Post by troubledgoodangel on Dec 4, 2007 12:05:54 GMT -7
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for"(Heb 11,1) - the foremost among them being the eternal life. In his second Encyclical, Benedict XVI argues that "hope and faith without wavering, are synonyms" (this knowledge has existed in the Church since St. Paul, but it has never been brought to light with the clarity that this Encyclical does, and I might add that, in my opinion, there is also a symbiotic relationship between hope and need). Indeed, the Pope appears to think along these same lines, when he recounts the story of Bakhita, a Darfur slave girl in a great need of love. After many floggings, this girl was accidentally discovered by an Italian merchant, and brought to Italy, where she was exposed to Christianity, and where she realized that, "if the Lord were her Master, she would not want" (Ps 23[24] 1, 4). The girl eventually became a Saint, and lived and died by that "substantial hope, which Benedict XVI calls "hypostasis," as opposed to the "material hopes - the hyparchonta." In what follows, the Pope highlights the difference between the two "substances." To illustrate this, he introduces two more Greek concepts, the hypomone and the hypostole. The hypomone is a patience while waiting for the things hoped for - a hypostatic or certain hope, whether of present blessings, or of things to come. The hypostole, on the other hand, is the wrong attitude of bucking under pressure due to lack of faith or courage (Heb 10, 39).
Benedict XVI then goes on to sharply criticize the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Kantian ideal of the Earthly Kingdom of Freedom and Reason, he says, has failed to materialize. The attempts by Marx to implement such New Jerusalem excluded God, and thus were not built on a tangible hope. There was no clear plan to proceed after the bourgeois order was overthrown, and there was no plan how to reconcile freedom with evil, which invariably lurks in man. The architects of atheism didn't realize that progress, an icon of Enlightenment, could be for good, or for evil. Neither could reason, the Enlightenment's other icon, triumph without God, for reason only succeeds insofar it discerns and separates good from evil, and thus is able to direct the will on the right path.
And neither is the science what redeems man, but only a God "Who is for all, and in Whom we all are." This God is foreign to Mammon; contrarily, He gives all that He has out of generosity for all (Maximus the Confessor). This God is not an uninvolved God either: "He encourages the good, tolerates the bad, and corrects the turbulent out of love" (St. Augustine).
Earthly Kingdom of Freedom and Reason is therefore an illusion. Only a Kingdom of Love, already here, and yet to come, makes sense. Benedict XVI advocates that "we learn hope through the prayer for what we desire (that echoes what I have said earlier, that hope is need). Prayer purifies our desires and hopes, and makes us ask only that which is worthy of God. The Kingdom is not something that we build: it's a Gift that we discover in hope. Suffering due to our finitude and sin will always be with us. Our suffering only has meaning in union with Christ, Who suffered out of infinite love. Benedict XVI extols suffering for truth and justice, motivated by a selfless love. Is this a call for a new era of martyrdom? Only the time will tell. In every case, we must suffer in Christ, Who can't suffer as God, but Who can commiserate with us - impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis (God cannot suffer, but is compassionate) (St. Bernard of Clairvoux). The Pope ends the Encyclical with a strong repudiation of atheism, which he says is a response to the world's many injustices and to a God perceived as someone who allows them. It is a lopsided attempt to make justice which human beings simply cannot make without Him. We are not responsible for the wrongs of the past. We must try to right as many present and future wrongs as we can. Beyond that, only the faith in the Last Judgment remains the right attitude. Bendict XVI concludes with a call on all believers, "to put their trust in Mary, the Star of the Sea, the Star of Hope" (a new title). The Encyclical, in my humble opinion, is very timely and very profound.
Benedict XVI then goes on to sharply criticize the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Kantian ideal of the Earthly Kingdom of Freedom and Reason, he says, has failed to materialize. The attempts by Marx to implement such New Jerusalem excluded God, and thus were not built on a tangible hope. There was no clear plan to proceed after the bourgeois order was overthrown, and there was no plan how to reconcile freedom with evil, which invariably lurks in man. The architects of atheism didn't realize that progress, an icon of Enlightenment, could be for good, or for evil. Neither could reason, the Enlightenment's other icon, triumph without God, for reason only succeeds insofar it discerns and separates good from evil, and thus is able to direct the will on the right path.
And neither is the science what redeems man, but only a God "Who is for all, and in Whom we all are." This God is foreign to Mammon; contrarily, He gives all that He has out of generosity for all (Maximus the Confessor). This God is not an uninvolved God either: "He encourages the good, tolerates the bad, and corrects the turbulent out of love" (St. Augustine).
Earthly Kingdom of Freedom and Reason is therefore an illusion. Only a Kingdom of Love, already here, and yet to come, makes sense. Benedict XVI advocates that "we learn hope through the prayer for what we desire (that echoes what I have said earlier, that hope is need). Prayer purifies our desires and hopes, and makes us ask only that which is worthy of God. The Kingdom is not something that we build: it's a Gift that we discover in hope. Suffering due to our finitude and sin will always be with us. Our suffering only has meaning in union with Christ, Who suffered out of infinite love. Benedict XVI extols suffering for truth and justice, motivated by a selfless love. Is this a call for a new era of martyrdom? Only the time will tell. In every case, we must suffer in Christ, Who can't suffer as God, but Who can commiserate with us - impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis (God cannot suffer, but is compassionate) (St. Bernard of Clairvoux). The Pope ends the Encyclical with a strong repudiation of atheism, which he says is a response to the world's many injustices and to a God perceived as someone who allows them. It is a lopsided attempt to make justice which human beings simply cannot make without Him. We are not responsible for the wrongs of the past. We must try to right as many present and future wrongs as we can. Beyond that, only the faith in the Last Judgment remains the right attitude. Bendict XVI concludes with a call on all believers, "to put their trust in Mary, the Star of the Sea, the Star of Hope" (a new title). The Encyclical, in my humble opinion, is very timely and very profound.