"This Pain is Grace, Because It Is Renewal": Off-the-Cuff, the Pope Speaks

WITL ^ | April 15, 2010 | Rocco Palmo

[NYer]

In an extemporaneous homily delivered at a Mass this morning for the Pontifical Biblical Commission, B16 made his first comments on the sex-abuse tempest that's shaken the global church over recent weeks.

The fulltext of pontiff's off-the-cuff reflection to the Vatican's top body of Scripture scholars still to emerge, two early briefs have appeared....

First, from Vatican Radio:

[T]he Holy Father said that in modern times we have seen theorized an idea of man according to which human being would be, “free, autonomous, and nothing else.”

This supposed freedom from everything, including freedom from the duty of obedience to God, “Is a lie,” said Pope Benedict, a falsehood regarding the basic structure of human being – about the way women and men are made to be, “because,” he continued, “human being does not exist on its own, nor does it exist for itself.”

The Pope said it is a political and practical falsehood, as well, because cooperation and sharing of freedoms is a necessary part of social life – and if God does not exist – if He is not a point of reference really accessible to human being, then only prevailing opinion remains and it becomes the final arbiter of all things.

Citing the Nazi and Communist regimes of the 20th century as examples, Pope Benedict said such dictatorships can never accept the notion of a God who is above ideological power – and he also stressed that in the present, there are subtle forms of dictatorship like that of a radical conformism, which can lead to subtle and not-so subtle aggression toward the Church.

The Holy Father also stressed that for Christians, true obedience to God depends on our truly knowing Him, and he warned against the danger of using “obedience to God” as a pretext for following our own desires.

“We have,” he said, “a certain fear of speaking about eternal life.”

“We talk of things that are useful to the world,” continued Pope Benedict, “we show that Christianity can help make the world a better place, but we do not dare say that the end of the world and the goal of Christianity is eternal life – and that the criteria of life in this world come from the goal – this we dare not say.”

We must rather have the courage, the joy, the great hope that there is eternal life, that eternal life is real life and that from this real life comes the light that illuminates this world as well.

The Pope noted that, when we look at things this way, penitence is a grace – even though of late we have sought to avoid this word, too.

Now, under the attacks of the world, which speak to us of our sins, we see that to be able to do penance is a grace – and we see how necessary it is to do penance, that is, to recognize what is wrong in our lives: to recognize one’s sin, to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare for pardon, to allow oneself to be transformed.

The pain of penance, the pain of purification and transformation – this pain is grace, because it is renewal – it is the work of the Divine Mercy.

Pope Benedict concluded his homily with a prayer that our lives might become true life, eternal life, love and truth.

...and a first-post and full report from Catholic News Service:

Recognizing the sins of priests who have sexually abused children, performing penance and asking for forgiveness, the Catholic Church trusts that God will purify and transform the church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"I must say that we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word 'penance,' which seemed too harsh to us. Now, under the attacks of the world that speaks to us of our sins, we see that being able to do penance is a grace," the pope said April 15 in a homily during a Mass with members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

For the record, this morning's comment came two years to the day after Benedict made his first-ever statement on the scandals during a press conference aboard the Papal Plane to Washington for his six-day US tour -- a week which, alongside numerous references to the Stateside church's crisis, included an unprecedented meeting with victim-survivors.

The pontiff marks his 83rd birthday tomorrow, and Monday sees the fifth anniversary of his election to Peter's chair.

[NYer]

Happy Birthday Holy Father!

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

No teleprompter?

Brilliantly put. We must all do penance for these sins. The money the victims get is part of it to help them what little it may. The attacks outside do us a service to force us to look publicly at our sins and now we must/can solve the problem and do penance for God.

Fear not Truth - God is Truth.

[Irisshlass]

They need to get rid of the enemies inside the Church...why is that so hard.

[PatriotGirl827]

Awesome post!

[RobbyS]

The Lord will do the reaping. We must take care that we be fruitful. Butindeed, we must understand that many who profess to believe do not.

[Salvation]

Vultus Christi

The Holy Father Preaches: Grace and Penitence

By

Father Mark

 on April 17, 2010 7:45 AM |

I translated this small section of the spontaneous homily given by the Holy Father on the morning of Thursday, April 15, 2010, during a Mass in the Pauline Chapel with the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. Today we celebrate the Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She who, echoing the preaching of her Son, has called us to penance again and again in her apparitions over the past two hundred years, is also the Mediatrix of the graces of penitence, of compunction, and of trust in Divine Mercy.

La penitenza è grazia; è una grazia che noi riconosciamo il nostro peccato, è una grazia che conosciamo di aver bisogno di rinnovamento, di cambiamento, di una trasformazione del nostro essere.

Penitence is a grace. It is a grace that we recognize our sin, and a grace that we acknowledge our need of renewal, of change, of a transformation of our being.

Penitenza, poter fare penitenza, è il dono della grazia. E devo dire che noi cristiani, anche negli ultimi tempi, abbiamo spesso evitato la parola penitenza, ci appariva troppo dura. Adesso, sotto gli attacchi del mondo che ci parlano dei nostri peccati, vediamo che poter fare penitenza è grazia. E vediamo che è necessario far penitenza, cioè riconoscere quanto è sbagliato nella nostra vita, aprirsi al perdono, prepararsi al perdono, lasciarsi trasformare. Il dolore della penitenza, cioè della purificazione, della trasformazione, questo dolore è grazia, perché è rinnovamento, è opera della misericordia divina. E così queste due cose che dice san Pietro - penitenza e perdono - corrispondono all'inizio della predicazione di Gesù: "metanoeite", cioè convertitevi (cfr. Marco 1, 15). Quindi questo è il punto fondamentale: la "metanoia" non è una cosa privata, che parrebbe sostituita dalla grazia, ma la "metanoia" è l'arrivo della grazia che ci trasforma.

Penitence, to do penance, is a gift of grace. And I must say that we Christians, even in these last days, have often avoided the word penance. It seemed to us too harsh. Now, under the attacks of the world that speak to us of our sins, we see that to be able to do penance is a grace. And we see that it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is not right in our lives, to open ourselves to pardon, to prepare ourselves for pardon, to allow ourselves to be transformed. The sorrow of penitence, that is, of purification, of the transformation of this sorrow, is grace, because it is renewal, and the work of divine mercy. And so, these two things that Saint Peter says, -- penitence and pardon -- correspond to the beginning of Jesus' preaching: metanoeite, that is "Be ye converted" (Mark 1:15). This, therefore, is the fundamental point: metanoia is not a private thing, that appears to be substituted for grace. Metanoia is, rather, the arrival of grace that transforms us.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Good post, If You Want It Fixed.

The crises in the Catholic Church come down to four deadly words: "Good doctrine, bad discipline."

Here's how it worked in practice:

Ordination of active homosexual males has always been forbidden in the Catholicism: as doctrine, this considered definitive and unchangeable (Link). But liberal doctrinal dissidents (like Hans Kung), weak bishops, subversive seminary rectors and admissions officers for years ignored or quietly sabotaged the practice of Catholic faith and morals.

The background? Try Michael Rose's book, "Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption Into the Catholic Church" (Link)

The result? It's all over the papers.

The solution? It’s also summarized in four words” “To restore Catholic discipline.” Or even in three: “Become more Catholic.”

The bishops who transferred offenders around in the 1970’s and ‘80’s are now mostly retired or dead and gone, and during the “Ratzinger years” --- when Joseph Ratzinger was had of the Church’s doctrine office (CDF), or, as Benedict, Pope--- sexual abuse dropped dramatically. This chart from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (Link) shows how reported abuse in the U.S has plunged:

(

The overall statistics support George Weigel’s observation in Newsweek (Link) that the Catholic Church is at present one of the safest places for children and young people in the United States.

[NYer]

Thanks for the post and ping. Most interesting analysis.

[the invisib1e hand]

fasten your persecution straps, sports fans.