave thanks to
God." The Greek word for "thanks" there is eucharistesas. So we might
read it as, "Looking up to heaven, he offered the Eucharist to God,"
even as the flames consumed him. In a similar way, the priest Irenaeus
cried out, in the midst of torture, "With my endurance I am even now
offering sacrifice to my God to whom I have always offered sacrifice."
So pervasive is this eucharistic language in the early Church's
account of martyrdom that one of the great scholars of Christian
antiquity, Robin Darling Young of Notre Dame, has spoken of the
ancient Church having two liturgies: the private liturgy of the
Eucharist and the public liturgy of martyrdom.
Loving Eucharist
But what is it about martyrdom that makes it like the Eucharist? Well,
what has Jesus done in the Eucharist? He has given himself to us, and
he has held nothing back. He gives us his body, blood, soul, and
divinity. He gives himself to us as food. And that is love: the total
gift of self. That is the very love the martyrs wanted to emulate.
Jesus had given himself entirely for them. They wanted to give
themselves entirely for him�everything they had, holding nothing back.
If Jesus would become bread for them, they would allow the lions to
make them finest wheat for Jesus.
So: Martyrdom was a total gift of self. The Eucharist was a total gift
of self. In the Eucharist, Jesus gave himself to us. In martyrdom, we
give ourselves back to him.
But there's a problem here. Very few of the ancient Christians died
for the faith. What about the rest? What was their gift? How did they
live the Eucharist?
Not long after Christianity was legalized by Constantine, St. Jerome
noted that some believers were already growing nostalgic for the good
old days of the martyrs. But Jerome stopped such fantasies in their
tracks. He told his congregation, "Let's not think that there is
martyrdom only in the shedding of blood. There is always martyrdom."
There is always martyrdom. For most of the early Christians, the
martyrdom came not with lions or fire or the rack or the sword. It
came not at the hands of a mob or a gladiator. For most of the early
Christians, "martyrdom" consisted in a daily dying to self in
imitation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus told them: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
. . . daily." So the Christians denied themselves, in imitation of
Jesus. What did this mean, in practical terms? It meant that they
would never eat lavishly as long as others were going hungry. They
would never keep an opulent wardrobe while others dressed in rags.
They would never hold back their testimony to the faith as long as any
of their neighbors were living in sin or in ignorance of the love of
Jesus Christ.
Whatever they had, these Christians gave. They gave of themselves�just
as the martyrs gave themselves in the arena�just as Jesus Christ gave
himself on the Cross�and just as Jesus Christ gave himself in the
Eucharist.
In Christ, these Christians had come into a Holy Communion. In
baptism, they were baptized into his death, into Christ's own
martyrdom. In the Eucharist, they became one with him, in the deepest,
and closest, and most intimate bond possible. They were closer to
Jesus than they were to their best friends, closer to him than they
were to their spouses. They were closer to Jesus than they were to
their own parents or their own children. He himself had promised them
that they would live in him, and he would live in them.
This was, and is, the deepest truth of the faith. In Jesus Christ, we
live as sons and daughters of the eternal Father�we share his own
divine life. In Jesus Christ, we can call God our Father because God
is eternally his Father. In the New Testament, St. Peter puts our Holy
Communion in the most powerful terms: We have become partakers of the
divine nature.
The Life the Martyrs Knew
And what is that nature? How does God live in eternity? What is the
Trinity for us, besides a theological abstraction and a mathematical
enigma?
John said it all: God is Love. God is self-giving, life-giving love.
From all eternity, God the Father pours himself out in love for the
Son. He holds nothing back. The Son returns that love to the Father
with everything he has. He holds nothing back. And (as the Western
tradition has understood it) the love that they share is the Holy Spirit.
This is the life the martyrs knew even at the moment of their death�
especially at the moment of their death. But they themselves had been
caught up into that life so long before and so many times. They
themselves had been caught up into the life-giving love of Jesus
Christ�the life-giving love of the Blessed Trinity�whenever they had
gone to the Eucharist. Whenever they had received Holy Communion.
Whenever they had joined with their brothers and sisters for the
teaching of the apostles and the communion, the breaking of the bread
and the prayers.
Jesus gave himself entirely to them, and they gave themselves in
return. At every Eucharist, he gives himself entirely to us, and we
give ourselves entirely in return. We say Amen�So be it!�I accept. And
when we do that, we consent to the communion.
We need to know what we're doing when we say "Amen." The life of
Christ is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling that everything (including
me) is okay and everything (no matter what I do) will work out fine.
It's accepting his cross. It's accepting our martyrdom. And in the
words of Garrison Keillor: If you don't want to go to Minneapolis,
what are you doing on the train?
There is always martyrdom. St. Paul had signaled this in his Letter to
the Romans, where he wrote: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Surely Paul's
words reached many future martyrs in Rome, where he himself would one
day die by beheading.
But his words reached many others as well, men and women whose
sacrifice would be something quiet and hidden and noticed only by God.
It is the same St. Paul who referred to our bodies as "temples of the
Holy Spirit." Let's not ever forget that, in the ancient world,
temples were not mere shrines; they were places of sacrifice.
And so are we. Our bodies are places of sacrifice, and our lives are
the offering on the altar. We ourselves are the Eucharist in motion.
The Look of Love
Our everyday life should be a voluntary sacrifice, voluntary
self-giving, voluntary martyrdom. Listen to the traditional language
about penance and reparation, mortification, fasting, pilgrimage, and
almsgiving. It's all about self-possession, self-denial, self-mastery.
And all that is great. It is good to be disciplined, and self-denial
is a means to achieving discipline. But discipline, too, is a means
and not an end in itself. Why do we want to possess ourselves?
Jesus shows us why. We possess ourselves in order to give ourselves
away�just like Jesus, just like the martyrs. Only then can we become
truly ourselves. For we are made in God's image, and God is
life-giving love, whose human life was a self-giving sacrifice. The
Eucharist is that sacrifice, and all our lives must be placed upon the
altar, all our lives must be taken up into the Eucharist.
Remember the question I asked earlier: How can we spot a Christian
today? The same way we could have spotted them on the streets of
first-century Rome: by their Eucharistic lives. When we give ourselves
without holding back, we are living like the early Christians. We are
living like the martyrs. We are living like the Most Blessed Trinity
in heaven.
St. Irenaeus put it well, around the year A.D. 190: "Our way of
thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn
confirms our way of thinking."
What does it look like in the day-to-day? It looks like a mother
staying up all night with a sick child�or a grandmother up late with
the child so that her daughter can get some sleep. It looks like a
husband working overtime at a job he doesn't particularly enjoy, so
that his family can know a better life. It looks like a family keeping
vigil by a deathbed. It looks like the dying man who musters a smile
for his loved ones.
It looks like the young couple who give up life in suburbia to head
off to the mission field. It looks like the religious sister who has
renounced family and liberty in order to give herself entirely to
Jesus Christ and his Church. It looks like a pastor, who must serve as
father and teacher and psychologist and sage and business manager�and
can't find enough hours in the day.
That's the total gift of self. It's what the early Christians knew.
And it's what we must come to know for ourselves, if we want to become
ourselves�if we want to become what God made us to be. There's no
other way to be happy. It's all there in the Mass of the early
Christians, and in the Eucharist we attend on Sunday, the Eucharist we
live every day of our lives.
hsi
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?...
Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?...
by Steven R. Hemler
The gospel or "good news" proclaimed since the beginning of
Christianity is essentially the news of Christ's Resurrection. This
"good news" is that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the
Savior of the world has indeed risen from the dead. For if Jesus
really rose from the dead then that validates everything he said and
did, including his claim to be divine and not merely human, because
rising from the dead is beyond human power. Given the centrality of
the Resurrection in Christian belief, how can we know the Resurrection
really happened? The best way to discover the truth about Jesus'
Resurrection is to rationally examine the alternatives. There are five
possible alternatives: swoon, hallucination, myth, conspiracy, and the
"good news" of Christianity.
First, the "swoon theory" is that Jesus did not die on the cross, but
that he revived while in the tomb. However, it is highly unlikely that
Jesus could have survived the crucifixion. Roman execution procedures
just didn't allow that to happen. Roman law even proscribed death to
any soldier who bungled a crucifixion and allowed a capital prisoner
to escape. By piercing his side with a spear and not breaking Jesus'
legs, which was done to hasten death by asphyxiation, the soldiers
established that Jesus was dead. Even if Jesus did survive his
crucifixion, how could he have moved the stone at the entrance of the
tomb, especially considering he had nail holes in his hands? It is
also very unlikely that he would have been able to walk very far with
pierced feet. However, even if Jesus did revive and get past the Roman
guards, he would have been a battered, bleeding pulp of a man who
would have been pitied by his followers, not worshiped. It is
impossible for Jesus' disciples to have been so transformed if he had
merely struggled out of a swoon, badly in need of medical treatment. A
half-dead, staggering man who had narrowly escaped death is not
fearlessly worshipped as divine and the conqueror of death!
Second, the Resurrection could not have been a hallucination because
hallucinations happen privately and only to individuals. Numerous
people do not simultaneously experience the same hallucination,
especially over a period of 40 days. Hallucinations usually last only
a few seconds or minutes. Furthermore, if the Resurrection was a
hallucination of the Apostles, why didn't the Jewish leaders just
produce the corpse of Jesus to refute their claim that he had risen?
Third, the Resurrection could not be a myth because there was not
enough time after the actual event for a myth to have developed. There
is not a single example in recorded history of where a great myth or
legend based on a historical figure has been written so soon after
that person's death. Several generations need to pass before added
mythological elements can be mistakenly taken as fact. Furthermore,
many of the recorded details of Jesus' life and Resurrection
distinguish the Gospels from myth. A prime example is the claim that
the first witnesses to the Resurrection were women. Given that women
at the time had low social status and were not even permitted to serve
as legal witnesses, why would a legend say that women were the first
witnesses to the Resurrection? If the empty tomb was an invented
legend, its inventors would not have had it discovered by women, whose
testimony was considered unreliable.
Fourth, the Apostles' proclamation of Jesus' Resurrection could not
have been a deliberate lie or conspiracy based on stealing his body
from the tomb because what would the Apostles have to gain by
promoting such a lie? What could possibly have been their motive? By
claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, they all faced persecution and
death. However, not one of them ever denied their claim of Jesus'
Resurrection, even when faced with death. People just don't give their
lives for what they know is a lie.
By far, the most compelling evidence of the truth of the Resurrection
is the radically transformed lives of Jesus' followers afterwards.
After Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and
disheartened. So they dispersed. Then, after a short time they
abandoned their occupations, gathered back together, and fully
committed themselves to spreading the "good news" that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God who after dying on a cross, returned to life and was
seen alive by all of them. They spent the rest of their lives
proclaiming this, without anything to gain from a human perspective.
They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food and slept
exposed to the elements. They were ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned.
They knew that torture and death would be their fate if they didn't
stop preaching about Jesus Christ. But they couldn't stop. They all
kept talking about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to anyone who
would listen. Eventually, most of them were executed in torturous
ways. However, all of them maintained to the very end that Jesus had
risen from the dead. Why didn't they recant? The only plausible
explanation is they were absolutely certain they had seen Jesus Christ
alive from the dead. Their bold courage and steadfast witness prove
their story is the truth. And that makes it, even for us today, a
truth worth living for.
i'm amazed by the good news...!
we are an immortal being!
can you believe that!!!
hsi
..................
morning animators,
for me, definitely no doubt about it, He did Rise from the Dead.
thats the mystery and wonders of our FAITH, that we must treasure more than anything else, every seconds of our existence.
junjun
.................
i think it's beyond faith....
.................
yup! but the very foundation of that 'beyond faith" is true FAITH itself.
no faith, means, more doubtful and more "no earth" we become....
as we norture our faith and let it grows deeper & deeper, the more crystal clear all those mysteries of Christ's Life will become....
junjun
................
it becomes more crystal
more clearer.
more tangible.
more real...
so it might not be even true faith
it's there staring at you face to face..
what can we say about it,
when hope and faith are gone...?
................
hmmm.....very well then, for sure we don't believed that Jesus did really rise from dead,,,
we belong to a "to see is to believe"....
tell then...have a nice weekend...
its me,
dudun
...............
they saw (even to the point of offering their lives)
and we believe..
the truth is...
...............
a winter breeze morning to all,
i felt the winter breeze is here already....brrrrrrrrrr
well,,,, "the truth is".... Jesus really Rise-up from the dead! and no matter what happen, hold on to your faith.... for faith is our only key to eternal glory.
dudun
by Steven R. Hemler
The gospel or "good news" proclaimed since the beginning of
Christianity is essentially the news of Christ's Resurrection. This
"good news" is that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the
Savior of the world has indeed risen from the dead. For if Jesus
really rose from the dead then that validates everything he said and
did, including his claim to be divine and not merely human, because
rising from the dead is beyond human power. Given the centrality of
the Resurrection in Christian belief, how can we know the Resurrection
really happened? The best way to discover the truth about Jesus'
Resurrection is to rationally examine the alternatives. There are five
possible alternatives: swoon, hallucination, myth, conspiracy, and the
"good news" of Christianity.
First, the "swoon theory" is that Jesus did not die on the cross, but
that he revived while in the tomb. However, it is highly unlikely that
Jesus could have survived the crucifixion. Roman execution procedures
just didn't allow that to happen. Roman law even proscribed death to
any soldier who bungled a crucifixion and allowed a capital prisoner
to escape. By piercing his side with a spear and not breaking Jesus'
legs, which was done to hasten death by asphyxiation, the soldiers
established that Jesus was dead. Even if Jesus did survive his
crucifixion, how could he have moved the stone at the entrance of the
tomb, especially considering he had nail holes in his hands? It is
also very unlikely that he would have been able to walk very far with
pierced feet. However, even if Jesus did revive and get past the Roman
guards, he would have been a battered, bleeding pulp of a man who
would have been pitied by his followers, not worshiped. It is
impossible for Jesus' disciples to have been so transformed if he had
merely struggled out of a swoon, badly in need of medical treatment. A
half-dead, staggering man who had narrowly escaped death is not
fearlessly worshipped as divine and the conqueror of death!
Second, the Resurrection could not have been a hallucination because
hallucinations happen privately and only to individuals. Numerous
people do not simultaneously experience the same hallucination,
especially over a period of 40 days. Hallucinations usually last only
a few seconds or minutes. Furthermore, if the Resurrection was a
hallucination of the Apostles, why didn't the Jewish leaders just
produce the corpse of Jesus to refute their claim that he had risen?
Third, the Resurrection could not be a myth because there was not
enough time after the actual event for a myth to have developed. There
is not a single example in recorded history of where a great myth or
legend based on a historical figure has been written so soon after
that person's death. Several generations need to pass before added
mythological elements can be mistakenly taken as fact. Furthermore,
many of the recorded details of Jesus' life and Resurrection
distinguish the Gospels from myth. A prime example is the claim that
the first witnesses to the Resurrection were women. Given that women
at the time had low social status and were not even permitted to serve
as legal witnesses, why would a legend say that women were the first
witnesses to the Resurrection? If the empty tomb was an invented
legend, its inventors would not have had it discovered by women, whose
testimony was considered unreliable.
Fourth, the Apostles' proclamation of Jesus' Resurrection could not
have been a deliberate lie or conspiracy based on stealing his body
from the tomb because what would the Apostles have to gain by
promoting such a lie? What could possibly have been their motive? By
claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, they all faced persecution and
death. However, not one of them ever denied their claim of Jesus'
Resurrection, even when faced with death. People just don't give their
lives for what they know is a lie.
By far, the most compelling evidence of the truth of the Resurrection
is the radically transformed lives of Jesus' followers afterwards.
After Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and
disheartened. So they dispersed. Then, after a short time they
abandoned their occupations, gathered back together, and fully
committed themselves to spreading the "good news" that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God who after dying on a cross, returned to life and was
seen alive by all of them. They spent the rest of their lives
proclaiming this, without anything to gain from a human perspective.
They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food and slept
exposed to the elements. They were ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned.
They knew that torture and death would be their fate if they didn't
stop preaching about Jesus Christ. But they couldn't stop. They all
kept talking about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to anyone who
would listen. Eventually, most of them were executed in torturous
ways. However, all of them maintained to the very end that Jesus had
risen from the dead. Why didn't they recant? The only plausible
explanation is they were absolutely certain they had seen Jesus Christ
alive from the dead. Their bold courage and steadfast witness prove
their story is the truth. And that makes it, even for us today, a
truth worth living for.
i'm amazed by the good news...!
we are an immortal being!
can you believe that!!!
hsi
..................
morning animators,
for me, definitely no doubt about it, He did Rise from the Dead.
thats the mystery and wonders of our FAITH, that we must treasure more than anything else, every seconds of our existence.
junjun
.................
i think it's beyond faith....
.................
yup! but the very foundation of that 'beyond faith" is true FAITH itself.
no faith, means, more doubtful and more "no earth" we become....
as we norture our faith and let it grows deeper & deeper, the more crystal clear all those mysteries of Christ's Life will become....
junjun
................
it becomes more crystal
more clearer.
more tangible.
more real...
so it might not be even true faith
it's there staring at you face to face..
what can we say about it,
when hope and faith are gone...?
................
hmmm.....very well then, for sure we don't believed that Jesus did really rise from dead,,,
we belong to a "to see is to believe"....
tell then...have a nice weekend...
its me,
dudun
...............
they saw (even to the point of offering their lives)
and we believe..
the truth is...
...............
a winter breeze morning to all,
i felt the winter breeze is here already....brrrrrrrrrr
well,,,, "the truth is".... Jesus really Rise-up from the dead! and no matter what happen, hold on to your faith.... for faith is our only key to eternal glory.
dudun
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
soul is the spirit in man
the intangible within tangible
the innermost nature of man
the wholeness of man
the image of God. the emmanuel.
who can communicate with God.
the Spirit is the heart(soul) and mind(body) who act for or against
God. the end-result of man's supernatural being as the temple of the
Spirit.
so man is compose of
body which is the humanity and
soul which is the spirituality or divinity of man.
the body becomes immortal too because of their union forming a single
nature. the immortal body will be reunited with spiritual soul at the
final Resurrection...
spirit and soul are the same.
the spiritual soul who is the animator of our mind and body...
soul is the spirit in man
the intangible within tangible
the innermost nature of man
the wholeness of man
the image of God. the emmanuel.
who can communicate with God.
the Spirit is the heart(soul) and mind(body) who act for or against
God. the end-result of man's supernatural being as the temple of the
Spirit.
so man is compose of
body which is the humanity and
soul which is the spirituality or divinity of man.
the body becomes immortal too because of their union forming a single
nature. the immortal body will be reunited with spiritual soul at the
final Resurrection...
spirit and soul are the same.
the spiritual soul who is the animator of our mind and body...
enter into Way Less Travelled
The Way Less Travelled
"Enter through the narrow gate... few there are who find it."(Mt.
7:13-14). "Go out to the whole world..." (Mk. 16:15-18).
The mission entrusted to us as Christians has suffered greatly down
the centuries. It has suffered greatly in the many and various ways in
which it has been interpreted, changed, adopted, and compromised.
Without the faith that the Spirit inspires, one could easily despair
of this message ever getting a wide audience, or attracting
wide-spread attention.
If the Kingdom of God is not of this world, then neither is the
Message of God. The Christian message is such a direct contradiction
to the beliefs and values of this world, that it would be totally
unrealistic to expect it to be acceptable to those whose minds and
hearts are moulded and formed by this world. When I think of the
message, I must not think of a collection of words strung together,
containing great wisdom, and sound direction. I must think of the
SPIRIT in the words, because words, of themselves, would be incapable
of bringing change.
How come that, after all these years, only a minority have ever heard
of the Garden, and only a tiny minority of those show any great
interest in getting back there? This is something that I cannot
pretend to know, but I can, at least, express a few opinions on. Fr.
Christian de Cherge was the prior in a Cistercian monastery in
Algeria, when on May 21st. 1996, he and six of his confreres had their
throats slip by a gang of Muslim rebels.
In anticipation of such an event, because of the unleashed violence of
Algerians Muslims against all foreigners(the monks were French), Fr.
Christian had written a letter to Paris, expressing his views, loudly
proclaiming his forgiveness to those who might kill them, and asking
the French not to blame all Algerians and all Muslims for the actions
of a group of extremists. He expresses his admiration for the Muslim
religion, in which he finds 'so often the true strand of the gospel'.
He looks towards death with 'an avid curiosity' to be able to see
things from God's point of view, 'and to contemplate with him his
children of Islam just as he sees them, all shining with the glory of
Christ, the fruit of his Passion, and filled with the gift of the
Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion, and to
refashion the likeness, playfully delighting in the difference�".
Here was someone who knew that God has no grandchildren; that we all
are children of God. What I mean by this is, that I don't believe the
Christian message is for everyone, because that would imply that only
Christians can make it back to the Garden. In God's way of doing
things, such a possibility is unthinkable. I don't pretend, as I've
said already, that I fully understand the economy of God's salvation,
but I do believe that God is concerned with unity, and never uniformity.
Even among the Christian Churches, while the emphasis is on
uniformity, there is no possibility of them ever coming together. It
is a question of unity in diversity, that is based on mutual respect.
It is not a question of watering down one's beliefs, or compromising
one's truth, just to afford accommodation with another Church.
Ecumenism that is based on dishonesty cannot possibly be of God, and
cannot possibly lead to the good. Part of what it means to be a
Christian is to have total respect for other religions, that are
genuinely inspired, are obviously of God, and whose members are
sincere fellow-travellers on our journey back to the Garden.
I wrote that last paragraph to 'situate', as it were, the 'other'
religions, so that we could get back to our own, and see what we ought
to do to inherit eternal life.(Mt. 19:16). No matter which way we look
at it, we find ourselves in a minority. Better be in a minority, than
simple following the crowd, not sure where we are being led. Jesus is
very clear about what our presence on this earth should mean. We are
like yeast that is mixed with flour in baking a cake; although a tiny
portion, it completely effects the whole cake. "The kingdom of heaven
is like the yeast... until the whole mass of dough began to rise."(Mt.
13:33). "Do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole mass of
dough rise?"(1 Cor, 5:6).
We are also compared to salt which gives taste to food, and is a
preservative against food going rotten. We are also referred to as
light, and this image is easier to understand. One lit candle effects
the darkness in a whole room. Better light a candle than curse the
darkness. "You are the light of the world..."(Mt. 5:14-16).
Mother(Blessed) Teresa's witness had a profound effect on the lives of
many who are not, or never will be members of the Catholic Church.
Christianity is about attracting, not about promoting. "You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends
of the earth."(Acts 1:8). As we all head back to the Garden, then, we
discover that different people are marching to the beat of different
drums. We share a common destiny. I would much prefer to be a sincere
Hindu than a hypocritical or lukewarm Christian. My vocation is to
respond with a generous heart to the call I hear; a call that I know
is addressed to me.
There are three groups of people in most gatherings, whether that be
Church, society, or organisation. There are those who cause things to
happen; those who watch things happening; and those who haven't a clue
what's happening! It is against this that I chose the title about the
way less travelled. When I read the description given of the General
Judgement (Mt. 25), I may be surprised to find that Jesus' questions
are scandalously materialistic. He never mentions prayer, attending
church, or visiting holy shrines. He speaks about a slice of bread, a
cup of water, an item of clothing, a simple visit to a prison.
In other words, what I am asked to do is very clearly specified and
spelt out, and there is absolutely no room for ambiguity or doubt.
Jesus even goes further, less there be any misunderstanding. He tells
us "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, I will
take as being done for me."(Mt. 25:40). He really does identify
himself very closely with each and all of us; while unashamedly
showing a great preference for the poor and the marginalised, just as
he did when he walked the roads of Galilee. I can approach
Christianity on two different levels. I can approach it as a road-map
for life, full of great wisdom, and imbued with wonderful insights.
Oh, I know that I can never be totally committed to anything, in that
any level of commitment is capable of being improved on. However, I
can get a fairly accurate reflection of where I'm at relative to
travelling down this road with Jesus. The whole secret, of course, is
to allow myself be led by the Spirit. By myself, I have no way of
measuring or assessing my progress on this journey; nor do I need to
know. Suffice it to know that my heart continues to be open to the
promptings of the Spirit, and that I take each new day as a gift, with
infinite possibilities.
"For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your
own land. Then I shall pour clean water over you, and you shall be
made clean. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within
you. I shall remove your heart of stone, and give you a heart of
flesh. I shall put my spirit within you... you shall be my people, and
I will be your God."(Ezek. 36:24-28).
by Fr. Jack McArdle
hsi
"Enter through the narrow gate... few there are who find it."(Mt.
7:13-14). "Go out to the whole world..." (Mk. 16:15-18).
The mission entrusted to us as Christians has suffered greatly down
the centuries. It has suffered greatly in the many and various ways in
which it has been interpreted, changed, adopted, and compromised.
Without the faith that the Spirit inspires, one could easily despair
of this message ever getting a wide audience, or attracting
wide-spread attention.
If the Kingdom of God is not of this world, then neither is the
Message of God. The Christian message is such a direct contradiction
to the beliefs and values of this world, that it would be totally
unrealistic to expect it to be acceptable to those whose minds and
hearts are moulded and formed by this world. When I think of the
message, I must not think of a collection of words strung together,
containing great wisdom, and sound direction. I must think of the
SPIRIT in the words, because words, of themselves, would be incapable
of bringing change.
How come that, after all these years, only a minority have ever heard
of the Garden, and only a tiny minority of those show any great
interest in getting back there? This is something that I cannot
pretend to know, but I can, at least, express a few opinions on. Fr.
Christian de Cherge was the prior in a Cistercian monastery in
Algeria, when on May 21st. 1996, he and six of his confreres had their
throats slip by a gang of Muslim rebels.
In anticipation of such an event, because of the unleashed violence of
Algerians Muslims against all foreigners(the monks were French), Fr.
Christian had written a letter to Paris, expressing his views, loudly
proclaiming his forgiveness to those who might kill them, and asking
the French not to blame all Algerians and all Muslims for the actions
of a group of extremists. He expresses his admiration for the Muslim
religion, in which he finds 'so often the true strand of the gospel'.
He looks towards death with 'an avid curiosity' to be able to see
things from God's point of view, 'and to contemplate with him his
children of Islam just as he sees them, all shining with the glory of
Christ, the fruit of his Passion, and filled with the gift of the
Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion, and to
refashion the likeness, playfully delighting in the difference�".
Here was someone who knew that God has no grandchildren; that we all
are children of God. What I mean by this is, that I don't believe the
Christian message is for everyone, because that would imply that only
Christians can make it back to the Garden. In God's way of doing
things, such a possibility is unthinkable. I don't pretend, as I've
said already, that I fully understand the economy of God's salvation,
but I do believe that God is concerned with unity, and never uniformity.
Even among the Christian Churches, while the emphasis is on
uniformity, there is no possibility of them ever coming together. It
is a question of unity in diversity, that is based on mutual respect.
It is not a question of watering down one's beliefs, or compromising
one's truth, just to afford accommodation with another Church.
Ecumenism that is based on dishonesty cannot possibly be of God, and
cannot possibly lead to the good. Part of what it means to be a
Christian is to have total respect for other religions, that are
genuinely inspired, are obviously of God, and whose members are
sincere fellow-travellers on our journey back to the Garden.
I wrote that last paragraph to 'situate', as it were, the 'other'
religions, so that we could get back to our own, and see what we ought
to do to inherit eternal life.(Mt. 19:16). No matter which way we look
at it, we find ourselves in a minority. Better be in a minority, than
simple following the crowd, not sure where we are being led. Jesus is
very clear about what our presence on this earth should mean. We are
like yeast that is mixed with flour in baking a cake; although a tiny
portion, it completely effects the whole cake. "The kingdom of heaven
is like the yeast... until the whole mass of dough began to rise."(Mt.
13:33). "Do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole mass of
dough rise?"(1 Cor, 5:6).
We are also compared to salt which gives taste to food, and is a
preservative against food going rotten. We are also referred to as
light, and this image is easier to understand. One lit candle effects
the darkness in a whole room. Better light a candle than curse the
darkness. "You are the light of the world..."(Mt. 5:14-16).
Mother(Blessed) Teresa's witness had a profound effect on the lives of
many who are not, or never will be members of the Catholic Church.
Christianity is about attracting, not about promoting. "You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends
of the earth."(Acts 1:8). As we all head back to the Garden, then, we
discover that different people are marching to the beat of different
drums. We share a common destiny. I would much prefer to be a sincere
Hindu than a hypocritical or lukewarm Christian. My vocation is to
respond with a generous heart to the call I hear; a call that I know
is addressed to me.
There are three groups of people in most gatherings, whether that be
Church, society, or organisation. There are those who cause things to
happen; those who watch things happening; and those who haven't a clue
what's happening! It is against this that I chose the title about the
way less travelled. When I read the description given of the General
Judgement (Mt. 25), I may be surprised to find that Jesus' questions
are scandalously materialistic. He never mentions prayer, attending
church, or visiting holy shrines. He speaks about a slice of bread, a
cup of water, an item of clothing, a simple visit to a prison.
In other words, what I am asked to do is very clearly specified and
spelt out, and there is absolutely no room for ambiguity or doubt.
Jesus even goes further, less there be any misunderstanding. He tells
us "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, I will
take as being done for me."(Mt. 25:40). He really does identify
himself very closely with each and all of us; while unashamedly
showing a great preference for the poor and the marginalised, just as
he did when he walked the roads of Galilee. I can approach
Christianity on two different levels. I can approach it as a road-map
for life, full of great wisdom, and imbued with wonderful insights.
Oh, I know that I can never be totally committed to anything, in that
any level of commitment is capable of being improved on. However, I
can get a fairly accurate reflection of where I'm at relative to
travelling down this road with Jesus. The whole secret, of course, is
to allow myself be led by the Spirit. By myself, I have no way of
measuring or assessing my progress on this journey; nor do I need to
know. Suffice it to know that my heart continues to be open to the
promptings of the Spirit, and that I take each new day as a gift, with
infinite possibilities.
"For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your
own land. Then I shall pour clean water over you, and you shall be
made clean. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within
you. I shall remove your heart of stone, and give you a heart of
flesh. I shall put my spirit within you... you shall be my people, and
I will be your God."(Ezek. 36:24-28).
by Fr. Jack McArdle
hsi
The Bible and Science
The Bible and Science
"In antiquity and in what is called the Dark Ages, men did not know
what they now know about humanity and the cosmos. They did not know
the lock but they posessed the key, which is God. Now many have
excellent descriptions of the lock, but they have lost the key. The
proper solution is union between religion and science. We should be
owners of the local and the key. The fact is that as science advances,
it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible."
Richard Wirmbrand, Proofs of God's Existence
Scientists Admit Genesis is "Close to the Truth"
Scientists get a little nervous when they realize that their
discoveries lead tem back to Genesis chapter one. Notice the use of
the word "uncanny" in the following quotes:
"Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution
of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in
imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth."
(Time, December 1976)
"The universe suddenly exploded into being ... The big bang bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Genesis command." Jim Holt, Wall Street
Journal science writer
"New scientific revelations about supernovas, black holes, quarks, and
the big bang even suggest to some scientists that there is a 'grand
design' in the universe. (U.S.News & World Report, March 31, 1997)
"In antiquity and in what is called the Dark Ages, men did not know
what they now know about humanity and the cosmos. They did not know
the lock but they posessed the key, which is God. Now many have
excellent descriptions of the lock, but they have lost the key. The
proper solution is union between religion and science. We should be
owners of the local and the key. The fact is that as science advances,
it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible."
Richard Wirmbrand, Proofs of God's Existence
Scientists Admit Genesis is "Close to the Truth"
Scientists get a little nervous when they realize that their
discoveries lead tem back to Genesis chapter one. Notice the use of
the word "uncanny" in the following quotes:
"Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution
of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in
imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth."
(Time, December 1976)
"The universe suddenly exploded into being ... The big bang bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Genesis command." Jim Holt, Wall Street
Journal science writer
"New scientific revelations about supernovas, black holes, quarks, and
the big bang even suggest to some scientists that there is a 'grand
design' in the universe. (U.S.News & World Report, March 31, 1997)
message to the youth of today
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION
OF THE 22nd WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2007
"Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
My dear young friends,
On the occasion of the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated
in the dioceses on Palm Sunday, I would like to propose for your
meditation the words of Jesus: "Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
Is it possible to love?
Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved. Yet, how
difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to
be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt that
love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible dream, should
we then become resigned? No! Love is possible, and the purpose of my
message is to help reawaken in each one of you - you who are the
future and hope of humanity-, trust in a love that is true, faithful
and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a love that binds
people together and allows them to feel free in respect for one
another. Let us now go on a journey together in three stages, as we
embark on a "discovery" of love.
God, the source of love
The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one
source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he declares
that "God is love" (1 Jn 4: 8,16). He was not simply saying that God
loves us, but that the very being of God is love. Here we find
ourselves before the most dazzling revelation of the source of love,
the mystery of the Trinity: in God, one and triune, there is an
everlasting exchange of love between the persons of the Father and
the Son, and this love is not an energy or a sentiment, but it is a
person; it is the Holy Spirit.
The Cross of Christ fully reveals the love of God
How is God-Love revealed to us? We have now reached the second stage
of our journey. Even though the signs of divine love are already
clearly present in creation, the full revelation of the intimate
mystery of God came to us through the Incarnation when God himself
became man. In Christ, true God and true Man, we have come to know
love in all its magnitude. In fact, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus
caritas est, "the real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much
in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and
blood to those conceptsCan unprecedented realism" (n. 12). The
manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the Cross where,
we are told by Saint Paul, "God proves his love for us in that while
we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5:8). Therefore, each
one of us can truly say: "Christ loved me and gave himself up for me"
(cf Eph 5:2). Redeemed by his blood, no human life is useless or of
little value, because each of us is loved personally by Him with a
passionate and faithful love, a love without limits. The Cross, - for
the world a folly, for many believers a scandal-, is in fact
the "wisdom of God" for those who allow themselves to be touched
right to the innermost depths of their being, "for God's foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human
strength" (1 Cor 1:25). Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the
Resurrection would carry forever the marks of his passion, exposes
the "distortions" and lies about God that underlie violence,
vengeance and exclusion. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes upon
himself the sins of the world and eradicates hatred from the heart of
humankind. This is the true "revolution" that He brings about: love.
Loving our neighbour as Christ loves us
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our reflection. Christ
cried out from the Cross: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28). This shows us
his burning thirst to love and to be loved by each one of us. It is
only by coming to perceive the depth and intensity of such a mystery
that we can realise the need and urgency to love him as He has loved
us. This also entails the commitment to even give our lives, if
necessary, for our brothers and sisters sustained by love for Him.
God had already said in the Old Testament: "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18), but the innovation introduced by
Christ is the fact that to love as he loves us means loving everyone
without distinction, even our enemies, "to the end" (cf Jn 13:1).
Witnesses to the love of Christ
I would like to linger for a moment on three areas of daily life
where you, my dear young friends, are particularly called to
demonstrate the love of God. The first area is the Church, our
spiritual family, made up of all the disciples of Christ. Mindful of
his words: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), you should stimulate, with
your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes, the
communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to which
you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of others,
faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate to
joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully accept
the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for Jesus by
proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of your age.
Preparing for the future
The second area, where you are called to express your love and grow
in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you are
engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a
couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover
it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that
says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places
obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the
happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. The
love of a man and woman is at the origin of the human family and the
couple formed by a man and a woman has its foundation in God's
original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love each other as a
couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a
demanding "apprenticeship". The period of engagement, very necessary
in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation
that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you
to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it
helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for
each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not
place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. In
your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase your
love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to respond
generously to the Lord's call, for Christian matrimony is truly and
wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men and women,
be ready to say "yes" if God should call you to follow the path of
ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your example will be
one of encouragement for many of your peers who are seeking true
happiness.
Growing in love each day
The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily
life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to
family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate
your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help
others to "grow". Develop your capacities, not only in order to
become more "competitive" and "productive", but to be "witnesses of
charity". In addition to your professional training, also make an
effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry out
your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you to
carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its
principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the
Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your
commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able
to offer your contribution to the building up of the "civilisation of
love". The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole world!
"Dare to love" by following the example of the saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do not
desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and
beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a
joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your
brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred
and death forever through love (cf Rev 5:13). Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all
humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women,
between rich and poor, between cultures and civilisations. This is
shown to us in the lives of the saints. They are true friends of God
who channel and reflect this very first love. Try to know them
better, entrust yourselves to their intercession, and strive to live
as they did. I shall just mention Mother Teresa. In order to respond
instantly to the cry of Jesus, "I thirst", a cry that had touched her
deeply, she began to take in the people who were dying on the streets
of Calcutta in India. From that time onward, the only desire of her
life was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words,
but with concrete action by recognising his disfigured countenance
thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed
Teresa put the teachings of the Lord into practice: "Just as you did
it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did
it to me" (Mt 25:40). The message of this humble witness of divine
love has spread around the whole world.
The secret of love
Each one of us, my dear friends, has been given the possibility of
reaching this same level of love, but only by having recourse to the
indispensable support of divine Grace. Only the Lord's help will
allow us to keep away from resignation when faced with the enormity
of the task to be undertaken. It instills in us the courage to
accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable. Above all, the
Eucharist is the great school of love. When we participate regularly
and with devotion in Holy Mass, when we spend a sustained time of
adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, it is easier to
understand the length, breadth, height and depth of his love that
goes beyond all knowledge (cf Eph 3:17-18). By sharing the
Eucharistic Bread with our brothers and sisters of the Church
community, we feel compelled, like Our Lady with Elizabeth, to
render "in haste" the love of Christ into generous service towards
our brothers and sisters.
Towards the encounter in Sydney
On this subject, the recommendation of the apostle John is
illuminating: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from
the truth" (1 Jn 3: 18-19). Dear young people, it is in this spirit
that I invite you to experience the next World Youth Day together
with your bishops in your respective dioceses. This will be an
important stage on the way to the meeting in Sydney where the theme
will be: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). May Mary, the Mother
of Christ and of the Church, help you to let that cry ring out
everywhere, the cry that has changed the world: "God is love!" I am
together with you all in prayer and extend to you my heartfelt
blessing.
From the Vatican, 27 January 2007
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION
OF THE 22nd WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2007
"Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
My dear young friends,
On the occasion of the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated
in the dioceses on Palm Sunday, I would like to propose for your
meditation the words of Jesus: "Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
Is it possible to love?
Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved. Yet, how
difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to
be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt that
love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible dream, should
we then become resigned? No! Love is possible, and the purpose of my
message is to help reawaken in each one of you - you who are the
future and hope of humanity-, trust in a love that is true, faithful
and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a love that binds
people together and allows them to feel free in respect for one
another. Let us now go on a journey together in three stages, as we
embark on a "discovery" of love.
God, the source of love
The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one
source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he declares
that "God is love" (1 Jn 4: 8,16). He was not simply saying that God
loves us, but that the very being of God is love. Here we find
ourselves before the most dazzling revelation of the source of love,
the mystery of the Trinity: in God, one and triune, there is an
everlasting exchange of love between the persons of the Father and
the Son, and this love is not an energy or a sentiment, but it is a
person; it is the Holy Spirit.
The Cross of Christ fully reveals the love of God
How is God-Love revealed to us? We have now reached the second stage
of our journey. Even though the signs of divine love are already
clearly present in creation, the full revelation of the intimate
mystery of God came to us through the Incarnation when God himself
became man. In Christ, true God and true Man, we have come to know
love in all its magnitude. In fact, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus
caritas est, "the real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much
in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and
blood to those conceptsCan unprecedented realism" (n. 12). The
manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the Cross where,
we are told by Saint Paul, "God proves his love for us in that while
we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5:8). Therefore, each
one of us can truly say: "Christ loved me and gave himself up for me"
(cf Eph 5:2). Redeemed by his blood, no human life is useless or of
little value, because each of us is loved personally by Him with a
passionate and faithful love, a love without limits. The Cross, - for
the world a folly, for many believers a scandal-, is in fact
the "wisdom of God" for those who allow themselves to be touched
right to the innermost depths of their being, "for God's foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human
strength" (1 Cor 1:25). Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the
Resurrection would carry forever the marks of his passion, exposes
the "distortions" and lies about God that underlie violence,
vengeance and exclusion. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes upon
himself the sins of the world and eradicates hatred from the heart of
humankind. This is the true "revolution" that He brings about: love.
Loving our neighbour as Christ loves us
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our reflection. Christ
cried out from the Cross: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28). This shows us
his burning thirst to love and to be loved by each one of us. It is
only by coming to perceive the depth and intensity of such a mystery
that we can realise the need and urgency to love him as He has loved
us. This also entails the commitment to even give our lives, if
necessary, for our brothers and sisters sustained by love for Him.
God had already said in the Old Testament: "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18), but the innovation introduced by
Christ is the fact that to love as he loves us means loving everyone
without distinction, even our enemies, "to the end" (cf Jn 13:1).
Witnesses to the love of Christ
I would like to linger for a moment on three areas of daily life
where you, my dear young friends, are particularly called to
demonstrate the love of God. The first area is the Church, our
spiritual family, made up of all the disciples of Christ. Mindful of
his words: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), you should stimulate, with
your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes, the
communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to which
you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of others,
faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate to
joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully accept
the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for Jesus by
proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of your age.
Preparing for the future
The second area, where you are called to express your love and grow
in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you are
engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a
couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover
it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that
says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places
obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the
happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. The
love of a man and woman is at the origin of the human family and the
couple formed by a man and a woman has its foundation in God's
original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love each other as a
couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a
demanding "apprenticeship". The period of engagement, very necessary
in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation
that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you
to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it
helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for
each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not
place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. In
your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase your
love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to respond
generously to the Lord's call, for Christian matrimony is truly and
wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men and women,
be ready to say "yes" if God should call you to follow the path of
ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your example will be
one of encouragement for many of your peers who are seeking true
happiness.
Growing in love each day
The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily
life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to
family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate
your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help
others to "grow". Develop your capacities, not only in order to
become more "competitive" and "productive", but to be "witnesses of
charity". In addition to your professional training, also make an
effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry out
your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you to
carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its
principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the
Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your
commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able
to offer your contribution to the building up of the "civilisation of
love". The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole world!
"Dare to love" by following the example of the saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do not
desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and
beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a
joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your
brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred
and death forever through love (cf Rev 5:13). Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all
humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women,
between rich and poor, between cultures and civilisations. This is
shown to us in the lives of the saints. They are true friends of God
who channel and reflect this very first love. Try to know them
better, entrust yourselves to their intercession, and strive to live
as they did. I shall just mention Mother Teresa. In order to respond
instantly to the cry of Jesus, "I thirst", a cry that had touched her
deeply, she began to take in the people who were dying on the streets
of Calcutta in India. From that time onward, the only desire of her
life was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words,
but with concrete action by recognising his disfigured countenance
thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed
Teresa put the teachings of the Lord into practice: "Just as you did
it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did
it to me" (Mt 25:40). The message of this humble witness of divine
love has spread around the whole world.
The secret of love
Each one of us, my dear friends, has been given the possibility of
reaching this same level of love, but only by having recourse to the
indispensable support of divine Grace. Only the Lord's help will
allow us to keep away from resignation when faced with the enormity
of the task to be undertaken. It instills in us the courage to
accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable. Above all, the
Eucharist is the great school of love. When we participate regularly
and with devotion in Holy Mass, when we spend a sustained time of
adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, it is easier to
understand the length, breadth, height and depth of his love that
goes beyond all knowledge (cf Eph 3:17-18). By sharing the
Eucharistic Bread with our brothers and sisters of the Church
community, we feel compelled, like Our Lady with Elizabeth, to
render "in haste" the love of Christ into generous service towards
our brothers and sisters.
Towards the encounter in Sydney
On this subject, the recommendation of the apostle John is
illuminating: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from
the truth" (1 Jn 3: 18-19). Dear young people, it is in this spirit
that I invite you to experience the next World Youth Day together
with your bishops in your respective dioceses. This will be an
important stage on the way to the meeting in Sydney where the theme
will be: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). May Mary, the Mother
of Christ and of the Church, help you to let that cry ring out
everywhere, the cry that has changed the world: "God is love!" I am
together with you all in prayer and extend to you my heartfelt
blessing.
From the Vatican, 27 January 2007
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied.
hsi
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied.
hsi
in defence of theology
In Defense of Theology
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
in defence of theology
In Defense of Theology
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
Jesus falls 3 times
the Way of the Cross
Jesus falls three times...
The tradition that Jesus fell three times beneath the weight of the
Cross evokes the fall of Adam - the state of fallen humanity - and the
mystery of Jesus' own sharing in our fall. First Letter of Saint John
speaks of a threefold fall: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and
the pride of life. He thus interprets the fall of man and humanity
against the backdrop of the vices of his own time, with all its
excesses and perversions. But we can also think, in more recent times,
of how a Christianity which has grown weary of faith has abandoned the
Lord: the great ideologies, and the banal existence of those who, no
longer believing in anything, simply drift through life, have built a
new and worse paganism, which in its attempt to do away with God once
and for all, have ended up doing away with man. And so man lies fallen
in the dust. The Lord bears this burden and falls, over and over
again, in order to meet us. He gazes on us, he touches our hearts; he
falls in order to raise us up.
Man has fallen, and he continues to fall: often he becomes a
caricature of himself, no longer the image of God, but a mockery of
the Creator. There is a more profound meaning in this fall, "though he
was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men... He humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even death on a Cross" (Phil 2:6-8) the meaning of his
whole life is seen: his voluntary abasement, which lifts us up from
the depths of our pride. The nature of our pride is also revealed: it
is that arrogance which makes us want to be liberated from God and
left alone to ourselves, the arrogance which makes us think that we do
not need his eternal love, but can be the masters of our own lives. In
this rebellion against truth, in this attempt to be our own god,
creator and judge, we fall headlong and plunge into self-destruction.
The humility of Jesus is the surmounting of our pride; by his
abasement he lifts us up. Let us allow him to lift us up. Let us strip
away our sense of self-sufficiency, our false illusions of
independence, and learn from him, the One who humbled himself, to
discover our true greatness by bending low before God and before our
downtrodden brothers and sisters.
We have considered the fall of man in general, and the falling of many
Christians away from Christ and into a godless secularism. Should we
not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often
is the holy sacrament of his Presence abused, how often must he enter
empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves,
without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted
and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so
many empty words! How much filth there is in the Church, and even
among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him!
How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay
to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to
raise us up whenever we fall! All this is present in his Passion. His
betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his Body and
Blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it
pierces his heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our
hearts: Kyrie eleison - Lord, save us...
cardinal ratzinger
Jesus falls three times...
The tradition that Jesus fell three times beneath the weight of the
Cross evokes the fall of Adam - the state of fallen humanity - and the
mystery of Jesus' own sharing in our fall. First Letter of Saint John
speaks of a threefold fall: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and
the pride of life. He thus interprets the fall of man and humanity
against the backdrop of the vices of his own time, with all its
excesses and perversions. But we can also think, in more recent times,
of how a Christianity which has grown weary of faith has abandoned the
Lord: the great ideologies, and the banal existence of those who, no
longer believing in anything, simply drift through life, have built a
new and worse paganism, which in its attempt to do away with God once
and for all, have ended up doing away with man. And so man lies fallen
in the dust. The Lord bears this burden and falls, over and over
again, in order to meet us. He gazes on us, he touches our hearts; he
falls in order to raise us up.
Man has fallen, and he continues to fall: often he becomes a
caricature of himself, no longer the image of God, but a mockery of
the Creator. There is a more profound meaning in this fall, "though he
was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men... He humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even death on a Cross" (Phil 2:6-8) the meaning of his
whole life is seen: his voluntary abasement, which lifts us up from
the depths of our pride. The nature of our pride is also revealed: it
is that arrogance which makes us want to be liberated from God and
left alone to ourselves, the arrogance which makes us think that we do
not need his eternal love, but can be the masters of our own lives. In
this rebellion against truth, in this attempt to be our own god,
creator and judge, we fall headlong and plunge into self-destruction.
The humility of Jesus is the surmounting of our pride; by his
abasement he lifts us up. Let us allow him to lift us up. Let us strip
away our sense of self-sufficiency, our false illusions of
independence, and learn from him, the One who humbled himself, to
discover our true greatness by bending low before God and before our
downtrodden brothers and sisters.
We have considered the fall of man in general, and the falling of many
Christians away from Christ and into a godless secularism. Should we
not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often
is the holy sacrament of his Presence abused, how often must he enter
empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves,
without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted
and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so
many empty words! How much filth there is in the Church, and even
among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him!
How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay
to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to
raise us up whenever we fall! All this is present in his Passion. His
betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his Body and
Blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it
pierces his heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our
hearts: Kyrie eleison - Lord, save us...
cardinal ratzinger
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