He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

BLESSED HOPE

The encyclical of the Pope is an invitation to rekindle in our souls the theological virtue of hope that we sang, as a refrain, throughout Advent, and the granting of which we celebrate in this Christmas season: « The grace of God has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for all men and taught us that what we have to do is to give up ungodliness, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting for the blessed hope and the Appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus » (Tt 2.11-13)

« “Hope”, in fact, is a key word in Biblical faith – so much so that in several passages the words “faith” and “hope” seem interchangeable. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews closely links the “fullness of faith” to “the confession of our hope without wavering”. » (n° 2)

From these first words of the encyclical, the heart of the attentive and fervent reader who refers to the text indicated by the Pope, rushes to the throne of grace, replying to the invitation of St. Paul: « Let us draw near, sincere in heart and filled with faith, our minds sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the One who made the promise is faithful. Let us be concerned for each other to stir a response in charity and good works. » (Heb 10. 22-24)

This text indicates well the linking of the three theological virtues and invites us to repeat the prayer taught by the Angel of Portugal in 1916: « My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. »

The practical exhortation that follows from it in the Epistle to the Hebrews seems to be addressed to us directly, despite the twenty centuries that separate us from the first apostolic generation, with an urgency renewed by the present apostasy: « Do not stay away from the meetings of the community, as some do, but encourage each other to go; the more so as you see the Day drawing near. » (Heb 10.25) That is the coming of Christ, the object of our hope, announced as imminent by the apparition of the precursor Angel in 1916, and of His divine Mother in 1917.

« Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Ep 2.12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. »

Here the Pope quotes an ancient inscription that expresses well the absence of hope: « In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing): so says an epitaph of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making. » (n^o 2)

Yet, we are not long in seeing that there is lacking in the teaching of the Holy Father, it must be said, the reminder of the reason for this despair, failing which the motivation for hope is lacking throughout the encyclical, and the nagging question posed at the beginning remains unanswered to the end: « In what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? » (n^o 3)

In fact, if we forget that « the history of our family really began badly », as the Abbé de Nantes wrote, how can the “Good News” of the way it was restored be understood? « An indelible stain marks the first page of its Book of Reason and ruins the whole future. Of their Sacred History, rather than a somewhat benign image of our first parents in the earthly Paradise, there remains engraved in our childish memories the image that immediately follows, that of this unfortunate couple driven out of the Garden of delight by the Wrath of God, and fleeing under a stormy sky, clothed in their garments of skins, while the unyielding angel with the flaming sword mounts guard. Prodigal children, our Father drove us out of His Kingdom; only the Serpent silently followed his prey, O horror! Who among us, in his youth, has not entered directly into this tragedy of the original fall and the wrath of God? » (Letter to My Friends n° 228, 13 May 1966)

It seems as though the young Joseph Ratzinger is an exception to the rule. Having become Pope, he never speaks about it. Yet, « what the accounts of Genesis relate in images, Christ and the Apostles reveal to us in definite terms. Listen to St. Paul speaking to the Romans: “The Wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the impiety and depravity of men who keep truth imprisoned in their wickedness... are all under the dominion of sin. As Scripture says: There is not a good man left, no, not one! …it is meant to silence everyone and to lay the whole world open to God’s judgment!” (Rm 1.18; 3.10; 19) The peoples had been terrified by the din of this wrath, the rumbling of this fury for thousands of years, let us not forget. They were marked in their flesh by the appalling chastisements that the Justice of God dispensed to them, blindly, mercilessly. We must not dispute about this with the Sovereign Master: “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

« A day is coming, however, in which the religious man will perceive in this Wrath of God the dawn of His mercy. His heart prefers its unbearable blaze to the chilly indifference of a God who would treat His faithful as objects, beings without souls and without worth, good or evil. His heart perceives in this divine emotion the proof of an offended goodness, of a wounded love to which it bears witness that they have not given up […]. Your annoyance frightens me, but only to a certain point […]. It teaches me that I have offended Your Majesty by an insulting contempt, fruit of my pride, but by teaching me it saves me. (Georges de Nantes, ibid.)

There is nothing of the sort in hope according to Benedict XVI.

MODERNISM

« At this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God – the true God – means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. »

If, in fact, our God is no more than a « concept », we are like the pagans who do not have a God and, therefore, no hope. Thus, we must renew “the experience” that the first Christians had:

« The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonised by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869 – she herself did not know the precise date – in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “Master” – in the Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that He had created her — that He actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this Master had Himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now He was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”. Now she had “hope” – no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me – I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.”

« Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. »

Does this mean that Christianity abolished slavery? The Pope hastens to point out that it had not:

« Christianity did not bring a message of social revolution like that of the ill-fated Spartacus, who failed in his bloody struggles. Jesus was not Spartacus, He was not engaged in a fight for political liberation like Barabbas or Bar-Kochba. » (n^o 4)

HELL IS EMPTY.

What was He then? As surprising as it may seem, the Pope does not speak a single time about the liberation for which the history of Bakhita is the luminous figurative: the deliverance from the slavery of the Devil, who is never named in this encyclical, or mentioned even once. What the Abbé de Nantes called the « conciliar pact » is thus still in force. Benedict XVI does not know the slavery of Satan, but only a state in which « souls are overgrown », and where Christ comes to clear the land and cultivate (n^o 15).

From what then are we « saved »? We search in vain an answer to this question in the encyclical of the Pope. At Fatima, Our Lady showed « Hell where the souls of poor sinners go » and She revealed that, « To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. » Here the word hell is used only once in the sense of « eternal Hell », but it is by the Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh (deceased in 1857) whose letter Benedict XVI quotes; for his part, the Holy Father only makes this word his own once in order to designate « the horror of a concentration camp »in this world, in his commentary on this text (n^o 37).

Now, he who does not have the fear of Hell, or hatred for the devils that plunge souls into it, does not have either the desire for Heaven or love for Jesus and Mary who draw them there. He does not have hope.

According to Benedict XVI, however, « Heaven is not empty » (n^o 5). This is already an improvement in comparison with John Paul II! We indeed remember the confidence that Cardinal Lustiger let fall, revealing that « John Paul II speaks of his death very freely and with a smile on his lips. He is not afraid to face the void. » Yes, you have read it correctly: “ to face the void ”. « This phrase pronounced in passing [sic], by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, during a conversation with journalists in New York, the review 30 Days explained, plunged very many America Catholics into a state of great perplexity […]. During the days that followed, the newspapers were assailed with hundreds of letters and faxes testifying to the perplexity of American believers and the doubts with which Cardinal Lustiger’s remarks had filled them. The messages were nearly all along these lines: What does he mean by the void? Is there no life after death? Is it possible that the cardinals themselves doubt it? » (30 Days n^o 11, November 1996, quoted in CCR n° 293, February 1997, p. 36)

Benedict XVI saves us from despair by affirming that « Heaven is not empty », but what does it contain?

HOW CAN BEATITUDE BE DEFINED?

« What is eternal life? » the Pope asks. First of all, « do we really want this – to live eternally? Perhaps many people reject the Faith today simply because they do not find the prospect of eternal life attractive. What they desire is not eternal life at all, but this present life, for which faith in eternal life seems something of an impediment. To continue living forever –endlessly – appears more like a curse than a gift. Death, certainly, they  wish to postpone for as long as possible. But to live always, without end – this, all things considered, can only be monotonous and ultimately unbearable. » (n^o 10)

To this « monotony » death then appears as a remedy. Yet after death and beyond? « In some way we want life itself, true life, untouched even by death; yet at the same time we do not know the thing towards which we feel driven. We cannot stop reaching out for it, and yet we know that all we can experience or accomplish is not what we yearn for. This unknown “thing” is the true “hope” that drives us, and at the same time the fact that it is unknown is the cause of all forms of despair and also of all efforts, whether positive or destructive, directed towards worldly authenticity and human authenticity. » (n^o 12)

We would expect the Holy Father to reply to this aspiration of man by explaining to him what this « unknown “thing” », the object of Christian hope is. For example by quoting St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus : « What attracts me towards our Heavenly Homeland is the call of the Lord, the hope of loving Him at last as I have so much desired to do, and the thought that I shall be able to make Him loved by a multitude of souls, who will bless Him through all eternity. » (to Fr. Rolland, 14 July 1897) No, our Holy Father the Pope affirms that « we do not know the thing towards which we feel driven »! For him, Heaven is an « unknown “thing” ».

Benedict XVI recognises, however, that « in the course of their history, Christians have tried to express this “knowing without knowing” by means of figures that can be represented, and they have developed images of “Heaven” that remain far removed from what, after all, can only be known negatively, via unknowing. » The word “Heaven” does not designate a “place” in the eyes of the Pope, but only an “image” to express what is indescribable, unknown. The Holy Father, however, refers to the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying about Abraham « that he looked forward to a city founded, designed and built by God » (11.10), and about his descendents that, strangers and nomads on earth, « they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland » (11.16). Following Fr. de Lubac, however, Benedict XVI affirms that « city » and « homeland » are only « images » expressing the « social » reality of salvation to which sin is opposed: « Sin is understood by the Fathers as the destruction of the unity of the human race, as fragmentation and division. Babel, the place where languages were confused, the place of separation, is seen to be an expression of what sin fundamentally is. »

We must unfortunately observe that this interpretation is a reversal of the biblical lesson, alien to the thought of the Fathers. In fact, the sin of the pride of men expresses itself by the ambition to make « a single people », speaking « a single language » (Gn 11.6) and the punishment for this sin, which is the confusion of languages decreed by God, is taken by the Holy Father as the sin itself, while it is the remedy, in the eyes of God: « Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another. » (Gn 11.7)

From this error results the fact that « “redemption” appears really as the reestablishment of unity, in which we come together once more in a union that is formed among the believers of the whole world » (n^o 14), a community that is not the Church in the eyes of the Pope, as will be shown in what follows.

In fact, « this community-oriented vision of the “blessed life” is certainly directed beyond the present world, but as such it also has to do with the building up of this world – in very different ways, according to the historical context and the possibilities offered or excluded by it. » (n^o 15)

Thus, Benedict XVI thinks that he extricates himself from an “individualist” view of salvation. – “I have but one soul that I must save” – object of « an increasingly harsh critique in modern times » (n^o 13). With this in mind, the thread of his meditation leads to « looking briefly at the two essential stages in the political realisation of this hope »: « the French Revolution » and the « revolution » that « followed, in the most radical way in Russia. » (n^os 19-20)

We are as far as possible from the Christian faith and hope that animated St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, writing a few months before her death: « I am not dying; I am entering into life » (9 June 1897) For the Catholic Faith founds a theological hope, that is to say, inspired by God and returning to Him… An admirable Mystical Page of our Father leads us into this essential meditation, totally absent from the encyclical (cf. insert below).

PROGRESSIVISM

The Holy Father arrives at showing how, in the modern age, « arising from the discovery of America and new technical achievements » (n^o 16), « faith in progress » is substituted for Christian hope, which is displaced onto another « level – that of purely private and other-worldly affairs »

« Central to the idea of progress are reason and freedom » (n^o 18) which the Pope declares « tacitly interpreted as being always in conflict with the shackles of faith and of the Church, as well as those of the political structures of the period. »

IMMANUEL KANT, PROPHET OF MASDU

After having quoted Francis Bacon, the English statesman and philosopher (1561-1626) whom Benedict XVI seems to consider as the true initiator of modern science, prophet of the « kingdom of man » to the point of presenting « a vision of foreseeable inventions – including the aeroplane and the submarine », Benedict XVI shows in Immanuel Kant the doctor of the French Revolution: « In 1792 he wrote Der Sieg des guten Prinzips über das böse und die Gründung eines Reiches Gottes auf Erden (The Victory of the Good Principle over the Evil Principle and the Founding of a Kingdom of God on Earth). In this text he says the following: “The gradual transition from ecclesiastical faith to the exclusive sovereignty of pure religious faith produces the advent of the Kingdom of God” »

Here the adjective « pure » must be understood in the sense of a « faith » rid of the authority of the Church that founds it and teaches it. There is nothing very original in this affirmation of a Protestant character other than this, that according to Kant, « religious faith » is nothing other than « simple rational faith »

Benedict XVI continues: « In 1794, in the text “Das Ende aller Dinge” (The End of All Things) a changed image appears. Now Kant considers the possibility that as well as the natural end of all things there may be another that is unnatural, a perverse end. »

Kant was thinking of Catholic Civilisation, but Benedict XVI pays no attention to this. He continues with a quotation from the German philosopher that we could write as an epigraph to all the “repentences” inaugurated by John Paul II and continued by Benedict XVI.

« He [Kant] writes in this connection: “If Christianity should one day cease to be worthy of love... then the prevailing mentality would be one of rejection and opposition to it; and the Antichrist... would begin his – albeit short – regime (presumably based on fear and self-interest); but then, because Christianity, though destined to be the world religion, would not in fact be favoured by destiny to become so, then, from the moral point of view, this could lead to the (perverted) end of all things” » (n^o 19)

Here we are at the source of what the Abbé de Nantes called « theological or “mystical” progressivism, extremely wide-spread in the clergy and in the world of Catholic Action » (Letter to My Friends n° 172, 13 May 1964), which Pope Benedict XVI does not seem to reprove. In any case, he continues:

« The nineteenth century held fast to its faith in progress as the new form of human hope, and continued to consider reason and freedom as the guiding stars to be followed along the path of hope. Nevertheless, the increasingly rapid advance of technical development and the industrialisation connected with it soon gave rise to an entirely new social situation: there emerged a class of industrial workers and the so-called “industrial proletariat”, whose dreadful living conditions Friedrich Engels described alarmingly in 1845. For his readers, the conclusion is clear: this cannot continue; a change is necessary. Yet the change would shake up and overturn the entire structure of bourgeois society. After the bourgeois revolution of 1789, the time had come for a new, proletarian revolution: progress could not simply continue in small, linear steps. A revolutionary leap was needed. » (n^o 20)

KARL MARX REHABILITATED

Without giving a verdict on this « political progressivism », considering that the invention of the steam engine and that of electricity « created » the industrial proletariat, and ignoring the fact that « the bourgeois revolution of 1789 », truly Satanic in its essence, having destroyed all the protective organisms of the weak, the latter found themselves delivered over without any defence to the legal reign of ruse and force, Pope Benedict XVI continues:

« Karl Marx took up the rallying call, and applied his incisive language and intellect to the task of launching this major new and, as he thought, definitive step in history towards salvation – towards what Kant had described as the “Kingdom of God”. Once the truth of the hereafter had been rejected, it would then be a question of establishing the truth of the here and now. The critique of Heaven is transformed into the critique of earth, the critique of theology into the critique of politics. Progress towards the better, towards the definitively good world, no longer comes simply from science but from politics – from a scientifically conceived politics that recognises the structure of history and society and thus points out the road towards revolution, that is, towards the changing of all things. With great precision, albeit in a one-sided manner, Marx described the situation of his time, and with great analytical skill he spelled out the paths leading to revolution – and not only theoretically: by means of the Communist Party that came into being from the Communist Manifesto of 1848, he set it in motion. His promise, owing to the acuteness of his analysis and his clear indication of the means for radical change, was and still remains an endless source of fascination. Revolution followed, in the most radical way in Russia. » (n^o 20)

Thus “confirms” above all, from the height of the pulpit of Peter, the prophecy of Our Lady of Fatima: « If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world ». After this extraordinary homage paid to the worst perversion ever inspired in man by the Adversary of Christ and of the Church, the Pope criticises Marx for having « forgotten that man always remains man. He forgot man and he forgot man’s freedom. » (n^o 21). What about God? Benedict XVI « has forgotten »! Marx, however, contrary to what the Pope affirms, never “forgot” his obsession of taking revenge on God by destroying the world: « I want to wreak vengeance on Him who reigns above us… I have lost Heaven… my soul is marked for Hell. » (CCR n° 147, June 1982 p. 9)

COUNTER-REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REVOLUTION.

« Thus, we again find ourselves facing the question: what may we hope? » The Pope does in fact say « we »: « In this dialogue Christians too, in the context of their knowledge and experience, must learn anew in what their hope truly consists, what they have to offer to the world and what they cannot offer. It is fitting that with this self-critique of the modern age there should also be a self-critique of modern Christianity, which must constantly renew its self-understanding starting from its roots. » (n^o 22)

This was already the programme of the constitution Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council. We are taken back forty years! Perhaps it is in order to redo the project from scratch. In fact, it is remarkable that this encyclical does not contains a single reference to the Council, as though it had done nothing, had talked for the sake of talking, as though it did not exist. Then Benedict XVI produces a surprise:

« First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? »

This is the whole question; the Abbé de Nantes brilliantly answered it in the past:

« The idea of a general progress of mankind moving towards the conquest of its own happiness is so contrary to all our experience that only the Jewish and Christian revelation has been able to breathe it into the hearts of believers. Furthermore, in the Old Testament this progress is the work of God “with a strong hand and outstretched arm”. From the day that the inhabitants of Jerusalem believe that this progress is their due and forget to look towards Yahweh, the only principle of their progress, then their history founders in the chaos habitual to the sons of Adam. With the coming of Jesus that is somewhat changed, for He chose to take mankind for His bride and wished to make a wedding gift of His own wisdom, strength and life for mankind to have by right. From then on it is a sanctified mankind that walks towards its happiness and can hope for the indefinite and universal progress of its own works; mankind now aspires to the renewal of all things. Of course, the renewal does not come from man’s own nature but from God, through grace. » (Letter to My Friends n° 130, 21 January 1963)

This was, during the Council, to speak as St. Pius X had done in saying that « the reform of civilisation » was « above all a religious work; for there is no true civilisation without a moral civilisation, and no true moral civilisation without the true religion: this is a proven truth, a historical fact. » (Letter on the Sillon, n^o 36)

Benedict XVI agrees, then he writes:

« We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. » (n^o 22)

Here is a proposition that is definitely contrary to Modernism:

« Yet neither is there any doubt that God truly enters into human affairs only when, rather than being present merely in our thinking, He Himself comes towards us and speaks to us. »

Nonetheless, it must be established that God objectively has come to meet us and has spoken to us, which is what the Pope seems to affirm because he continues:

« Reason therefore needs faith if it is to be completely itself: reason and faith need one another in order to fulfil their true nature and their mission. » (n° 23)

MATERIALISM AGAINST DIVINE ORTHODROMY.

In this light, Benedict XVI wonders once again: « What may we hope? And what may we not hope? » Knowing that the Faith makes us know the plan of God, the answer could be formulated in the form of this act of hope: « My God, I hope with firm trust that Your divine universal plan will be fulfilled ant that it will also be fulfilled by me and with me ». Alas! The answer given by the Pope is of a materialism that obviously moves us away from Christian hope:

« First of all, we must acknowledge that incremental progress is possible only in the material sphere […]. Yet in the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man’s freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others – if that were the case, we would no longer be free. Freedom presupposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. » (n^o 24)

We are poles apart from the thinking of St. Pius X: « When we consider the forces, knowledge, and supernatural virtues which have been necessary to establish the Christian City, and the sufferings of millions of martyrs, and the light given by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the self-sacrifice of all the heroes of charity, and a powerful hierarchy ordained in Heaven, and the rivers of Divine Grace - the whole having been built up, bound together, and impregnated by the life and spirit of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the Word made man - when we think, I say, of all this, it is frightening to behold » a Pope establishing for our generation the programme of a « new beginning » in the name of « freedom » (cf. St. Pius X, (Letter on the Sillon, n^o 38).

In the Letter to My Friends quoted above, the Abbé de Nantes draws a better lesson from the experience of twenty centuries of Christian Civilisation, the fruit of the conduct of divine Providence:

« The unfolding of history has made it clear; it is the Church alone, through the instruments of sanctification bequeathed by her Bridegroom, that works wonders. It is neither flesh and blood, nor instinct, nor will of man, but the Spirit of God dwelling in her through Jesus Christ. Everything outside this continual influence, as of a mysterious life-giving soul, turns to disorder, vegetates and dies. Even those within the bosom of the Church who free themselves from the Sacraments and Divine Commandments in order to return to the liberty of nature, those who follow other leaders and teachers, thereby lose the benefit of the Church’s supernatural animation and are sent back by God to corruption and death. The Church still holds high, like a beacon, Her progress, Her peace, Her joy as a fruitful spouse, and a fulfilled mother, but on the condition that we live according to the laws of her Bridegroom. » (ibid.)

Such is not the vision of Pope Ratzinger, who wanted to “reform” her. All things considered, however, he must recognise that « Biblical hope in the Kingdom of God has been displaced by hope in the kingdom of man, the hope of a better world that would be the real “Kingdom of God”. » Since when and where? The answer to these two questions leaves room for no doubt at all: it is since Paul VI proclaimed « the cult of man », on 7 December 1965, in his closing speech to the Second Vatican Council, thus introducing « the errors of Russia » into the holy place.

Benedict XVI nevertheless recognises that it is an illusion because « this may be a hope for the men of a later time, but not for me » (n° 30).

Yet, this restriction itself is again a concession to Marxist dialectics, the diabolical inversion of Christian hope. Does the Pope really think that « the kingdom of man » is a « hope for a future generation »? Fortunately, he does not remain there. The last part of the encyclical begins like a Johannine paraenesis.

HOLY HOPE

« We need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. These are not enough, however, without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can offer us and bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain.

« The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. » (n° 31)

This « gift » came to pass on Pentecost day, when God the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, sent by God the Father and God the Son.

The Pope continues:

« God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; His Kingdom is present wherever He is loved and wherever His love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. » (n° 31)

Thus, I understand through faith in God that the true object of my hope is not only Heaven, later on, but it is now: it is the certainty that God, who loves me, urges me on, urges all of us, from yesterday to today, and from today to tomorrow! To these instants that follow each other, Someone assures continuity through His divine Providence, fulfilling His plan in us. This is supernatural Christian hope. The Pope calls our attention to three « settings for learning and practising hope », that we can put into relationship with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

THE GIFT OF PIETY.

Under the title “Prayer as a school of hope”: « A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, He can help me. If I am plunged into complete solitude…but he who prays is never totally alone. »

The Holy Father gives as an example « the unforgettable Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan » and his « precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope – to that great hope that does not wane even in the nights of solitude. » (n^o 32)

Benedict XVI then quotes his master Saint Augustine  who « in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for a great reality – for God Himself, that he might be filled by Him. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be expanded. “By delaying [His gift], God strengthens [our] desire; through desire He enlarges our soul and by expanding it He increases its capacity [for receiving Him]”. Augustine refers to St. Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come. » (n^o 33)

The reference to the Epistle to the Philippians invites us to imitate the Apostle « forgetting the things that are behind », forging straight ahead, straining with every fibre of his being (cf. Ph 3.13).

The Abbé de Nantes likes to remind us that man is only great and holy when he perpetually joins with his Creator, like the Spouse of the Song of Songs, leaning on the arm of her Beloved. The inner conviction that God supports us leads to a new spirit of prayer: thanksgiving for what has been given to us, prayer of petition for God to continue His blessings, act of confidence in God who directs our existences. No depression!

The Pope continues his reading from St. Augustine who « uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God’s tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined. Even if Augustine speaks directly only of our capacity for God, it is nevertheless clear that through this effort by which we are freed from vinegar and the taste of vinegar, not only are we made free for God, but we also become open to others. It is only by becoming children of God, that we can be with our common Father.

« To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw to our own private corner of happiness. When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification that opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well. »

When I plunge into the Heart of God, I find the love that God has for me, but also the love that God has for my neighbour. Everything is the creation of this same God who created me and makes me happy to exist and to be loved by Him. I am thus going to love all that He Himself loves. All the beings of creation are the object of a distinct love on the part of God. Thus, if I love God, I am obliged to enter into communion with Him and to love my brother. « Anyone who says that he loves God and hates his neighbour, St. John says, is a liar »

« In prayer man must learn what he can truly ask of God – what is worthy of God. He must learn that he cannot pray against others. He must learn that he cannot ask for the superficial and comfortable things that he desires at this moment – that meagre, misplaced hope that leads him away from God. He must  purify his desires and his hopes. He must free himself from the hidden lies with which he deceives himself. God sees through them, and when he comes before God, he too is forced to recognise them. “But who can detect his own failings? Wash out my hidden faults” prays the Psalmist (Ps 18 / 19.13). Failure to recognise my guilt, the illusion of my innocence, does not justify me and does not save me, because I am culpable for the numbness of my conscience and my incapacity to recognise the evil in me for what it is. If God does not exist, perhaps I have to seek refuge in these lies, because there is no one who can forgive me; no one who is the true criterion. Yet my encounter with God awakens my conscience in such a way that it no longer aims at self-justification, and is no longer a mere reflection of me and those of my contemporaries who shape my thinking, but it becomes a capacity for listening to the Good itself. » (n^o 33)

How must we pray? The Pope becomes persuasive:

« For prayer to develop this power of purification, it must on the one hand be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly. Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, in his book of Spiritual Exercises, tells us that during his life there were long periods when he was unable to pray and that he would hold fast to the texts of the Church’s prayer: the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the prayers of the liturgy. » (n^o 34)

We would have liked to see the Holy Father specify that Holy Mass, the memorial of the Cross, renews, restores, consolidates the Covenant contracted between God and sinful humanity, on the Cross. Through the Mass, I re-establish the Covenant with Him for the interval that separates me from the next Mass that I can attend. This is why the obligation for the Christian to go to Mass every Sunday is a question of life and death. Not only does the hierarchy no longer ever remind us of this, but Pope Benedict XVI has suggested that a chapel for non-Catholic Christians be installed in the Roman basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where the Apostle of the Nations is interred. Because next year will be “St. Paul year”, this ecumenical space should permit all Christians to celebrate their services close to the tomb of Paul whom the “evangelicals” venerate especially for his doctrine of justification.

What does the Holy Father hope for from this initiative? We see herein that the virtue of hope is quite ill in his august person, and not only in that of our “pastors” who alternate every other Sunday between the Protestant “Lord’s Supper” and the holy Mass in their churches in Strasbourg, in Rambouillet and elsewhere…

THE GIFTS OF COUNSEL AND FORTITUDE.

Under the same title, “Action and suffering as settings for learning hope”, the Pope writes: « All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. This is so first of all in the sense that we thereby strive to realise our lesser and greater hopes, to complete this or that task that is important for our onward journey in life, or we work towards a brighter and more humane world so as to open doors into the future. » (n^o 35)

Because there is no action of my life that does not have a repercussion on the great plan of God in history, before deciding on one action or another, I must receive the counsel of God. For God has His own interest in it, and He is going to counsel me as to what is most in line with what He is seeking. By the “yes” of faith, I enter into the plan of God; this “yes” commits me in the future, in history, through hope. The choice of a vocation, the choice of life, everything needs divine counsel for I cannot know by myself what is best. The best thing for me is to adhere to the plan of God and I do not know what it is! Therefore, I pray; I ask for the counsel of God, in prayer, in spiritual direction. I must not merely content myself with believing in this plan of God, but I must fulfill it… Here I am in turn speaking as a Marxist would, but as we have said, Marxist dialectics is only the diabolical inversion of Christian hope.

« Only the great certitude of hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can then give the courage to act and to persevere. »

Not to know why I do this or that is not to have the virtue of hope. Not to know why I must get up in the morning, say my prayers, go to church; not to know why I am going to have another child… and not to want it! That is the sin against hope, which leads to sloth, to inertia, to inappetence for life, for the acts of life and worship. To counter this discouragement of one who says to himself: my life is worthless,  meaningless, leading nowhere, the Pope writes:

« We can open ourselves and the world and allow God to enter: we can open ourselves to truth, to love, to the good. This is what the saints did, those who, as “God’s fellow workers”, contributed to the world’s salvation. »

Here the Pope refers to the Epistle to the Corinthians: « For we are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building. » (cf. 1 Co 3.9) Benedict XVI himself, by his own motto, has this ambition. It is also true that the saints did not wait until Heaven to be happy. They shone with joy at the sole thought of conforming to the divine plan by adhering to Christ, by accomplishing the work that He wants us to accomplish:

« We can free our life and the world from the poisons and contaminations that could destroy the present and the future. We can uncover the sources of creation and keep them unsullied, and in this way we can make a right use of creation, which precedes us as a gift, according to its intrinsic requirements and ultimate purpose. »

Does Christian hope confine itself to these ecological views? No. The Pope means that through faith and hope, I know, I believe that my Creator and Father is there to guide me, sometimes through difficulties, because it is useful to the world, to the fulfillment of His immense plan, as personal for me as it is general for all of Creation:

« This makes sense even if outwardly we achieve nothing or seem powerless in the face of overwhelming hostile forces. So on the one hand, our actions engender hope for us and for others; but at the same time, it is the great hope based upon God’s promises that gives us courage and directs our action in good times and bad. »

APOCATASTASIS.

Because « like action, suffering is a part of our human existence », the Pope then takes us into the prison of the Vietnamese saint, Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, martyred in 1857 « “I, Paul, in chains for Christ, he wrote, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in His praises, for His mercy is for ever (Ps 136 / 135]). The prison here is truly an image of everlasting Hell.” » In his commentary, the Pope repeats the word « Hell » without the epithet « everlasting », to designate the prison itself in this world: « This is a letter from “Hell”, he writes. It lays bare all the horror of a concentration camp. » (n^o 37) Thus it is no longer a question of the beyond.

It is not the place of despair, because « Christ descended into “Hell”, the Pope writes, and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light. » The quotation marks allude to what is said in our Creed about the descent of Jesus « into Hell », but here the Pope means this “descent” of His Incarnation: by entering into this world, by becoming man, Jesus descended « into Hell… »

The word Hell is thus used by the Pope in a figurative sense, in order to describe a state of suffering. Does Benedict XVI believe in the « everlasting Hell » of which the Vietnamese martyr spoke? Numbers 44-46 cast doubt on the existence of this eternal punishment. Quoting at length a text of Plato, who believed in it, describing the fate reserved for the souls separated from their bodies by death, Benedict XVI omits the clear and indubitable mention of the everlasting punishment of those who are « submitted, because of their crimes, to terrible and unending tortures » (Gorgias, 525 c).

Then quoting the parable of the poor man Lazarus and of him whom the Pope prefers to call the « rich reveller » (!) [this is the how the French translator rendered the Latin expression divitis epulonis] rather than the « wicked rich man » [mauvais riche – the expression used in the traditional title given to the parable in French], he writes: « We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced. » (n^o 44)

Then he mentions the possibility in the conditional mood:

« There are people who may have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word “Hell”. » (no 45)

About whom is Benedict XVI thinking? The use of the conditional mood shows that the case remains hypothetical in his eyes, because he affirms that salvation is possible even for Judas (He is Risen no 51, Dec. 2006, p. 3). The old theory of apocatastasis, the most harmful of heresies, according to which all will end well, for everyone, in God, is manifested concerning the torturers of the martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh:

« To cruel tortures of every kind, he continues, – shackles, iron chains, manacles – are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. Yet the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; He has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, for His mercy is forever. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone – Christ is with me... How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, and their retinue blaspheming Your holy name, O Lord, who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim? (cf. Ps 79 / 80.2). Behold, the pagans have trodden Your Cross underfoot! Where is Your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have for You, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to Your love. O Lord, show Your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity Your power may be shown and may be glorified before the nations (...). Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, for His mercy is for ever (…).

« I write these things to you in order that your faith and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart. »

Here is the commentary of the Pope: « This is a letter from “Hell”. It lays bare all the horror of a concentration camp, where to the torments inflicted by tyrants upon their victims is added the outbreak of evil in the victims themselves, such that they in turn become further instruments of their persecutors’ cruelty. This is indeed a letter from Hell, but it also reveals the truth of the Psalm text: “If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I sink to the nether world, You are present there ... If I say, “Surely the darkness shall hide me…” – for You darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day” (Ps 139 / 138.8-12; cf. also Ps 23 / 22.4). Christ descended into “Hell” and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light. Suffering and torment are still terrible and well-nigh unbearable. Yet the star of hope has risen – the anchor of the heart reaches the very throne of God. Instead of evil being unleashed within man, the light shines victorious: suffering – without ceasing to be suffering – becomes, despite everything, a hymn of praise. » (n^o 37)

To whom does this last sentence apply? Does it apply to the man who is the victim or the one who is the torturer? In the torturer, « evil » is assuredly « unleashed ». The Pope, however, does not distinguish between the victim and the torturer. The “Rights of Man” obliges!

It is understandable that Benedict XVI, as an intellectual well-versed in university discussions, might be averse to reaffirming the faith of the Church in the existence of Hell, but this omission is a fault against the Faith that has tragic “pastoral” consequences. A “Mystical Page” of our Father re-establishes the dogma of the Faith (cf. insert below).

The Pope continues his meditation on suffering, in order to « find meaning [in it] » that is to be « a path of purification and growth in maturity, a journey of hope. Indeed, to accept the other who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love. The Latin word con-solatio, “consolation”, expresses this beautifully. It suggests being with the other in his solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude. » (n^o 38)

« O Jesus, is there a greater love than that of suffering for love of You? » St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus used to say. Pope Benedict XVI inverts the roles.

« In the history of humanity, it was the Christian Faith, he writes, that had the particular merit of bringing forth within man a new and deeper capacity for these kinds of suffering that are decisive for his humanity. The Christian Faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities. It has shown us that God – Truth and Love in Person – desired to suffer for us and with us. Bernard of Clairvaux coined the marvellous expression: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis – God cannot suffer, but He can suffer with. Man is worth so much to God that He Himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way – in flesh and blood – as is revealed to us in the account of the Passion of Jesus. » (n^o 39)

This is how the “cult of man” substitutes itself for the cult of God made man: man stands in all his stature and dignity, « worth so much », even before being redeemed by Christ! From then on, the traditional devotion that consists on the contrary in « consoling God » for the offences of man is condemned here by the Pope as « something exaggerated and perhaps unhealthy », as we have said in our editorial (n^o 40).

JUDGEMENT

Nevertheless, there is a judgement, « a setting for learning and practising hope »: « Evildoers, in the end, will not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened. » (n^o 44) The question is to know whether there are « evildoers »:

« For the great majority of men – we may suppose – there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil – much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? St. Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God’s judgement according to each man’s particular circumstances. He does this using images that in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualise these images – simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. »

Why « common »? This « foundation » is unique (1 Co 3.11). Yet Benedict XVI writes « common » because he thinks: common… to Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholics. This is surely not what St. Paul meant… The message was received loud and clear by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (eulea) that describes the encyclical as a « heartening text: “It does not read like a decree but like an invitation to a dialogue on faith, hope and charity”, explained (Protestant) bishop Friedrich Weber. “The Lutheran Church can therefore, he says, approve without reservation and for the major part the contents of the document”. The other Protestant Churches praise this encyclical as “an impressive document and easy to read”. » (Religious Week of Aix-la-Chapelle, 9 December 2007)

In fact, this encyclical never appeals to the “Catholic” Faith, but only to the “Christian Faith”. The word Catholic only appears once to designate a certain exegesis, rejoined, moreover,  to Protestant exegesis (no 7)!

Let us return to the encyclical:

« This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. » (n^o 46)

Otherwise? If we do not stand firm on this foundation of Jesus Christ, what will happen? St. Paul informs us: « Each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Co 3.12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that the salvation of men can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully capable of receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast » (n^o 46)

Thus it is that Benedict XVI, faithful to his will of speaking only of the God of love, feels obliged to present Him to us as judging men without being able truly to sanction them. The full Catholic truth is quite different: it presents us on the contrary the judgement of souls as a real act of the paternal authority of their Creator and Father. Once again, the Abbé de Nantes makes us understand it in a gripping manner (cf. insert below).