Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 329

The Mystery at the Center of Our Faith

Articles and reflections on the meaning of the Cross of Jesus Christ:

The Mystery at the Center of Our Faith | Hans Urs von Balthasar | The Introduction to To the Heart of the Mystery of Redemption | Ignatius Insight

All over the world, the best young people are seeking God. They would like to discover the paths where they can meet him, where they can experience him, where they can be challenged by him. They are tired of sociological and psychological expedients, of all the banal substitutes for the truly miraculous.

  In order to respond to their desire—which corresponds, moreover, to that of true Christians of all ages—let us not delay: let us be spiritual men who live and know how to hand on the extraordinary mystery that is at the center of our faith, the mystery without which all Christianity becomes trivial and, thereby, ineffective.

At the center of our faith: the Cross

"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2): there you have Paul's plan of action. Why? Because the entire Credo of the early Church was focused on the interpretation of the appalling end of Jesus, of the Cross, as having been brought about pro nobis, for us; Paul even says: for each one of us, thus, for me.

"The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20).

What effect can such an act of love have? Is it a manifestation of solidarity? But if I suffer from cancer, what good does it do me if someone else lets himself be stricken by the same illness in order to keep me company? In order to understand the original faith, we must certainly go beyond the simple concept of solidarity.

For the early Church, this "going beyond" was justified after the experience of the Resurrection. Far from being a private event in the history of Jesus, it is the attestation on God's part that this crucified Jesus is truly the advent of the kingdom of God, of the pardon offaults, of the justification of the sinner, of filial adoption.

Well, then, what did happen on the Cross?

Read the entire piece.

Also see:

• The Question of Suffering, the Response of the Cross | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Cross--For Us | Hans Urs von Balthasar
• The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba Marmion
• The Cross and The Holocaust | Regis Martin
• The Paradox of Good Friday | Carl E. Olson

John Paul II about the Cross of Christ: "Believing in this love means believing in mercy."

One of my favorite passages from the many writings of Pope John Paul II:

V.  THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

7. Mercy Revealed in the Cross and Resurrection

The messianic message of Christ and His activity among people end with the cross and resurrection. We have to penetrate deeply into this final event-which especially in the language of the Council is defined as the Mysterium Paschale - if we wish to express in depth the truth about mercy, as it has been revealed in depth in the history of our salvation. At this point of our considerations, we shall have to draw closer still to the content of the encyclical Redemptor hominis. If, in fact, the reality of the Redemption, in its human dimension, reveals the unheard - of greatness of man, qui talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem, fidelity of the Creator and Father towards human beings, created in His image and chosen from "the beginning," in this Son, for grace and glory.

The events of Good Friday and, even before that, in prayer in Gethsemane, introduce a fundamental change into the whole course of the revelation of love and mercy in the messianic mission of Christ. The one who "went about doing good and healing" and "curing every sickness and disease" now Himself seems to merit the greatest mercy and to appeal for mercy, when He is arrested, abused, condemned, scourged, crowned with thorns, when He is nailed to the cross and dies amidst agonizing torments. It is then that He particularly deserves mercy from the people to whom He has done good, and He does not receive it. Even those who are closest to Him cannot protect Him and snatch Him from the hands of His oppressors. At this final stage of His messianic activity the words which the prophets, especially Isaiah, uttered concerning the Servant of Yahweh are fulfilled in Christ: "Through his stripes we are healed."

Christ, as the man who suffers really and in a terrible way in the Garden of Olives and on Calvary, addresses Himself to the Father- that Father whose love He has preached to people, to whose mercy He has borne witness through all of His activity. But He is not spared - not even He-the terrible suffering of death on the cross: For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin," St. Paul will write, summing up in a few words the whole depth of the cross and at the same time the divine dimension of the reality of the Redemption. Indeed this Redemption is the ultimate and definitive revelation of the holiness of God, who is the absolute fullness of perfection: fullness of justice and of love, since justice is based on love, flows from it and tends towards it. In the passion and death of Christ-in the fact that the Father did not spare His own Son, but "for our sake made him sin" - absolute justice is expressed, for Christ undergoes the passion and cross because of the sins of humanity. This constitutes even a "superabundance" of justice, for the sins of man are "compensated for" by the sacrifice of the Man-God. Nevertheless, this justice, which is properly justice "to God's measure," springs completely from love: from the love of the Father and of the Son, and completely bears fruit in love. Precisely for this reason the divine justice revealed in the cross of Christ is "to God's measure," because it springs from love and is accomplished in love, producing fruits of salvation. The divine dimension of redemption is put into effect not only by bringing justice to bear upon sin, but also by restoring to love that creative power in man thanks also which he once more has access to the fullness of life and holiness that come from God. In this way, redemption involves the revelation of mercy in its fullness.

The Paschal Mystery is the culmination of this revealing and effecting of mercy, which is able to justify man, to restore justice in the sense of that salvific order which God willed from the beginning in man and, through man, in the world. The suffering Christ speaks in a special way to man, and not only to the believer. The non-believer also will be able to discover in Him the eloquence of solidarity with the human lot, as also the harmonious fullness of a disinterested dedication to the cause of man, to truth and to love. And yet the divine dimension of the Paschal Mystery goes still deeper. The cross on Calvary, the cross upon which Christ conducts His final dialogue with the Father, emerges from the very heart of the love that man, created in the image and likeness of God, has been given as a gift, according to God's eternal plan. God, as Christ has revealed Him, does not merely remain closely linked with the world as the Creator and the ultimate source of existence. He is also Father: He is linked to man, whom He called to existence in the visible world, by a bond still more intimate than that of creation. It is love which not only creates the good but also grants participation in the very life of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For he who loves desires to give himself.

The cross of Christ on Calvary stands beside the path of that admirable commercium, of that wonderful self-communication of God to man, which also includes the call to man to share in the divine life by giving himself, and with himself the whole visible world, to God, and like an adopted son to become a sharer in the truth and love which is in God and proceeds from God. It is precisely beside the path of man's eternal election to the dignity of being an adopted child of God that there stands in history the cross of Christ, the only - begotten Son, who, as "light from light, true God from true God," came to give the final witness to the wonderful covenant of God with humanity, of God with man - every human being This covenant, as old as man - it goes back to the very mystery of creation - and afterwards many times renewed with one single chosen people, is equally the new and definitive covenant, which was established there on Calvary, and is not limited to a single people, to Israel, but is open to each and every individual.

What else, then, does the cross of Christ say to us, the cross that in a sense is the final word of His messianic message and mission? And yet this is not yet the word of the God of the covenant: that will be pronounced at the dawn when first the women and then the Apostles come to the tomb of the crucified Christ, see the tomb empty and for the first time hear the message: "He is risen." They will repeat this message to the others and will be witnesses to the risen Christ. Yet, even in this glorification of the Son of God, the cross remains, that cross which-through all the messianic testimony of the Man the Son, who suffered death upon it - speaks and never ceases to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely faithful to His eternal love for man, since He "so loved the world" - therefore man in the world-that "he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Believing in the crucified Son means "seeing the Father," means believing that love is present in the world and that this love is more powerful than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are involved. Believing in this love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensable dimension of love; it is as it were love's second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in which love is revealed and effected vis-a-vis the reality of the evil that is in the world, affecting and besieging man, insinuating itself even into his heart and capable of causing him to "perish in Gehenna."

From the encyclical, Dives in misericordia (par. 7), written in 1980.

"I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer"

... With these words Jesus began the celebration of his final meal and the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus approached that hour with eager desire. In his heart he awaited the moment when he would give himself to his own under the appearance of bread and wine. He awaited that moment which would in some sense be the true messianic wedding feast: when he would transform the gifts of this world and become one with his own, so as to transform them and thus inaugurate the transformation of the world.

In this eager desire of Jesus we can recognize the desire of God himself – his expectant love for mankind, for his creation. A love which awaits the moment of union, a love which wants to draw mankind to itself and thereby fulfil the desire of all creation, for creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:19).

Jesus desires us, he awaits us. But what about ourselves? Do we really desire him? Are we anxious to meet him? Do we desire to encounter him, to become one with him, to receive the gifts he offers us in the Holy Eucharist? Or are we indifferent, distracted, busy about other things? From Jesus' banquet parables we realize that he knows all about empty places at table, invitations refused, lack of interest in him and his closeness. For us, the empty places at the table of the Lord's wedding feast, whether excusable or not, are no longer a parable but a reality, in those very countries to which he had revealed his closeness in a special way.

Jesus also knew about guests who come to the banquet without being robed in the wedding garment – they come not to rejoice in his presence but merely out of habit, since their hearts are elsewhere. In one of his homilies Saint Gregory the Great asks: Who are these people who enter without the wedding garment? What is this garment and how does one acquire it? He replies that those who are invited and enter do in some way have faith. It is faith which opens the door to them. But they lack the wedding garment of love. Those who do not live their faith as love are not ready for the banquet and are cast out. Eucharistic communion requires faith, but faith requires love; otherwise, even as faith, it is dead.

From all four Gospels we know that Jesus' final meal before his passion was also a teaching moment. Once again, Jesus urgently set forth the heart of his message. Word and sacrament, message and gift are inseparably linked. Yet at his final meal, more than anything else, Jesus prayed. Matthew, Mark and Luke use two words in describing Jesus' prayer at the culmination of the meal: "eucharístesas" and "eulógesas" – the verbs "to give thanks" and "to bless". The upward movement of thanking and the downward movement of blessing go together. The words of transubstantiation are part of this prayer of Jesus. They are themselves words of prayer. Jesus turns his suffering into prayer, into an offering to the Father for the sake of mankind. This transformation of his suffering into love has the power to transform the gifts in which he now gives himself. He gives those gifts to us, so that we, and our world, may be transformed.

The ultimate purpose of Eucharistic transformation is our own transformation in communion with Christ. The Eucharist is directed to the new man, the new world, which can only come about from God, through the ministry of God's Servant.

Read the rest of Pope Benedict XVI's homily at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, Holy Thursday.

The "Who, What, Why, Where, and When" of Easter Triduum

From the Vatican Information Service, remarks from Benedict XVI about the Easter Triduum:

VATICAN CITY, 20 APR 2011 (VIS) - In this morning's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square, the Pope spoke on the Easter Triduum, "the three holy days in which the Church commemorates the mystery of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection".

 Benedict XVI explained that "Holy Thursday is the day that commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and ministerial priesthood. In the morning, each diocesan community, with their bishop, meets at their cathedral church to celebrate the Chrism Mass. ... Priestly vows are also renewed."

 "In the afternoon of Holy Thursday", he continued, "the Easter Triduum truly begins, with the remembrance of the Last Supper at which Jesus instituted the commemoration of his Passion, fulfilling the Jewish paschal ritual. ... Jesus washes the feet of his apostles, inviting them to love one another as He loved them, giving His life for them. Repeating this gesture in the liturgy, we are also called to actively bear witness to our Redeemer's love".

 The Holy Father recalled that Holy Thursday "ends with Eucharistic adoration, in memory of the Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. ... Aware of his imminent death on the cross, he felt a great sorrow".

 Referring to the somnolence of the apostles who accompanied Jesus to the Mount of Olives, the Pope noted that "it was the insensibility for God that makes us insensitive to evil". With his death(the chalice that he had to drink from)., the Lord "felt all the suffering of humanity". His will was subordinated to the will of the Father, his natural will transformed into a 'yes' to God's will".

 Entering into the will of God, he added, "is not slavery but an entering into truth, love, and the good. It is directing our will toward God". The act at Gethsemane is that "Jesus, with his anguish, charged with the drama of humanity, with our suffering and our poverty, transforms it into the will of God and thus opens the gate of heaven".

 Later, referring to Good Friday, the Pope said that this day commemorates "the Lord's passion and death. We adore the crucified Christ, participating in his suffering with our penitence and fasting".

 "Finally, on the night of Holy Saturday, we celebrate the solemn Easter Vigil at which is announced Christ's resurrection, his definitive victory over death, which challenges us to be new persons in Him".

 The Holy Father highlighted that "the standard that guided each of Jesus' decisions during his entire life was his firm desire to love the Father and be faithful to Him. ... On reliving the Holy Triduum", he concluded, "we make ourselves available to welcome God's will into our lives, aware that our true good, the path of our lives, is found in His will. May the Virgin Mother guide us along this path and grant us her divine Son's grace to be able to dedicate our lives, in the love of Jesus, to the service of others".

 During his greetings to the groups present at today's audience, the Pope addressed the 3,000 students participating in the International UNIV Congress sponsored by the Opus Dei prelature. "I hope", he said, "that these Roman day will be the occasion for you to rediscover the person of Christ and a strong ecclesial experience, so that you may return home inspired by the desire to witness to the mercy of the heavenly Father. May your lives thus realize what St. Josemaria Escriva described: "Your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ".

My essay, "The Easter Triduum: Entering Into the Pascal Mystery", is a short guide to the Triduum, focusing especially on the readings:

The liturgical year is a great and ongoing proclamation by the Church of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a celebration of the Mystery of the Word. Through this yearly cycle, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, "the various aspects of the one Paschal mystery unfold"(CCC 1171). The Easter Triduum holds a special place in the liturgical year because it marks the culmination of the yearly celebration in proclaiming the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Latin word triduum refers to a period of three days and has long been used to describe various three-day observances that prepared for a feast day through liturgy, prayer, and fasting. But it is most often used to describe the three days prior to the great feast of Easter: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil. The General Norms for the Liturgical Year state that the Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, "reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday" (par 19).

Just as Sunday is the high point of the week, Easter is the high point of the year. The meaning of the great feast is revealed and anticipated throughout the Triduum, which brings the people of God into contact – through liturgy, symbol, and sacrament – with the central events of the life of Christ: the Last Supper, His trial and crucifixion, His time in the tomb, and His Resurrection from the dead. In this way, "the mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him" (CCC 1169). During these three days of contemplation and anticipation the liturgies emphasize the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross, and the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, by which the faithful enter into the life-giving Passion of Christ and grow in hope of eternal life in Him.

Read the entire essay:

Listen to Fr. Fessio interviewed by Joan Lewis and Fr. Benedict Groeschel

Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder and editor of Ignatius Press, has been giving a lot of interviews lately, talking about Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, and other topics. Here are two more audio interviews, from the EWTN archives:

• "Vatican Insider with Joan Lewis" (April 16, 2011): Fr. Fessio and Lewis talk about YouCat and Pope Benedict's second volume of Jesus of Nazareth.

• "Sunday Night Prime w/ Fr. Benedict Groeschel" (April 17, 2011): Fr. Fessio and Fr. Groeschel discuss Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week.

Watch clips from the DVD, "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?"

Below is an introductory clip from the DVD, "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?", which features a number of noted scholars and authors, including Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., Fr. Ronald Tacelli, S.J., Dr. Tim Gray, Dr. Edward Sri, Dr. Craig Blomberg, Dr. Craig Evans, Dr. Gary Habermas, Johnnette Benkovic, Roy Schoeman, and Dr. Ben Witherington III.

You can also visit the DVD's website for further information, and watch two more clips: clip #2 and clip #3.

 A fascinating, fast-paced, exciting exploration of Jesus' fate, Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? shows how Jesus' Resurrection has consequences for every one of us. If Christ has not been raised, said the Apostle Paul, Christian faith is in vain.

If Christ has not been raised, said the Apostle Paul, Christian faith is in vain. The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is not an incidental or minor aspect of Christianity. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, Christianity is certainly false.

Skeptics have long tried to show that there was no Resurrection. Today, there has been a resurgence of attacks on this central truth of Christianity. Some people claim that the followers of Jesus fabricated the Resurrection. Others argue that the disciples hallucinated or had a "vision" of their dead master, which they confused with a truly risen Jesus. Others still suggest that the Resurrection was a myth or that the apostles may have seen a "spirit" or witnessed a "spiritual resurrection" that had nothing to do with an empty tomb and the transformation of Jesus' dead body.

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? carefully scrutinizes the historical evidence. Rather than accept Christian belief blindly, top scholars and biblical historians critically examine alternative explanations. In the end, they show why it is a matter of sound reason as well as faith to affirm what the early Church proclaimed: Jesus is risen.

A fascinating, fast-paced, exciting exploration of Jesus' fate, Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? shows how Jesus' Resurrection has consequences for every one of us.

Featuring the following scholars and theologians: Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa, Johnnette Benkovic, Craig Blomberg, Ph.D., Craig Evans, Ph.D., Tim Gray, Ph.D., Gary Habermas, Ph.D., Edward Sri, Ph.D., Roy Schoeman, Jesuit Father Ronald Tacelli, and Ben Witherington III, Ph.D.

DVD | 60 minutes | DJR-M | $19.95 .... ORDER TODAY!

"There is an astonishing amount of learning ... gathered here"

George Weigel writes of participating in the station church pilgrimage of Lent in Rome, then says this about the Holy Father's new book:

Along with some classic studies of the liturgy, one new book has been an invaluable companion on this year's station church walk: Pope Benedict XVI's recently published study, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (Ignatius Press). Father Raymond de Souza has written that this second volume of the Pope's projected three-volume masterwork on Jesus firmly establishes Joseph Ratzinger as the most learned man in the world. It's a title the Holy Father would doubtless dismiss with his usual shy smile. A close reading of the book suggests that Father de Souza was not exaggerating.

There is an astonishing amount of learning, distilled over a lifetime of reading and prayerful reflection, gathered here. Benedict XVI is fully in command of contemporary biblical scholarship. Rather than dissecting the biblical text, though, he deploys that critical historical knowledge in a richly theological and spiritual presentation of the Passion narratives that invites the reader into the mystery of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen—and does so in a way that is accessible to everyone.

For which he deserves the gratitude of the entire Christian world.

Read the entire piece, "Companions On the Road to Easter", on the First Things site.

Fr. Lienhard, Fr. Schall, Fr. Barron, and Leonardo Defilippis on "Kresta" today

Quite the line-up on today's "Kresta in the Afternoon", which can be heard online (the shows are also archived):

4:00 – Benedict XVI: Theologian of the Bible
Pope Benedict, a world-class biblical theologian, has recently published the second volume of his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, and just last year promulgated the apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, the most important Catholic document on the Bible since Vatican II's Dei Verbum.  Father Joseph Lienhard is here to explore Benedict's dedication to the Sacred Scriptures as the touchstone for theology.
 
4:40 – Holy Thursday and St. John Vianney – Patron of Priests
Tomorrow, of course, is Holy Thursday, the start of the Solemn Triduum and the day on which we remember the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist and Priesthood. What better time to look at the patron of priests – St. John Vianney. For the 2010 "Year for Priests," Leonardo Defilippis created the one-man show "Vianney." The play focuses on the question, "What is a priest?" and tells the story of St. John Vianney, whose exemplary life was so remarkable that the Pope has named him the patron of the jubilee year for priests, declared him the patron of all the priests of the world. The drama, starring actor and film director Leonardo Defilippis, is playing for packed houses around the country and will be touring SE MI over the next few weeks. We talk with Leonardo.
 
5:00 – Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. Indeed, Benedict maintains that the evidence, fairly considered, brings us face-to-face with the challenge of Jesus-a real man who taught and acted in ways that were tantamount to claims of divine authority, claims not easily dismissed as lunacy or deception. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection is Pope Benedict XVI's follow-up to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordon to the Transfiguration. As we go through this Holy Week, Fr. James Schall is here to take us deeper into the Pope's thoughts on this most sacred week of the year.
 
5:40 – Approaching the Triduum
On Palm Sunday, Matthew showed us that, as Jesus resolutely does his Father's will, myriad forms of human dysfunction--betrayal, sloth, stupidity, violence, scapegoating, corruption--break out around him. This is the salvation story: God's compassionate embrace of sinners. As we continue through Holy Week, Fr. Robert Barron is here to lead us into the Triduuim and toward the culmination of the Christian life at Easter.

"It's the kind of adaptation of the catechism Pope John Paul II intended."

ZENIT talks with Mark Brumley, President of Ignatius Press, about the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church (YOUCAT):

ZENIT: This book aims to adapt the catechism and lessons of the faith for youth, but without watering down the message. In fact, the message is described as being somewhat "tough." Could you say something more about this?

Brumely: One can be so concerned about not morally or intellectually challenging young people, for fear they will reject the faith, that one avoids anything one thinks they'll consider "tough" -- challenging to think about or challenging to live.

That's a mistake, just as it's a mistake to assume that one must never adapt one's presentation of the faith to take into consideration the abilities or the concerns of young people.

Youcat strikes the balance -- it gives substantial content, even though it tries to do so in more youth-accessible language than the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and it uses contemporary photos and graphics. 

ZENIT: The Vatican has also been closely involved in this book's release, and there is a plan to distribute it to all World Youth Day participants in Madrid. What other plans are in place to put this book in the hands of young people?

Brumley: We're working with diocesan offices, parishes, youth ministry organizations, and schools to try to get Youcat into the hands of every Catholic teenager in the United States.

We're developing lesson plans, study guides, and other complementary resources so that Youcat becomes the go-to book for confirmation, Catholic high school formation, and youth ministry and evangelization.

Eventually, we will have many internet resources available for youth and for adults at www.youcat.us.

Read the entire interview, "Catechism Shows Church's Value for Youth" (April, 19, 2011).

A day in the life of the pope

From TIME.com:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI isn't alone in his apartment at the Vatican. Four "guardian angels" help him, and recently there has been an addition to the personnel at his service.

For the past six years, the Pontiff's Vatican apartment has been run by members of the Memores Domini, a lay association whose members practice obedience, poverty and chastity, and who live in a climate of silence and common prayer.

Loredana is the queen of the kitchen, which was renovated in 2005 with onyx countertops and gray shelves. She prepares meals on a big marble table for Benedict, who turns 84 on Saturday, and any invited guests. Pasta dishes are her specialty, including pasta with salmon and zucchini, or rigatoni with prosciutto. She keeps in touch with the Vatican supermarket and chooses which vegetables to get from the garden of Castel Gandolfo, a papal retreat in the hills south of Rome.

Read the entire piece, "At Home with the Pope: Inside Benedict XVI's Daily Life (and Menu)".