2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 32,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 49 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 166 posts. There were 109 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was May 19th with 217 views. The most popular post that day was Catholic Tradition.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were blogger.com, wdtprs.com, britcat.blogspot.com, oknotizie.virgilio.it, and search.conduit.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for don bosco, gabriella’s blog, euthanasia, tu es sacerdos in aeternum, and maggio mese della madonna.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Catholic Tradition May 2010
15 comments

2

The worship of … nothing September 2009
43 comments

3

The best of FULTON J. SHEEN May 2009
10 comments

4

Their song fills the universe September 2009
23 comments

5

Tutto si paga! October 2009
61 comments

WordPress.com

A risentirci

Blog temporaneamente chiuso

Blog temporarily suspended

*****

 

Mio Dio, Trinità che adoro,

aiutatemi a dimenticarmi interamente,

per fissarmi in voi, immobile e quieta

come se la mia anima fosse già nell’eternità;

che nulla possa turbare la mia pace o farmi uscire da voi, mio immutabile Bene,

ma che ogni istante mi porti più addentro

nella profondità del vostro mistero …

 

(le prime righe dell’Elevazione alla Santissima Trinità della Beata Elisabetta della Trinità)

Our Moral Compass

Each of us has the power to make decisions, and the cumulative effect of those choices results in the goodness or badness of our society. Every action we take has an impact not just on us but on the world. All we need to do is look around us, pick up a daily paper, or watch the evening news to verify that there is much that is not right. A great deal of what is wrong is the result of the attitude and moral climate of our times. There are some who insist that this age has lost its ‘moral compass’.

As soon as we begin to speak of morality, there are those who object on the grounds that each person’s opinion is his or her own and equal to that of anyone else. For some, there can be no objective and commonly agreed-upon moral norm. For such persons, morality is an illusion. How many times have we heard that morality is a completely personal and subjective choice? This position is probably the most widespread and pernicious challenge to morality that our society has ever faced. The issue today in much of our public discourse – and certainly on talk shows – is: ‘Do values have any value?’

As Catholics, we recognize that there is more to life and human action than fleeting personal preference. Human existence is not a meaningless show of smoke and mirrors. Each one of us knows deep down at the very core of our being that there is such a thing as right and wrong – that, while the wrong choice may be alluring at the moment, it is a choice with lasting consequences. While individually we may not know the answer to every moral question, we are aware that there are answers – answers that oblige all of us.

There is right and wrong, human freedom, and the choice that each of us makes. At the core of human freedom is knowing and doing what we ‘ought’ to do rather than what we ‘can’ do. It is the voice of conscience that keeps reminding us what we ought to do even though there are enticing reasons to do otherwise.

Catholic morality is not only for Catholics. It is for everyone, because all are called to follow God’s law manifest in the natural moral order, revealed in the Ten Commandments, and made complete in Christ. Catholic morality is the authentic, central, and integral form of morality. It is the fullness of teaching on the human condition before God. Apart from faith in Christ, the great questions about the reality of feedom, the rationality of conscience, and the value of pursuing human good unselfishly cannot be fully answered. It is for this reason that we look to Jesus and listen to his Church.

Where do we go to know right from wrong in all of the myriad forms that moral issues appear today? Jesus has not left us orphans. The pledge of the Holy Spirit in the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel is verified today as it has been for twenty centuries in the teaching office of the Church. In the many issues before us today, when decisions are presented with a range of good attached to each of the multiple choices, we need to listen to the sure and Spirit-led voice of the teaching office. It guides us in issues as complex and emotional as artificial insemination, physician assisted suicide, the massacre of the powerless, and the range of social justice, bioethical, and medical-moral dilemmas that manifest the complexity of the human condition.

It is true that morality is rooted in the natural moral order, because that order follows from God’s creation. But it is equally true that God chose to reveal the moral order in the old covenant, through the Decalogue, and in the new covenant through Christ. When the Church calls the faithful to specific moral teaching, it does so with the full weight and authority of Christ, who has empowered his Church to speak for him. At the same time, the Church presents cogent and compelling reasons for her teaching based on an appeal to human nature and the natural moral order that we all share.

Life is complex. Moral decisions are difficult. But we need not fear, because we have a sure moral guide. Christ reveals to us the way. He sends the Holy Spirit to guide us and he enlightens his Church in a way that we can with confidence and trust follow its teaching in matters of faith and morals.

Dalla Lettera di San Paolo a noi …

San Paolo ha indubbiamente scritto numerose Lettere nel corso della sua attività missionaria, ma soltanto tredici sono conservate nel canone degli scritti del Nuovo Testamento.

Abbiamo la tendenza oggi di immaginare che quella di Corinto fosse una comunità piuttosto turbolenta che procurava grossi grattacapi all’apostolo. Che gli abitanti della regione della Galazia fossero tipi che non si accontentavano di un solo Vangelo, subissero il fascino di tutti i predicatori di passaggio, e che avessero una spiccata tendenza a camminare all’indietro. Che Paolo avesse scelto Roma quale luogo privilegiato per istituirvi una specie di università personale che gli permettesse di esibire il meglio della sua teologia decisamente impervia … ma si verifica così un fenomeno di ‘estraneità’ anche a causa di parecchi preti i quali, nelle omelie, assorbiti quasi totalmente dal commento del brano evangelico, se la cavano – nel migliore dei casi – con cenni frettolosi a quei testi ‘che richiederebbero spiegazioni approfondite, ma non è questa la sede adatta’ (senza specificare quale sarebbe questa sede e cosa sono intenzionati a fare per allestirla).

Insomma, il piatto è già stracolmo, e non c’è spazio per il cibo, sia pure sostanzioso, approntato da San Paolo, che però richiederebbe una masticazione lenta, non alla portata dei dentini da latte di certi cristiani frettolosi della pratica domenicale.

Altri si giustificano affermando che non bisogna mettere troppa carne al fuoco e quella messa a disposizione da San Paolo è una carne che richiede una lunga fase di cottura per essere ammorbidita e non risultare indigesta per un pubblico di non elevata cultura teologica.

E ci sono pure quelli che trovano un facile alibi facendo osservare che certi brani andrebbero ‘contestualizzati’, il che dovrebbe essere fatto nel corso di una serie di conferenze e non negli spazi già di per sé angusti di un’omelia festiva.

E così San Paolo rimane largamente inutilizzato. Le sue Lettere sfruttate solo parzialmente. Una rapida scorsa, e via a parlare d’altro. Basterebbe invece soffermarsi su una sola frase per irrobustire la nostra fede.

Personalmente non accetto l’attuale stato di cose e questo relegare il messaggio di Paolo in un angolo della predicazione e, di conseguenza, anche della riflessione personale.

Quelle Lettere, al di là dei destinatari immediati, sono indirizzate a noi. Contengono notizie, provocazioni salutari, incoraggiamenti, osservazioni e reprimende che ci riguardano da vicino. Corinto, Tessalonica, Filippi, Roma, Efeso, sono le nostre comunità. I contenuti di quelle missive risultano di scottante attualità e non sono per nulla datati. Gli esperti si accaniscono a stabilire la data esatta di composizione delle singole Lettere, e non sempre si trovano d’accordo (anzi, quasi mai). Lasciamo tranquillamente che discutano tra loro. Per conto nostro dovremmo già aver risolto il problema: quella Lettera particolare è stata scritta oggi, reca la data precisa in cui io la prendo in mano.

Catholic Tradition

Many protestants and Christian sects reject Catholic Tradition but with time some of them have admitted some of the traditions – such as Lutherans, Episcopalians and Evangelicals. They are all governed by a certain supreme authority – The Queen of England is the head of the Anglican Church, the King of Prussia was at the head of the Reformed Lutherans, and there is scarcely a non-Catholic denomination in which some sort of ‘board of directors’ is not vested with a supreme authority in its administration. Many denominations reject all Catholic Traditions on the grounds that they are subject to corruption. When any doctrine, they claim, is carried on for generations – from father to son – necessarily so many legends and myths arise that little truth is left.

This is an affirmation on their part that the Church is not infallible. What, according to them, happened to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete? Had they believed that the Church is infallible, they would not have forgotten so soon the assistance promised to the Church by Christ.

They forgot that, strictly speaking, all Revelation, whether contained in the Scriptures or in other documents, on monuments, on the walls of the catacombs, in usages, and so on, were all written down and transmitted to posterity. The Apostles wrote that part of Revelation which is contained in the Scriptures, while their disciples wrote what the Apostles preached, taught or instituted in the Church, but which had not been written by the Apostles.

It is a mistake to speak only of an oral tradition carried on from generation to generation through the help of word of mouth. For Tradition, in the first place, is not ‘oral’ in the sense that it is maintained and propagated ‘only’ through man’s lips. It is oral in the sense that in the beginning it was received by the Faithful from the Apostles themselves, not in writing, but through their preaching, teaching or institutions, established in the Church by the same Apostles. What the apostles did not write, but preached, taught or instituted, was afterwards written by their immediate disciples, and sometimes by the disciples of these immediate Apostolic disciples (the Church Fathers). Therefore Tradition is ‘oral’ not in the sense that it was never written, but in the sense that ‘what in the beginning was not written’ by the inspired authors was written ‘afterwards’ by their disciples. What the disciples heard or were taught by the Apostles and not committed to the Scriptures, they afterwards laid down in writing. Tradition is ‘oral’ as distinguished from that part of Revelation which was written by the Apostles – namely, Scripture. For what the Apostolic disciples afterwards wrote, as heard, learned or as instituted by the Apostles, is what we call, properly speaking, Tradition.

The Apostles, who were the ‘ancients’ and legislators of the Church, instituted certain days of the week or certain seasons of the year as time of penance, of joy or of rest, to be observed by all. Abstinence from meat on Friday, fasting in Lent, the Sunday observance instead of Saturday, Easter Joys, the ceremonies of Holy Mass, etc., were instituted by the Apostles as a help to the Christian to save his soul and as an ornament to divine worship. All these things were a part of the routine of the Church. All accepted them as a matter of course and as a part of the daily life of the Church. Hence, there was no necessity on their part to write them down – they preached and taught the Faithful what they must do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ. It was therefore natural that what the Apostles did not write, their disciples, in order to refresh their memories, as well as to transmit it to other generations, did write,  according to the warning of St. Paul, ‘to teach others also’ (2 Tim 2:2). ‘Hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle’ (2 Thess 2:14).

Traditions, therefore, according to St. Paul, are of two kinds, written and unwritten. The written are the Scriptures, because tradition means anything that is delivered or transmitted to others. In this case, the Scriptures are traditions, although improperly so called. The unwritten are all those other Traditions which are not contained in the Scriptures, but which, as the Apostle says, his disciples received through his preaching. They are properly called ‘Traditions’.

As both kinds of Traditions – received, as the Apostle says, ‘through my preaching’ (properly called Traditions) ‘and through my Epistle’ (The Scriptures, improperly called Traditions) – come to us from the Apostles, both are to be accepted, both are to be believed, both must be lived up to because, according to the command of the Apostle, we must hold both.

The written Traditions, or the Scriptures, contain the greater part of Revelation. But it is not less true that what the Apostles preached, taught or instituted in the Church, but did not write, are a very important part of the Deposit of Faith. They were written by their disciples.

Therefore, the objection collapses, that Traditions, being oral, become corrupted in the course of time. Tradition, strictly speaking, is not oral. It was only such in its first proclamation. All Traditions have been written, if not by the Apostles, certainly by the  Church. As pastors and doctors, or as writers of the Church, the first Christians wrote what they heard or learned from the Apostles, or what was practiced in the Church. They wrote not as inspired writers, but simply as common teachers or believers who had nothing else in view but to defend and protect the Deposit of Faith. God, in His Providence, induced those men to write, to be witnesses of that Faith which is always old and always new, feeble and still strong. Although written in the documents of old, Tradition is still better written in the hearts of the Faithful and deeply engraved in the religious practices and belief of the Church.

What a presumption it was on the part of the Protestant Reformers (and still is on the part of many Christian denominations and sects) to claim that they knew better than the Fathers what the government and doctrine of the Church had been during the first three centuries! The Fathers were men of great learning and piety. They enlightened the Church and glorified the Faith with their great works. They were the great men of their times, writing first-hand about their contemporaries. And they testify that, besides the Scriptures, which they saved from oblivion and total loss, there is also in the Church another ‘Rule of Faith’ and that is the Church herself, to which Christ and the Apostles delivered the Deposit of Faith.

Documenti vivi

Desidero condividere con voi poche righe di un bellissimo articolo di Paolo Risso, tratto dalla Rivista Settimanale dei Francescani dell’Immacolata e intitolato ‘Sii tu Suo documento’ (n. 18, 9 maggio 2010). Un consiglio che viene dal cuore: abbonatevi! (e io, di solito, non faccio mai pubblicità).

‘… Il miracolo più grande, però, è quello che riguarda la libera volontà dell’uomo (che può opporsi, benché, suo malgrado, anche al suo Signore e Dio). Eppure anche questo miracolo avviene.

E’ forse facile vivere casto e vergine, ognuno secondo il proprio stato di vita, secondo la Legge di Dio, per tutta la vita? Non c’è forse in noi, come una forza di gravità che trascina, a tutte le età, verso il basso come su una china sdrucciolevole e melmosa? Con piena sincerità lo riconoscevano il poeta pagano Ovidio (‘vedo il bene e l’approvo e tuttavia faccio il male’), l’ardente apostolo San Paolo, il convertito Sant’Agostino e mille altri, con umiltà e verità.

Eppure, nella Chiesa di ieri e di oggi, ci sono i Santi, uomini e donne di carne come noi, i Santi che sono vissuti vergini e casti, secondo la loro condizione di vita, lasciando brillare in loro lo stupefacente fascino del Cielo calato sulla terra delle loro esistenze, della limpida acqua di sorgente che scorre piena di luce anche nella ‘pianura’ della quotidianità e dei detriti di ogni genere.

Possibile a forze soltanto umane? No, possibile a Gesù vivo, il Vergine per eccellenza che opera in loro, in noi, se lo lasciamo operare, e ci fa dono della sua bellezza divina. Pensa, ai vergini e ai puri di cuore dell’antico impero putrescente di Roma e nel corrotto e corruttore di oggi.

Ma c’è di più ancora tra i Santi. Forse che è facile donare il proprio denaro, togliersi il pane dai denti per darlo agli altri che ne hanno bisogno? Forse che si può fare, come bere un bicchier d’acqua, il dono della propria esistenza, rinunciando a tutto – famiglia, posizione economica, carriera, affetti personali, comodità – per dedicarsi completamente alla preghiera e a Dio solo in un monastero o sacrificarsi per il prossimo, vicino e lontano, fino a rischiare la propria vita e a immolarla, magari sotto i colpi incoscienti o malvagi di chi si è beneficato? E tutto questo per amore a Gesù solo?

Eppure, nella Chiesa, dai primi dodici Apostoli, fino a San Damiano de Veuster, a San Massimiliano Kolbe, a San Pio, per citare i vertici più illustri, senza dimenticare le umili suore, i veri missionari rotti a tutte le fatiche per Gesù, questo miracolo incomparabile di vite donate in continua oblazione di carità, esiste a milioni.

Un giovane di 20 anni, scosso dentro, mi faceva notare: ‘Gli illuministi, i laicisti, gli atei che combattono la Chiesa e predicano la filantropia (l’amore all’uomo, i diritti dell’uomo, senza Dio), fuggono quando c’è il colera, mentre a morire in servizio agli ‘appestati’ di ogni genere vanno le suore, i sacerdoti e i vescovi della Chiesa’ e, dico io, con loro i cristiani migliori!

Forse che questo è possibile a forze soltanto umane? Chi ha convinto quella bella ragazza di Trofarello (Torino), Modesta Ravazzo, a partire missionaria tra i lebbrosi della Colombia e poi a chiedere a Dio che la rendesse lebbrosa per condividere in tutto la vita delle bambine colpite dal medesimo terribile morbo e lasciate sole? Chi può fare di un uomo geniale e affascinante come Re Baldovino del Belgio (1830-1993), un grande statista e insieme un monaco sul trono, con una forza di donazione a Gesù che incantava persino i dirigenti atei dell’Est Europeo? Chi gli ha dato la luce e la forza di abdicare al trono ‘disposto ad andare e mendicare, io e la regina Fabiola, piuttosto che firmare la legge che permette l’aborto’?

E’ solo Gesù vivo che compie dei miracoli vivi così. E’ solo Lui, il Crocifisso per amore di Dio e dei fratelli, il Risorto che opera nelle anime, a poter continuare a vivere la sua medesima avventura di dedizione nella Chiesa e nei suoi Santi, proprio secondo la sua promessa: ‘Chi crede in me, compirà le mie opere, anzi ne farà di maggiori’ (Gv 14:12)

Sono soltanto alcuni esempi. La Chiesa, soltanto la Chiesa Cattolica, ne possiede a migliaia, a milioni anche oggi. Chi scrive si è addentrato un po’ (bagnandosi appena la punta delle mani!) tra questa folla immensa che nessuno può contare, di ogni razza, popolo e lingua che sono i Santi, e ogni volta che ne incontra uno tocca che sono essi i miracoli più grandi di Dio, i ‘documenti vivi’, più veri e più significativi di Gesù Cristo Crocifisso e Risorto.  …’

An injury done to Christ

We have a special duty to everyone even in our thoughts. Rash judgments and suspicion, envy and ill-will against one’s neighbour, have no place in the deliberate thoughts of the true Catholic. Nearly all avoidance of evil and all practice of virtue must begin in our thoughts. If we deliberately allow ourselves to think evil, we shall soon find ourselves speaking evil and doing evil. Even in our thoughts and imagination we must apply the principles and ideals which we wish to be dominant in our daily life.

The faults of the tongue are innumerable, and it is noteworthy that even in people who are otherwise quite virtuous one often finds an uncharitable tongue. There is a wide field here for the practice of virtue and quest of holiness. So much so that the Holy Spirit tells us by pen of St. James: ‘If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man’ (James 3:2). Let us remember that every word we utter or every insinuation we make to the detriment of our neighbour is an injury done to Christ. There are occasions when one must speak unpleasant truths about one’s neighbour – for example, in a law court, or to avoid greater evil – but, normally, we are not allowed to speak evil of him, even when what we say is true.

A Catholic does his best to hide the faults of others, and will not listen to detraction. If detraction is wrong, calumny is still worse. And even quite good people do not seem to realize the responsibility they have for every single word they say about anyone else. Our neighbour’s honour and good name, his professional reputation and his personal character, should be as safe in our mouth as in our Lord’s. And it must be remembered that this is true even though we know that his private behaviour does not justify his public reputation. There are, however, circumstances in which we may have to give someone a charitable warning. But all tale-bearing and mischief-making, all imprudent revelations of another’s secret, all sowing of discord or exciting of suspicion are quite wrong, and are altogether incompatible with a true life in Christ. Not only do we separate ourselves from Him in the doing of these injuries, but we widen the breach inasmuch as these injuries are done to Him. We make public the very sins of which He has taken the shame upon Himself.

The really spiritual man is known by the kindness of his speech and still more by the kindness of his silence. He is always ready to find pity and sympathy for everyone. ‘To understand all is to forgive all’, and no man who knows his own weakness and his complete dependence upon God’s grace in the avoiding of sin, can ever be harsh with the faults of his neighbour. Even as human beings we should have a ‘fellow-feeling’ for one another, but as Catholics and members of  His Church, our mutual  sympathy should be much deeper.

Ascensione del Signore

La festa di oggi ci invita a guardare il cielo come la nostra stabile dimora – ma anche a testimoniare con sacrificio la gioia di essere uniti a Gesù.  Una ‘struggente nostalgia’ deve invadere il nostro cuore, come leggiamo nelle vite dei santi:  il pensiero del cielo deve affascinare la nostra esistenza. Là siano fissi i nostri cuori dov’è la vera gioia.  Dove là?  Nel cielo ossia in Dio che è nel nostro cuore e che un giorno ci comunicherà la sua stessa gioia, che è il paradiso.  Gesù ostia è qui con noi.  Lui è il paradiso.

Dovremmo ripetere continuamente come i santi:  ‘Paradiso, paradiso, sei il mio grande sospiro, molto più delle nozze, della laurea, di ogni promozione, di ogni ricchezza, grandezza, onorificenza …’

La felicità del paradiso è partecipare allo stesso amore di Dio che ama (Padre), che è amato (Figlio) e che è Amore (Spirito Santo).

Santa Teresa d’Avila  racconta nelle sue opere:  ‘Mentre partecipavo a Messa vidi il corpo glorioso di Gesù.  Era di una bellezza e di una maestà incomparabili.  Se in cielo ci fosse solo il godimento della bellezza dei corpi gloriosi, se ne avrebbe una beatitudine immensa.  Gesù si mostrò a me adattandosi alle mie misere condizioni terrene.  Che cosa sarà in cielo dove si gode il corpo glorioso in tutto il suo splendore?  Io parlo solo del corpo di Gesù, ma che cosa sarà l’anima e che cosa la sua divinità?’ Continua santa Teresa:  ‘Ho visto meraviglie che non so descrivere.  Erano e sono inimmaginabili: la più piccola di esse mi colmava di gioia e mi faceva vedere la vanità e la ridicolezza di tutte le cose terrene.  Un immenso gaudio mi inondava anima e corpo.  Il Signore mi disse:  Vedi, figlia mia, che cosa perde chi si fa mio nemico? Dillo a tutti perché nessuno abbia a ripetere che nessuno mai ha visto il paradiso. Avrei voluto stare sempre lassù.  Le cose della terra mi sembravano spazzatura …  Mi scomparve quella paura strana e istintiva del pensiero della morte.  E’ felicissimo di morire chi serve e ama Dio: in un attimo, e neanche un attimo, si esce da un carcere per andare alla gioia, alla vita, alla soavità, all’amore senza fine.  Là si trova la nostra casa paterna.  In terra siamo in esilio.’

(The Church has always celebrated Ascension Day on the 40th day after Easter Sunday and it always falls on a Thursday. It marks the end of Rogationtide.
Ten days after Ascension Day is Pentecost which marks the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in prayer with Our Lady).

Unity of the Faith

There are many reasons which show the necessity for an authoritative tribunal if the words of the Apostle ‘One Lord, one faith’ (Eph 4:5) are to be realized in every age and in the uttermost parts of the world.

Human nature is and always will be the same. Man is inclined to be independent in his views and tries to force his ideas on others, until he is shown to be evidently wrong. Nor does he sometimes stop even then. He persists in his error and resists the known truth, thus sinning against the Holy Spirit.

There will always be scandals in the Church, but Christ said ‘Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come, but nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh’ (Matt 18:7). God, however, permits this evil, that the faith of the elect may be strengthened. ‘Power is made perfect in infirmity’ (2 Cor 12:9).

This is especially true of our own times. All manner of literature floods the world. There are too many people who consider themselves the judges of everyone and of everything. Teachers of all kinds raise their chair of pestilence in every corner of our cities and villages. Perhaps the grand old Church is still there, or it has just made its appearance. Its doors are open. But most people pass by and go to hear those who suit their passions and inclinations. New fads are the order of the day. Wind and pride are sown in their hearts. Very little is left of the old and eternal truths, which Christ and the Apostles proclaimed to the world. ‘For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine – but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables’ (2 Tim 4:3).

Thus is Christianity divided and subdivided. The books of Revelation are made the anvil of centuries, on which every Christian is allowed to pound at his own pleasure. Should not such a condition of things open the eyes of all Christians and make them realize the necessity of a living tribunal, to which Christ has committed the sacred right and duty of keeping intact, at any cost, the Deposit of Faith? ‘Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, in all patience and doctrine’ (2 Tim 4:2).

But the world does not want Christ. Nations and societies are governed by their own laws. Living judges are appointed to interpret a dead-letter code of laws or by-laws, and their decisions are final and binding. The same treatment is not accorded the Church by those same children of the world. Are not perhaps the Scriptures and the laws made by man equally a dead letter in themselves? The Scriptures are indeed the Word of God but at the same time, they need living interpreters. If the laws of man, made by man and for man, need living and authoritative inter-preters for their enforce-ment, how much more does the Word of God need interpreters to explain it without error and enforce it with authority?

If the Scriptures are clear to understand, why did Martin Luther and his imitators make new catechisms of Christian doctrine? Why are libraries filled with innumerable books of interpretations, explanations and commentaries? Above all, why are there any churches where the Scriptures are explained, if the Scriptures are sufficient? And if there should be a church, why so many churches, of so many denominations, in every city and in every town?

If there is a clear statement in the Scriptures which all Christians should endeavor to put into execution, it is certainly the desire which Christ expressed in His prayer to the Eternal Father on the eve of His Passion and Death, ‘That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee – that they also may be one in us’ (John 17:21).

What else do such words mean than that all Christ’s followers should first of all have the same faith? – ‘One Lord, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph 4:5).

Unfortunately, there are too many controversies which agitate and divide Christianity. How are they to be settled? If there must be a judge, can it be the Scriptures? Can the Scriptures speak and pronounce the sentence in such unmistakable terms that both litigants know who is right and who is wrong? Well did the old Roman wisdom proclaim more than 2000 years ago: ‘No one is judge in his own case’. Hence, it was not to the Scriptures, but to Peter and his successors that Christ said ‘confirm thy brethren’ (Like 22:32). Tertullian declared that ‘Religious controversies should not and cannot be settled only by the Scriptures because, not only does the Apostle forbid such disputes among Christians, but also because they bear no fruit. Avoid foolish questions (Titus 3:9) and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. For they are unprofitable and vain. What good will it do if what you will defend shall be denied – or on the contrary, what you will deny shall be defended? You will certainly lose nothing but your voice in the contention – you will gain nothing but bile from the blasphemy ‘ (Tertull. Prescript, XV). And he comes to the following unanswerable conclusion: ‘We must not have recourse to, nor constitute a fight on the Scriptures, in which victory is uncertain or none at all but the order of things required to be first proposed, and what is now only to be disputed: To whom belongs the Faith itself, whose are the Scriptures? By whom, and through whom, and when, and to whom was the authority to teach delivered, by which men are made Christians? For where the true Christian discipline and doctrine are shown to be, there will also be the truth of the Scriptures and of their interpretation and of all Christian Tradition’ (Tertull. C. XIX).

A living, infallible tribunal is therefore essential and necessary to keep intact, not only the Deposit of Faith and to propose it without error, but also to keep everywhere and at all times the Unity of the Faith, which is so essential in the Religion of Christ.

Non ti dimenticherò mai

Dio è Padre. In queste tre parole è contenuta tutta la grandezza della divina misericordia. Per essere più precisi: Dio non è solo un padre, ma un padre e una madre allo stesso tempo.

L’amore paterno è quello che si destina a chi non esiste ancora, desiderando ardentemente di dargli la vita. E’ l’amore che avvolge il bambino con la sua forza, dopo averlo generato – l’amore che veglia in tutti gli istanti del giorno e della notte, previene tutti i pericoli, appoggia tutti i piccoli passi di questo essere fragile che tenta di camminare, lo dirige, lo sostiene, si fa piccolo con questo piccolo, in attesa del momento di farsi eroico e di immolarsi, se necessario – l’amore che a volte punisce, molto più spesso perdona, e non punisce se non per far meritare il perdono – l’amore che ama fino all’ultimo e che, disprezzato, insultato, maledetto, accompagna, nonostante tutto, fino all’estremo e con uno sguardo di tenero affetto, il figlio cattivo e colpevole – l’amore, infine, ultimo tocco che conclude il quadro, che dimentica il proprio onore di padre oltraggiato, i propri diritti profanati con la più nera ingratitudine, con la più indegna condotta, per correre, lui, l’offeso, verso l’offensore, se vede da lontano il figliol prodigo che torna da lui pentito.

Ecco l’amore paterno, tale quale la natura lo concede ai veri cuori di padre su questa terra.

Ma Dio ha la sua maniera di essere padre e madre nel contempo, che eccede infinitamente tutto questo. Nemo tam pater, tam mater nemo: nessuno è padre, nessuno è madre come Lui. Egli stesso ci dice, per mezzo della più brillante voce dei profeti dell’Antico Testamento, Isaia: ‘Si dimentica forse una donna del suo bambino, così da non commuoversi per il figlio delle sue viscere? Anche se queste donne si dimenticassero, io invece non ti dimenticherò mai’ (Is 49:15).

The gift of Love for God

In an address that is classical, St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians:  ‘Be zealous for better gifts. And I show you a more excellent way’. He then bursts into a paean of praise for charity, which is the best gift and the most excellent way, and finishes with the assertion: ‘And now there remain faith, hope and charity, these three – but the greatest of these is charity’. But not only is charity the most excellent, it is also the one essential virtue and way, for he writes: ‘If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing! And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing’.

Those are St. Paul’s words – they are also the words of God, who is the author of all the inspired Scripture. There is no evading their meaning – it is quite clear. No matter what we do, unless we do it in the love of God, it profits us nothing. God wants our love, He will be satisfied with nothing else. That is what He principally looks for in our works. The things we do or achieve are not of primary value to God, for He can create them by a mere thought – or with just as much ease He can raise up other free agents to do what we do. But the love of our hearts is something unique, something no one else can give Him. True, He could create other hearts to love Him, but once He has created us and given us free will, the love of our particular heart is something unique and in a way irreplaceable. In any case, it is not for His own sake that He wants our love, but because He desires to make us happy with Him for ever, and He can only do that if we are in love with Him.

It might seem that that is something beyond our power or choice. One speaks in human relationship of ‘falling in love’ – it is not, as it were, something deliberate, something that can be done at will. That peculiar acquiring of a new and special interest in another person, and the develop-ment of a new power to love that person, which raises the whole level of the life of a man or woman and opens the door to the highest form of human happiness, seems to be something fortuitous, an accident, a stroke of luck. Whether that be so or not, there is a very close analogy between the human and the divine. But there is one important difference in regard to the love of God. There, instead of speaking of a soul falling in love, it would be nearer the truth if one spoke of love falling into the soul. For God gives us the love with which we are to love Him – more than that, He gives us the gift of wisdom, by which we acquire a taste and a relish for God and for His friendship and His ways. Both the love and the wisdom come from God – this will help us to understand the otherwise seemingly harsh treatment of the guest who, in the Gospel parable, came to the wedding-feast, without the ceremonial garment. Unless one realizes that such garments were provided by the host, one will not understand the host’s resentment at the guest’s refusal to avail of his kindness, and one will completely miss the parallel with the man who comes to the service of God without love in his heart.

For if there is one gift that is to be had for the asking – and there are many – it is the gift of love for God.

Partecipare con fervore

La vera partecipazione attiva alla Santa Messa è quella che ci rende vittime immolate come Gesù, che ottiene lo scopo di ‘riprodurre in noi i lineamenti dolorosi di Gesù’ (Pio XII), dandoci ‘la comunanza dei patimenti di Cristo e la conformità alla Sua Morte’ (Fil 3:10). San Gregorio Magno insegnava: ‘Il Sacrificio dell’altare sarà per noi un’Ostia veramente accetta a Dio, quando noi stessi ci faremo Ostia’. Per questo nelle antiche comunità cristiane i fedeli, per la celebrazione della Santa Messa, con a testa il Papa, si recavano in processione all’altare in abiti di penitenza, cantando le litanie dei Santi. Effettivamente, nell’andare a Messa, noi dovremmo ripetere con San Tommaso Apostolo: ‘Andiamo anche noi a morire con Lui’ (Gv 11:16).

Quando Santa Margherita Alacoque ascoltava la Santa Messa, guardando l’altare, non mancava mai di dare un’occhiata al Crocifisso (sempre al centro) e alle molte candele accese. Perché? Per imprimersi bene due cose nella mente e nel cuore: Il Crocifisso le ricordava quel che Gesù aveva fatto per lei, le candele accese le ricordavano quel che lei doveva fare per Gesù, ossia: sacrificarsi e consumarsi per Lui e per le anime.

Ogni giorno il re di Francia, San Luigi IX, ascoltava la Santa Messa in ginocchio, sul nudo pavimento. Un valletto una volta gli offrì un inginocchiatoio, ma il re gli disse: ‘Nella Messa Iddio si immola, e quando Dio si Immola anche i re si inginocchiano sul pavimento’.

Per partecipare così alla Santa Messa, il modo più semplice e fruttuoso è quello di impegnarsi a seguire attentamente il Sacerdote all’altare con l’aiuto del proprio messale. Così si vinceranno più facilmente le distrazioni e la noia (né la domenica si andrà in cerca – come fanno molti – della Messa più breve e più animata perché non vedono l’ora che finisca!).

Un giorno il papà di Guido di Fontgalland chiese al figliolo in che modo occupare tutto il tempo della Messa. ‘Durante la Santa Messa – rispose il santo ragazzo – la sola occupazione è di seguirla. Basta leggere con il Sacerdote le preghiere che egli recita all’altare, sono bellissime …’ E’ la stessa risposta che San Pio X diede a chi voleva sapere quali preghiere recitare durante la Santa Messa: ‘Seguite la Santa Messa, dite le preghiere della Messa!’

Anche San Pio da Pietrelcina, che amava la Messa di sempre più di ogni cosa, diceva spesso: ‘Nell’assistere alla Santa Messa accentra tutto te stesso al tremendo mistero che si sta svolgendo sotto i tuoi occhi: la Redenzione della tua anima e la riconciliazione con Dio’. Una volta gli venne chiesto: ‘Padre, come mai lei piange tanto durante la Messa?’ ‘Figlia mia’ – rispose Padre Pio – ‘che cosa sono quelle poche lacrime di fronte a ciò che avviene sull’altare? Torrenti di lacrime ci vorrebbero!’ E un’altra volta ancora gli fu detto: ‘Padre, quanto le tocca soffrire a stare per tutta la Messa in piedi, poggiato sulle piaghe sanguinanti dei piedi!’ e lui rispose: ‘Durante la Messa non sto in piedi – sto appeso’. Che risposta! Le due parole ‘sto appeso’ esprimono fortemente al vivo quell’essere ‘concrocifisso con Cristo’ di cui parla San Paolo (Gal 2:19) e che distingue la vera e piena partecipazione alla Messa dalla partecipazione vana, alla carlona, magari chiassosa.

Bellissimo è anche il piccolo episodio che si legge nella vita di San Benedetto. Un giorno, durante la Santa Messa, appena pronunziate le parole : ‘Hoc est  enim corpus meum’, San Benedetto udì una risposta proveniente dall’Ostia appena consacrata: ‘E’ anche il tuo, Benedetto!’ La vera partecipazione alla Santa Messa ci deve rendere ostia con l’Ostia.

Quando si è compreso che la Santa Messa ha un valore infinito, non fanno più meraviglia l’amore e la premura dei Santi nell’ascoltarla ogni giorno, anzi nell’ascoltarne ogni giorno più che potevano. Sempre Padre Pio un giorno disse ad un penitente: ‘Se gli uomini comprendessero il valore della Santa Messa, ad ogni Messa ci vorrebbero i carabinieri per tenere in ordine le folle di gente nelle Chiese’.

A Chinese Legend

Once upon a time, in the heart of the Western Kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. And there in the cool of the day was the Master of the Garden wont to walk. Of all the denizens of the garden, the most beautiful and most beloved was a gracious and noble bamboo. Year after year, Bamboo grew yet more noble and gracious, conscious of his Master’s love and watchful delight, but modest, and gentle withal. And often, when Wind came to revel in the garden, Bamboo would cast aside his grave stateliness, to dance and play right merrily, tossing and swaying and leaping and bowing in joyous abandon, leading the Great Dance of the Garden which most delighted the Master’s heart.

Now upon a day, the Master himself drew near to contemplate his Bamboo with eyes of curious expectancy. And Bamboo, in a passion of adoration, bowed his great head to the ground in loving greeting. The Master spoke: “Bamboo, Bamboo, I would use thee.”

Bamboo flung his head to the sky in utter delight. The day of days had come, the day for which he had been made, the day to which he had been growing hour by hour, the day in which he would find his completion and his destiny. His voice came low:

“Master, I am ready. Use me as thou wilt.”

“Bamboo ” — the Master ‘s voice was grave — “l would fain take thee and — cut thee down.”

A trembling of a great horror shook Bamboo. “Cut … me … down! Me … whom thou, Master, hast made the most beautiful in all thy garden … to cut me down! Ah, not that, not that. Use me for thy joy, 0 Master, but cut me not down.”

“Beloved Bamboo” — the Master’s voice grew graver still — “if I cut thee not down, I cannot use thee.”

The garden grew still. Wind held his breath. Bamboo slowly bent his proud and glorious head. There came a whisper:

“Master, if thou canst not use me but thou cut me down … then … do thy will and cut.”

“Bamboo, beloved Bamboo, I would … cut thy leaves and branches from thee also.”

“Master, Master, spare me. Cut me down and lay my beauty in the dust; but wouldst thou take from me my leaves and branches also?”

“Bamboo, alas, if I cut them not away, I cannot use thee.” The sun hid his face. A listening butterfly glided fearfully away.

And Bamboo shivered in terrible expectancy, whispering low.

“Master, cut away.”

“Bamboo, Bamboo, I would yet … cleave thee in twain and cut out thine heart, for if I cut not so, I cannot use thee.”

Then was Bamboo bowed to the ground.

“Master, Master … then cut and cleave.”

So did the Master of the Garden take Bamboo and cut him down and hack off his branches and strip off his leaves and cleave him in twin and cut out his heart. And lifting him gently, carried him to where was a spring of fresh, sparkling water in the midst of his dry fields. Then pulling one end of broken Bamboo in the spring and the other end into the water channel in his field, the Master laid down gently his beloved Bamboo. And the spring sang welcome and the clear sparkling waters raced joyously down the channel of Bamboo’s torn body into the wailing fields. Then the rice was planted, and the days went by, and the shoots grew and the harvest came.

In that day was Bamboo, once so glorious in his stately beauty, yet more glorious in his brokenness and humility. For in his beauty he was life abundant, but in his brokenness he became a channel of abundant life to his Master’s world.

from The Book of Songs, Waley (author unknown)

Maggio – il Mese della Madonna

In questo mese, riflettendo su ognuno dei momenti su Maria raccontati nei Vangeli, potremo avviare quel confronto tra la storia della vocazione della Madre di Dio e la nostra storia di vocazione.

Forse vi chiederete: è legittimo riferire a un semplice fedele l’avventura spirituale di Maria?

Risponde un santo monaco contemporaneo di Bernardo, Isacco, terzo abate del Monastero della Stella:

‘Ogni anima fedele può essere considerata, nella sua maniera propria, sposa del Verbo di Dio e madre di Cristo, figlia e sorella, vergine e feconda’ e il santo abate conclude: ‘Erede del Signore in modo universale è la Chiesa, in modo speciale Maria, in modo particolare ciascuna anima fedele’ (Universaliter Ecclesia).

Non è dunque una presunzione confrontare la nostra storia di vocazione con quella di Maria – è invece una precisa esigenza della vita spirituale di ogni cristiano.

An incomprehensible reality

The central doctrine of the Catholic faith is the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

‘The history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the plan by which God, true and one, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, reveals Himself to men, and reconciles and unites with himself those turned away from sin’ (Vatican General Catechetical Directory).

Three distinct persons, ONE GOD

The Holy Trinity is in the strictest sense of the word a mystery of faith. It is one of those incomprehensible realities that the First Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith describes as ‘hidden in God which, unless divinely revealed, could not come to be known’.

The fact that incomprehensible realities such as the Trinity can be grasped only by faith is in no way an affront to human reason. Divine mysteries are not contrary to human reason, nor are they incompatible with rational thought. Even in our relationship with other human persons, we must fall back upon faith – a form of human faith – to know the truth of their inmost lives and their love for us. When we speak of the inner life of God, it is a life so far beyond us that we can never completely and fully comprehend its true meaning. But, through faith, we can nonetheless be aware of the truth that God tells us about himself.

Centuries ago, St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that ‘it is impossible to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ without faith in the Trinity, for the mystery of Christ includes that the Son of God took flesh, that he renewed the world through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and again, that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit’. Obviously, we could not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and true God sent by the Father if we did not believe in the plurality of persons in one God. Neither would we be able to understand the meaning of eternal life, nor the grace that leads to it, without believing in the Trinity, for grace and eternal life are a sharing in the life of the most Holy Trinity.

The importance of the Trinity in Catholic teaching is evident from the beginning of the Church. When Christ sent the apostles forth to go and ‘make disciples of all nations’, He instructed them to baptize in the name of the Trinity:  ‘baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matt 28:19). From the earliest centuries of the Church and in the most ancient professions of faith, we find a belief in the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Athanasian Creed which dates from the fourth century, declares: ‘No the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity … the Father is a distinct person, the Son is a distinct person, and the Holy Spirit is a distinct person, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory and co-eternal majesty’.

The doctrine of the Trinity was not revealed with full clarity at the very beginning of God’s revelation to us. Only gradually, step by step, did God make known to His people the mystery of His inner life. What the New Testament teaches us is captured with clarity and reverence in the statements of the early councils of the Church that we use today: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed.

The preface for the Mass on Holy Trinity Sunday summarizes our belief in what God has told us about Himself: ‘We joyfully proclaim our faith in the mysteries of your Godhead. You have revealed your glory as the glory also of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory’ (Roman Missal).

La sofferenza

L’uomo non sceglie la sofferenza, ma ne può fare una pietra o un’ala.

Why?

‘It is absurd to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything’ G. K. Chesterton.

Among the first things one notices when he studies earnestly and extensively in a given field is that the experts in that field frequently contradict one another. I refer here not merely to a complementary diversity of approach and conclusion (this diversity is also present) but to logical contradictions. That is, what one scholar affirms another denies in the same sense and meaning.

Astronomers disagree among themselves as to the age of the universe, and the disagreement is not slight. The usual estimate lies somewhere between fifteen and eighteen billion years, but recent astronomers consider this estimate a mistake. They place the age at about nine billion years.  If this latter opinion is correct, it will upset many other theories about the age of the stars and the development of visible creation. Many astrophysicists, perhaps the large majority of them, hold that there are such things in space as black holes, and that the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in our galaxy is a real possibility. Now comes along a group of American scientists, Frank Tipler et al., who say that the way atomic particles behave predicts either that black holes will never be formed, or if they do form they will explode immediately and catastrophically. Tipler et al. likewise deny the possibility that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the galaxy.  A scientific periodical tells us that ‘in the past decade virtually everything that was supposedly known about the sun has been cast in doubt – from the fires that warm its heart to the explosions that rack its outer layers’ (Discover magazine ‘The Sun turns savage’ by D. Overbye). There are many more examples and my purpose is not to decide who is right and who is wrong in all these matters but simply to show that disagreements among experts is common indeed.

For years and years scientists have proclaimed the Darwinian explanation of evolution as being undoubtedly true, and they dismissed as benighted anyone who suggested otherwise. Now we find among the most prominent in the field many who are sure that Darwin’s explanation just does not fit the evidence of the paleontological record and have proved it.  Today, a large number of proponents of evolution (not only the sizeable group of scientists who reject it) hold that the paleontological strata by no means support the idea of gradual change. These researchers now can openly prove that what the strata do show is the sudden appearance of new forms complete according to their kind, some slight changes among some species with no intermediate forms and the unchanged perdurance of many species over millions of years, even to thirty and seventy million years.

All this is of course totally incompatible with Darwin’s explanation, then why hasn’t this fact yet filtered down into the popular literature and ordinary school textbooks?

Sanctum Rosarium

Next to the cross itself, the most ubiquitous symbol of Catholic devotion is probably the rosary. Usually, in the shorter five-decade form, ‘the beads’ are the basis for the private prayer life of countless millions of people throughout the Church in every land.  

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we learn that ‘medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours’. In fact, in a concise and miniature re-presentation of the Liturgy of the Hours and the liturgy calendar, the rosary takes us through the mysteries of Christ’s redemption. We make the journey mystery by mystery.  While reciting a decade of the rosary, one is expected to meditate on the particular mystery for that decade and on its meaning in our life. Thus we proceed bead by bead, using the words in the New Testament to engage us as we turn our mind and heart to the mystery before us.

The rosary is an exceptionally versatile instrument of prayer. It can be prayed privately as an individual or collectively as a small community. It combines vocal prayer with meditation and can be utilized in almost any setting. I find, as do so many others, that reciting the rosary while driving not only converts a time-consuming activity into a moment of communion with God, but also helps reduce the frustrations and temptations to impatience and anger that are increasingly a part of driving in urban settings.

There is a long-standing tradition in the Church that encourages us to offer each decade of the rosary for a particular intention. In this way we are able to call to mind and place before God our needs and those of our loved ones, our petitions for the good of the Church and our human community. Perhaps you might frequently include as an intention for one of your decades the intentions of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

Durante un ricevimento di nobili inglesi a cui erano stati invitati anche famosi artisti e, tra questi, il compositore Joseph Haydn, venne discusso, tra le altre cose, il problema sul modo con cui un artista si dispone a creare in se e intorno a se l’atmosfera adatta per comporre un’opera d’arte, sia essa un dipinto o una poesia o un brano di musica.

‘Io devo bere almeno una caraffa di vecchio vino d’Oporto’, disse un pittore paesaggista inglese d’alto rango e fama, ‘dopodichè mi sento in forma’. Un altro invitato, un noto pittore scozzese, esclamò: ‘Io ho bisogno di qualche bicchiere di Champagne, poi … nella mia mente spuntano le migliori trovate’. Finalmente fu la volta di Haydn, il geniale creatore di composizioni musicali. Era considerato l’artista più ragguardevole in quel convegno, una vera perla di inestimabile valore. Tutti erano impazienti di conoscere a quali mezzi stimolanti ricorresse il maestro prima di accingersi alla creazione di un’opera d’arte.

Haydn esitava a rispondere, ben sapendo che tra i convenuti c’erano aristocratici frivoli e artisti di vario livello. Ma poi, tutto cerimonioso, infilò la mano destra nella giacca e mostrò ai presenti molto sorpresi, un rosario. ‘Io’, disse con semplicità e modestia, ‘sono solito a pregare prima di mettermi a comporre’.

Colonna e sostegno della Verità

Non possiamo non ammirare e riflettere su quanto sia bello che Dio abbia dotato la Chiesa di una voce infallibile, che trasmette la verità cristallina, evitandole di naufragare nella tempesta di opinioni e pareri personali, disordinati e disarmonici, che succede quando non si segue la verità. Qualcuno dirà che questo costituisce un appoggio, e un altro più audace dirà che il dogma limita la libertà. Niente di più contrario alla realtà. Qual è l’insensato capace di affermare che le leggi del traffico schiavizzano gli autisti e gli coartano la ‘libertà’ di entrare in collisione con altri veicoli o di investire i pedoni? E chi non vede l’utilità del corrimano sulle scale per evitare gli incidenti?

Per questo, Dio si è degnato di adornare la Sua Chiesa, ‘colonna e sostegno della verità’ (1 Tm 3:15), con il gioiello prezioso che è l’infallibilità papale, grazie alla quale sappiamo e crediamo che il Sommo Pontefice, assistito direttamente dallo Spirito Santo, non si sbaglia in materia di Fede e di morale. Questo dà alla Chiesa un fondamento solido come una roccia. Anche se la tempesta minaccia di sommergerla, possiamo confidare nella sua continuità, poiché non trascurerà di compiere la parola del Signore secondo la quale le porte dell’inferno non prevarranno contro di lei (Mt 16:18).

Solo nella verità e nell’amore – in una parola, solamente in Dio – la creatura umana può soddisfare la fame e la sete di pienezza che porta in se stessa. Lontano da Dio si trovano solo tenebre, errore e confusione. Abbiamo bisogno di riconoscere che siamo deboli, limitati e contingenti – la nostra intelligenza, con il peccato originale, si è oscurata e la nostra volontà  è diventata incline al male. Tuttavia, Dio, nella Sua misericordia, ha disposto la soluzione e ci ha concesso con infinita generosità tutti i mezzi di cui abbiamo bisogno per raggiungere la felicità alla quale aneliamo. Senza dubbio, fin tanto che il cuore degli uomini non si volgerà verso il suo Creatore e Signore, non troverà la pace, la tranquillità, la felicità – infatti, come ha detto Sant’Agostino: ‘Ci hai fatti per Te e inquieto è il nostro cuore, fin tanto che non riposa in Te’.

Chi ci deve condurre alla Verità è lo Spirito Santo, secondo la promessa di Cristo agli Apostoli: ‘Ma quando verrà il Paraclito, lo Spirito della Verità, vi insegnerà tutta la verità, perché non parlerà per se, ma dirà che cosa ascoltare, e vi annuncerà le cose a venire’ (Mt 26:13)

La stella che ci guida fino al porto della Verità è la Vergine Immacolata. Ella ci indica come procedere, come nelle nozze di Cana, quando ha detto ai servi: ‘Fate tutto quello che vi dirà’ (Gv 2:5). Questa semplice frase riassume tutto l’itinerario cristiano. Fare quello che Gesù ci dice, come Maria, che custodiva tutte le Sue parole e le meditava nel Suo cuore (Lc 2:19).

The Eden of touch

We share a hymnal at Sunday Mass
Shoulders rubbing, heads leaning
Together toward each other

Our eyes meet in “Panis Angelicus”
I touch her bare arm in “Jubilate Domino”
We smile through Latin hymns

And the slow dour notes of the organ
Lighten for a moment with the sound
Of her voice singing soft and fragile

God the almighty lives at
That instant in the sweetness
Of words sung in her whisper

And I am filled with prayers of thanksgiving
For that Eve and this Adam
In the Eden of touch

(by Doug Tanoury)