34 minute read
Synodality: perpetual revolution
it has been ratified and promulgated by him”.2
This development has potentially enormous implications for the human governance of the Church. When Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops 53 years ago to provide assistance to the pontiff through consultation and collaboration, he made it clear that the pope, as the successor of Peter, “holds a primacy of ordinary power over all the churches.”3
Advertisement
Previously the work of the bishops was regarded merely as advice which the pope could choose to consider when drafting a post-synodal exhortation. Now, however, he will have the option of adopting the final document of the synod instead of writing an exhortation. The prospect of the Final that both documents are complementary and should be read in continuity so the controversial term could still be introduced to the magisterium in a roundabout way. And it makes other worryingly vague statements. It speaks of “paths of accompaniment in the faith of homosexual people” without making any distinction between pastoral programmes which promote chastity and the lobby groups that campaign for the acceptance of homosexual behaviour. Its assertion that the Church needs “a deeper anthropological, theological and pastoral elaboration” of sexuality continues to reflect the view promoted at the Family Synod that the teaching passed down from the Apostles has somehow become outdated and does not fully respond to
Report of the Youth Synod entering the magisterium makes the concerns surrounding it even more troubling. While some commentators say that the report was not as bad as it might have been, others warn that the ambiguity it contains could be used to further undermine the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality.
The most striking example of this new magisterial approach is the possibility of the loaded “LGBT” [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] acronym being enshrined in the ordinary magisterium. The acronym does not appear in the 60-page final version of the document as it did in the Instrumentum Laboris. The text, however, insists the complex situations of modern life. Although much of the pro-LGBT language was deleted, the drafting process seems to reflect the sort of horse-trading more normally associated with the UN than the Holy See. A glancing reference to paragraph 16 of the 1986 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is welcome, but this can do little to address the report’s overall weakness and ambiguity. An examination of this Letter does, however, stand in stark contrast with current attitudes within the Synod. Paragraph 16 states: “The human person, made in the image and likeness of God, can hardly be adequately described by a reductionist reference to his or her sexual orientation. Every one living on the face of the earth has personal problems and difficulties, but challenges to growth, strengths, talents and gifts as well. Today, the Church provides a badly needed context for the care of the human person when she refuses to consider the person as a “heterosexual” or a “homosexual” and insists that every person has a fundamental Identity: the creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life.”4
A SYNODAL CHURCH
But it is the issue of synodality that is perhaps the most problematic aspect of the final report. Despite gaining the necessary two-thirds majority for approval, it was these paragraphs which faced the greatest opposition. The prominence given to this issue came as a surprise to many, including the bishops at the synod, as it wasn’t included in the Instrumentum Laboris and played little, if any, part in the discussions.5 Why then does it dominate the third part of the Final Document? The unnamed source from the synod quoted by Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register may point to the answer:
“We thought the LGBT issue was the important one [...] but the real issue is this one [synodality], because if that doesn’t pass, they can circle back around and get this introduced locally through synodality.”6
Pope Francis has spoken frequently of his intention to promote what he calls “a sound decentralisation” of papal authority by conferring greater responsibility on national episcopal conferences.7 He has repeatedly stressed the need for a synodal Church – a listening Church – but what exactly would that mean? This is what he told Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, shortly after his election:
“... And all the faithful, considered as a whole, are infallible in matters of belief, and the people display this infallibilitas in credendo, this infallibility in believing, through a supernatural sense of the faith of all the people walking together. [...] We must walk together: the people, the bishops and the pope. Synodality should be lived at various levels. Maybe it is time to change the methods of the Synod of Bishops, because it seems to me that the current method is not dynamic.”8
The dynamic method the Holy Father appears to have in mind would result in a more egalitarian Church: “Synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church, gives us the most appropriate interpretive framework to understand the hierarchical ministry. If we understand as St John Chrysostom said, that the ‘church and synod are synonymous’ because the Church is none other than the ‘walking together of the flock of God on the paths of history to meet Christ the Lord’ - we understand well that inside no one can be ‘higher’ than the other. On the contrary, the Church needs those who ‘lower’ themselves in service to their brothers and sisters along the way.”9
This outlines a scenario where the governance of the Church is shared equally between the pope, the bishops and the laity all on the same level. No one being higher than the other precludes a leadership role for the hierarchy. In fact, the hierarchy should follow the lead of the laity, listening to them as to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to the synod through the responses to online questionnaires. This certainly is not synodality as St John Chrysostom would have understood it. Rather it would constitute a radical subversion of the Petrine Office and an attack on the Kingship of Christ. It is not after all the pope who is the head of the hierarchy but God Himself. Levelling the hierarchical order instituted by God would cut off the body of Christ from the head.
It would also directly contradict the dogma on the papacy, which was infallibly defined at the First Vatican Council:
“At open variance with this clear doctrine of Holy Scripture, as it has ever been understood by the Catholic Church, are the perverse opinions of those who, while they distort the form of government established by Christ the Lord in His Church, deny that Peter, in his single person, preferably to all the other Apostles, whether taken sep-
arately or together, was endowed by Christ with a true and proper primacy of jurisdiction; or of those who assert that the same primacy was not bestowed immediately and directly upon Blessed Peter himself, but upon the Church, and through the Church on Peter as her Minister.”10
Once the Holy Father’s responsibility to confirm his brother bishops in the Faith is gone, “the preservation of unity both of communion and of profession of the same faith”11 would become impossible. This kind of synodality, therefore, is not a reform but a revolution opening the Church to heterodox ideas and practices which would be introduced by liberal episcopal conferences. To some extent, this situation has already arisen due to the conflicting interpretations of Amoris Laetitia. It is the perennial teaching of the Church that divorced Catholics who contract a civil marriage without an annulment are living in a state of adultery. They cannot, therefore, be admitted to the sacraments. While bishops in Poland uphold this discipline, across the border in Germany, their brother bishops say it is possible for certain churchgoers in this state to receive the sacraments. This might only prefigure the serious divisions in the Church which are likely to occur. At the opening of the Synod on the Family in 2015, Pope Francis said that the synod is not a parliament.12 He repeated this statement at the conclusion of the Youth Synod. The parliamentary process of the synod with debates, committees and bishops voting on doctrine like politicians voting on legislation is undeniable. Unlike a parliament, however, the Synod of Bishops does not publish a record of its debates nor how delegates have voted. It seems that democracy is to be imposed on the Church in secret, and whether the faithful want it or not.
Sadly, there is nothing to indicate that any new arrangement will be more transparent or free from the kind of manipulation seen in recent years.13 Despite the fact that the final document could become part of the magisterium, participants of the synod had little opportunity to reflect upon its contents. Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney told Edward Pentin that those who could not speak Italian had to wait to find out what it said through the simultaneous translation. “[I]t was read so fast the translators struggled to keep up, and the fathers could not take notes in their own language,” he said. “So we were not always sure what we were being asked to vote Yes or No to.”14
A LISTENING CHURCH Episcopalis Communio tells us:
“Similarly, the Synod of Bishops must increasingly become a privileged instrument for listening to the People of God: ‘For the Synod Fathers we ask the Holy Spirit first of all for the gift of listening: to listen to God, that with him we may hear the cry of the people; to listen to the people until breathing in the desire to which God calls us.’”15
Despite the public emphasis Pope Francis places on the importance of listening, he has been highly selective about whom he listens to. His record on listening to whistleblowers seems particularly poor. In May 2018 the Pope met with three men from Chile who had spoken out over his appointment of Juan Barros as Bishop of Osorno.16 Francis granted them an audience to apologise for having dismissed credible accusations they brought against Barros for covering-up abuse. On a visit to Chile a few months earlier he had rejected calls for Barros to resign telling a reporter: “The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak. There is not one shred of proof against him. It’s all calumny. Is that clear?”17 The storm of protest his comments provoked forced the pope to back down.
A steadfast denial that a problem exists, despite repeated warnings, also characterises the Holy Father’s handling of the Theodore McCarrick scandal. Although it was widely known that the former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington DC was a sexual predator, Francis apparently allowed him to flout the measures imposed upon him by Benedict XVI. For months now he has refused to respond to the evidence presented by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò that he turned a blind eye to McCarrick’s crimes.
It is not necessary to recount the details of the dubia regarding Amoris Laetitia, which two years on remain unanswered.
In Evangelii Gaudium Francis writes:
“Nor do I believe that the papal magisterium should be expected to offer a definitive or complete word on every question which affects the Church and the world. It is not advisable for the Pope to take the place of local Bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their territory.”18
While he seems to have little genuine interest in addressing the problems in the American Church himself, in what has widely been seen as a display of extremely poor judgement, the Holy Father instructed the US Conference of Catholic Bishops not to discuss a code of conduct for bishops at its 12 November meeting.
At the same time, the Chinese bishops loyal to the Holy See say they have been abandoned by Francis following his agreement with the government of Xi Jinping. Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, told the Union of Catholic Asian News that the Chinese Church was facing new persecution and the Holy See was helping the Communist Party suppress the underground community. On 1 November he flew to Rome to deliver a letter to Francis in person.
“I want to talk to the pope again and hope he will consider again, but this may be the last time,” he said. In his letter he described how the underground church had seen money confiscated, with clergy having relatives disturbed by the authorities, going to jail or even losing their lives for the faith. “But the Holy See does not support them and regards them as trouble, referring to them causing trouble and not supporting unity. This is what makes [it] most painful,” said Cardinal Zen.19
Francis’s refusal to listen not only undermines his credibility regarding the cover-up of clerical abuse but it seems to demonstrate that his respect for the discernment of local bishops only extends to the introduction of heterodox practices such as the admission of those in irregular unions to Holy Communion.
While he presents his reforms as “democratic” Pope Francis’s leadership has often been criticised as dictatorial20 and even Soviet.21 Regardless, however, of the obvious contradictions between the words and actions of the current pontificate, there seems to be little reason to doubt the determination of those who seek to radically “decatholicise” the Church and recreate her as a political entity, in which legislation is passed by majority vote and where representatives are answerable to pressure groups rather than accountable before the Throne of God. This is the face of the revolution that we are witnessing within the Church in the subversion of order and denial of God. As Sandro Magister,
the veteran Vatican reporter points out, the current agenda remains the vision expressed by the late Carlo Cardinal Martini, the Jesuit Archbishop of Milan who worked tirelessly for the election of a revolutionary pope. During the Synod on Europe in October 1999, Martini spoke of: “… a Church in a perennial synodal state, listed a series of ‘disciplinary and doctrinal knots’ that had to be addressed collegially, and concluded that for such questions ‘not even a synod could be sufficient’, but that there was a need for ‘a more universal and authoritative collegial instrument’, in essence a new ecumenical council, ready to ‘repeat that experience of communion, of collegiality’ which was Vatican II.”22
Given the attempts to obscure the hierarchical nature of the Church of Christ, the King and Supreme Judge over all creation, and instead, to fuel the perpetual revolution with the idea of decentralised synodality the warning given by Pius VI about the heretical Synod of Pistoia seems as relevant for our time as it was in 1794:
“It is not a matter of the danger of only one or another diocese: Any novelty at all assails the Universal Church. Now for a long time, from every side, the judgment of the supreme Apostolic See has not only been awaited but earnestly demanded by unremitting, repeated petitions. God forbid that the voice of Peter ever be silent in that See, where, living and presiding perpetually, he presents the truth of the faith to those in search of it. A lengthier forbearance in such matters is not safe, because it is almost just as much of a crime to close one’s eyes in such cases, as it is to preach such offences to religion.”23 ENDNOTES:
1. Pius VI Auctorem fidei Rome, 28 August 1794; https:// w2.vatican.va/content/pius-vi/it/documents/bolla-auctorem-fidei-28-agosto-1794.html [Accessed 15 November 2018]. 2. Art. 18 Episcopalis Communio, 15 September 2018; http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_constitutions/documents/papa-francesco_costituzione-ap_20180915_episcopalis-communio.html [Accessed 15 November 2018]. 3. Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in The Church Christus Dominus, Pope Paul VI October 28, 1965. 4. Paragraph 16, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 1 October 1986; http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_ homosexual-persons_en.html [Accessed 21 November 2018]. 5. “Well, it wasn’t in the working document, it wasn’t in the general assembly discussions, it wasn’t in the language-group discussions, in wasn’t in the reports from the small groups — it just appeared, as if from nowhere, in the draft final document.” Edward Pentin, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, “Synod Reflections From Down Under: Interview With Archbishop Anthony Fisher” National
Catholic Register, 1 November 2018; http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/synod-reflections-from-down-under-interview-with-archbishop-anthony-fisher [Accessed 16 November 2018]. 6. Edward Pentin, Draft of Final Document Thrusts Synodality to the Fore National Catholic Register, 25 October 2018; http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/ final-draft-of-document-thrusts-the-issue-of-synodalityto-the-fore [Accessed 15 November 2018]. 7. “Nor do I believe that the papal magisterium should be expected to offer a definitive or complete word on every question which affects the Church and the world. It is not advisable for the Pope to take the place of local Bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their territory.” Evangelii Gaudium 8. Antonio Spadaro SJ, “A Big Heart Open to God” Thinking Faith, 19 September 2013; http://www.thinkingfaith.org/ articles/20130919_1.htm [Accessed 15 November 2018]. 9. Quoted in “Synod: ‘The only authority is the authority of service’” Vatican Insider, La Stampa 17 October 2015; https://www.lastampa.it/2015/10/17/vaticaninsider/synod-the-only-authority-is-the-authority-of-service-TAfNeKZgZM2jMkvNuwMk6L/pagina.html [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 10. First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor aeternus on the the Church of Christ, Chapter 3, 18 July 1870. 11. Pastor aeternus Chapter III 12. Deborah Castellano Lubov, “Pope Francis: The Synod Is Not a Parliament” Zenit, 5 October 2015; https://zenit. org/articles/pope-francis-the-synod-is-not-a-parliament/ [Accessed 16 November 2018]. 13. Susan E. Wells, “Cardinal Pell: ‘You must stop manipulating this Synod.’” 18 October 2014 Aleteia; https://aleteia. org/2014/10/18/cardinal-pell-you-must-stop-manipulating-this-synod/; [Accessed 16 November 2018]. 14. Edward Pentin see note 4. 15. Paragraph 6 Episcopalis Communio 15 September 2018; http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ apost_constitutions/documents/papa-francesco_costituzione-ap_20180915_episcopalis-communio.html [Accessed 15 November 2018]. 16. Reuters in Rome, “Pope Francis on Chile sexual abuse scandal: ‘I was part of the problem’” The Guardian, 2 May 2018; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ may/02/pope-francis-chile-sexual-abuse-scandal-partof-problem [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 17. Associated Press in Santiago, “Pope Francis accuses Chilean church sexual abuse victims of slander” The Guardian, 19 January 2018; https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2018/jan/19/pope-francis-victims-church-sexual-abuse-slander-chile [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 18. Evangelii Gaudium [16] 24 November 2013. 19. “Zen presents letter to pope warning him on China” UCA
News, 9 November 2018; https://www.ucanews.com/ news/zen-presents-letter-to-pope-warning-him-on-china/83839 [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 20. Steve Skojec “The Dictator of the Vatican” Foreign Policy, 8 April 2016; https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/08/ the-dictator-of-the-vatican-pope-francis-amoris-laetitia-divorce-communion/ [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 21. Christopher Ferrara, “‘The Dictator Pope’ Book Review”
Catholic Family News, 4 January 2018; https://www. catholicfamilynews.org/blog/2018/1/4/the-dictatorpope-book-review-by-chris-ferrara [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 22. Sandro Magister, “From Martini To Bergoglio. Toward a Vatican Council III” Settimo Cello, 12 October 2018; http:// magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/ [Accessed 17 November 2018]. 23. Auctorem fidei, see note 1.
PRAYER OF ST JOHN FISHER FOR GOOD BISHOPS
Lord, according to Thy promise that the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world, raise up men fit for such work. The Apostles were but soft and yielding clay till they were baked hard by the fire of the Holy Ghost.
So, good Lord, do now in like manner again with Thy Church militant; change and make the soft and slippery earth into hard stone; set in Thy Church strong and mighty pillars that may suffer and endure great labours, watching, poverty, thirst, hunger, cold and heat; which also shall not fear the threatening of princes, persecution, neither death but always persuade and think with themselves to suffer with a good will, slanders, shame, and all kinds of torments, for the glory and laud of Thy Holy Name. By this manner, good Lord, the truth of Thy Gospel shall be preached throughout all the world.
Therefore, merciful Lord, exercise Thy mercy, show it indeed upon Thy Church.
Young people, vocation and holiness of life
From 19-21 October around fifty young people gathered from across the world for the Voice of the Family weekend of prayer and formation in Rome entitled Created for Heaven: the mission of Catholic young adults in today’s world.
The weekend, which coincided with the Vatican’s Youth Synod, comprised of formation for a new generation of Catholic leaders, a pilgrimage to holy sites in Rome and forging a fellowship in faith to support one another in upholding Catholic teaching on life and the family in the public square.
We may often ask with Saul on the road to Damascus: “What am I to do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). Later as St Paul the Apostle instructs us: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1Thes 4:3).
But how? What am I to do, Lord? We cannot be misled by taking counsel from those who today are saints in Heaven:
“The dignity of the saints is so great because they are not of this world, but ‘of the household of God.’” (St Thomas Aquinas)
“All of us can attain to Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life work may be.” (St Francis de Sales)
“Holiness does not consist in one exercise or another, but is a disposition of the heart, which renders us humble and little in the hands of God, conscious of our weakness, and confident, even daringly confident, in His fatherly goodness.” (St Thérèse of Lisieux)
The weekend was an opportunity to consider our vocation as individuals as well as God’s people, Catholic men and women. The programme culminated with all-night Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini.
This time of prayer with young people was offered, firstly, in gratitude. We can see that Our Lord has not left us orphans, but has willed to remain with us always in the integrity of His Person in the fullness of His humanity and His divinity. There is no other nation so great, the Divine Office of Corpus Christi sings, “as to have its gods so near as our God is present to us”.
Secondly, this Adoration was offered to make reparation and pray for the Church and her bishops at this turbulent time. We know that we are the mystical body of Christ and as members of the same body we must work and fight tirelessly for the healing of the body when it suffers.
This FOCUS contains some of the talks and highlights of this grace-filled weekend with the young adults. Regardless of age and state of life, vocation and pursuit of holiness are ever-relevant topics for the life of a Christian. May the following presentations from the conference illuminate more clearly the path to holiness for each one of us!
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO BE HAPPY: Be holy
BY PROF. ROBERTO DE MATTEI
This talk was given at the Voice of the Family conference Created for heaven: the mission of Catholic young adults in today’s world that was held in Rome on 20 October 2018.
What to say to the young of today? I can say nothing other than what I tell myself each day: be holy. This is not an abstract question; it is a concrete question that concerns each one of us, man or woman, young or old, nobody is excluded. I need to be convinced of this: I might attain all the fortunes of life – health, wealth, pleasure, honours and power, but if I don’t become holy, my life will have been a failure.
On the other hand, I might experience trials and tribulations of all sorts, I might appear a failure in the eyes of the world, but if I become holy, I will have attained the true and only purpose of my life. Man was created is calling me to. Following one’s vocation means doing the will of God. Whatever the vocation, it is all about God’s will for us.
Each person has their own specific vocation. What God asks of each soul, represents its vocation, which is the special form Providence wants each person to work and grow in. Every man has a special vocation since each has been wanted and loved by God in a different way. There are no two creatures alike, nor, in the course of history, have there been vocations absolutely alike, seeing as the will of God is different for every creature and every creature that has entered time, from nothingness, is unique. Father Faber dedicates one of his spiritual conferences to this theme: “All men have a special vocation” (Spiritual Conferences, Burn & Oates, London 1906, pp. 375-396). Each man has a specific vocation, different from that of any
to be happy. There is only one way to be happy: be holy. Holiness makes for man’s happiness and the glory of God. But how to be holy? By following my vocation. The vocation which God other man, since God loves every one of us with a special love.
What does this special love of God for me consist of? First of all, God created me, giving my body and soul
PROF. ROBERTO DE MATTEI the characteristics and qualities that pleased Him. God did not only create me, He keeps me alive, providing me with the being in which I live. If God ceased even for a second to imbue my being, I would fall into that nothingness from which He brought me forth. God, after creating us, has not left us to the mercy of chance. “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt. 10:30), and “not a hair of your head will perish” (Lk. 21:18). And if the number and fall of my hair are all calculated – what then, is not going to be calculated in our lives?
“God does not look at us merely in the mass and multitude,” writes Father Faber. “From all eternity God determined to create me not simply a fresh man, not simply the son of my parents, a new inhabitant of my native country, but he resolved to create me such as I am, the me by which I am myself, the me by which other people know me, a different me from any that has ever been cre-
ated hitherto, and from any that will be created hereafter.
“It was just me, with my individual peculiarities, the size, shape, fashion and way of my particular single, unmated soul, which in the calmness of His eternal predilection drew Him to create me.” (Spiritual Conferences, p. 375)
In short, God has traced the laws of my physical, moral and intellectual development along with the laws of my supernatural growth.
How did He do this? Through instruments. What instruments? These lien, are placed in motion by Him and they do nothing other than what God wants them to do in us. Everything occurs at a given time; it acts on the right point, it produces the movement necessary to exercise a physical, moral or intellectual influence on us. This influence is actual grace. Actual grace is the supernatural action that God exercises on us at every moment, through creatures. Creatures are instruments that bring grace. They are the instruments of God for one purpose only: the forming of saints. Everything that happens, all that one does, St Paul says, everything without exception, contributes to the same work and this work is
Every soul has its vocation, because it has its different function in the Body of the Church. He who has the vocation of marriage, does not have it for himself, but for the Church. He who has a religious vocation, does not have it for himself, but for the Church.
instruments are the creatures I meet in my life. The Carthusian, Dom Pollien, invites us to calculate the number of creatures that have been part of the reality of our existence (Cristianesimo vissuto, Edizioni Fiducia, Roma 2017). The physical influences of time, seasons and climate, the moral influences of relatives, teachers, friends and [even the] enemies we have met along the way; all the books we have read, the words we have heard, the things we have seen, the situations in which we have found ourselves – nothing is by chance, given that there is no such thing as chance – everything has a significance.
These influences, these movements are the work that God performs in us. All these creatures, explains Dom Polthe good of those that the will of God calls to holiness (Rm. 8:28). Nothing fails towards this purpose, everything converges towards this outcome. Actual grace is everywhere and intimately connects the natural and the supernatural. And God proportions the quality of His graces to the needs of our life, according to the designs of His mercy towards us and according to the response we lend to His action.
How do we respond to this uninterrupted action of grace on our souls? We let God act in our souls, without ever worrying about tomorrow, since, as the Gospel says “sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:34). “Let God act,” said Cardinal Merry del Val. “Remember that circumstances which you yourself have not occasioned are God’s messengers. They come a thousand times a day to tell you the different ways in which you may show Him your love.” (Let God Act, Taller Abbey, 1974, p. 2)
A religious who lived very close to St John Bosco was asked whether the Saint was ever worried in the midst of his countless works, in his sometimes tumultuous life. The religious replied in this manner: “Don Bosco never, not even a minute before, thought about what he was about to do a minute later.” Don Bosco, who understood the action of grace, always sought to do the will of God in the present moment. And following this path he fulfilled his vocation.
In Rome, next to the central railway station, stands the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, built by Don Bosco just before his death, at the cost of immense sacrifices. The Basilica was solemnly consecrated on 14 May 1887 by the Cardinal Vicar in the presence of numerous civil and religious authorities. On 16 May 1887, Don Bosco himself offered Mass at the altar of Mary, Help of Christians: it was his only celebration in the Church of the Sacred Heart and, as a plaque appended on the centenary of the event commemorates, the Mass was interrupted fifteen times by the sobs of the old priest, who understood the significance of his famous “dream of 9 years”. God showed him the vast panorama of his life and revealed to him how, from his childhood, he had been prepared and led by God to fulfill his earthly mission.
He who has the vocation of marriage, does not have it for himself, but for the Church. He who has a religious vocation, does not have it for himself, but for the Church. This vocation, writes Fr Faber, flows directly from our eternal predestination, but is entrusted to the hands of our free will and depends on it:
“I clearly belong to a plan, and have a place to fill and a work to do which are all special; and only my speciality, my particular me, can fill this place or do this work.
“This means that I have a tremendous responsibility.
“Responsibility is the definition of life. It is the inseparable characteristic of my position as a creature.
“From this point of view life looks very serious.” (Spiritual Conferences, p. 377)
There is no other path that leads man to the holiness which everyone is called to, in order to be happy. Let us go along this path with the help of Our Lady and the Angels. God has placed us near an Angel to guard our vocation. Our Guardian Angel is our vocation perfected; our vocation fulfilled. He is the model for our vocation. For this we need to pray to him and listen to the words he whispers.
There are vocations for single people; there are vocations for families, which are not only natural ones, but also those spiritual families, with their charisms; there are vocations for the peoples of nations, which Dr Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira spoke of frequently. Each nation has a specific vocation, which is the role that Providence has entrusted to it in history. But we were not only born into a family and a nation. We live inside a historical age. And since history is also a creature of God, in every historical age God asks for something different. Every historical age has its vocation. The predominant vocation in the first centuries of the Church was the predisposition for martyrdom. Is there a vocation in the 21st century, in which one can find one’s individual vocation?
The vocation for our age is to correspond to the desire of Heaven which Our Lady Herself showed us at Fatima: In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. This is the vocation of those in the cloisters, on the public squares, who, with prayer, penance, words and action, battle for the fulfillment of this promise.
The triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is also the triumph of the Church, since the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the very Heart of the Church Itself. This triumph suggests a great battle preceding it. And since this triumph will be social, public and solemn, this battle will also be social, public and solemn. Today, being saints means fighting this battle, which is fought, first and foremost, holding the sword of truth. It is only upon the truth that the lives of men and nations can be built, and without the truth, a society breaks down and dies. Today, Christian society has to be remade; and to remake it, the prime necessity which is called for, is that of professing and living the truth. When a Christian, with the help of grace, conforms his own life to the principles of the Gospel and fights in defence of the truth, he cannot be hindered by any obstacle.
In his discourse of 21 January 1945 to the Marian Congregations of Rome, Pius XII stated:
“The present time calls for fearless Catholics, for whom it is the most natural thing [in the world] to pro-
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. PETERSKIRCHE, VIENNA.
fess their faith openly, through their words and actions, whenever the law of God and the sentiment of Christian honour require it. Real men, upright men, resolute and intrepid! Those who are such merely halfway, the world itself discards, rejects and crushes.”
“God and the Church,” writes Dom Pollien in Cristianesimo vissuto, “ask for defenders, but real defenders; those who never shrink back one step; those who know how to be faithful to orders until death; those who are formed in the rigours of discipline, in order to be ready for all the heroisms of the fight.” (p. 162)
The French writer Paul Claudel, enunciated this great truth: “Youth was not made for pleasure but for heroism”. The young of the 21st century cannot be attracted by the invitation of compromise with the world, but are asking the Church for a call to heroism. Cristianesimo vissuto means “militant Christianity”. In the Middle Ages, in the course of building a cathedral, architects, stonemasons, blacksmiths, carpenters, bishops, princes, illustrious and unknown personalities all participated, united in the same desire to render glory to God through the stones they raised to Heaven. We are also participating in a great project. Each one of us today is called to build the immense cathedral dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the ruins of the modern world – which is nothing other than Her Reign in souls and society. Our hearts are the stones and our voices proclaim to the world a dream that will come true.
Translated from Italian by Francesca Romana
Roberto de Mattei is a former professor of Modern History and History of Christianity at the European University of Rome. He founded, and oversees, the Lepanto Foundation that operates in Washington and in Rome. He directs the magazine Radici Cristiane and the Corrispondenza Romana News Agency.
FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS (2 COR. 12:9)
BY FR ANTHONY PILLARI
This talk was addressed to young men in Rome on 20 October 2018.
“When you become willing to suffer for the sake of unborn children, your witness on their behalf becomes much more powerful.” A prolife leader uttered these words to me many years ago, speaking of those in Operation Rescue.1
Are you willing to suffer arrest and imprisonment, ridicule and hatred, in order to give witness to the Truth of Christ, in order to work for the salvation of souls? What are you willing to suffer, as a man, to help save souls? Because Christ is calling each one of you to take up arms in the spiritual battle that is raging all around us. So many, many souls do not even know that they are in the midst of a battle; do not know that demons are trying to to defend souls, to help win souls for Me? Are you willing to suffer, even to the point of losing your life?” “For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”2
None of us chose to be born at this time. But God chose you to be born in this time, to live in the midst of this great crisis. God is offering you all the graces necessary to live heroically these years, to take up your role as leaders, as men. And a man can only lead in Christ’s army, whether as a priest, a religious, a head of a family, or a celibate man in the midst of the world - a man can only truly lead if he is willing to imitate Christ in His suffering, if he is willing to lay down his life. Because make no mistake, if you bear faithful witness to the truth of Christ, the world will hate you. As St
drag them down to hell. And so God turns to you, young men who have at least some awareness of the gravity of what is taking place today in the Church and in the world. And He asks you: “Are you willing to fight for Me, Paul declares: “…all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”3 And for those of you called to be priests, the devil, the prince of this world (cf. Jn 12:31), will hate you with a special intensity. Because you
FR ANTHONY PILLARI will be called, as a priest, to bear courageous witness, in your preaching, in your celebration of the Sacraments, and in your life, to the truth of Christ and the reality of sin.
To take just one example: as a priest, I am called to proclaim to every man, including those ensnared in the sins of homosexual acts, the teaching of Christ, the teaching of the Church: such acts are gravely sinful. Such acts violate the natural moral law; such acts are sins so grave that they cry out to Heaven for vengeance (as Bishop Morlino of Madison Wisconsin recently reiterated). And the world will hate you for proclaiming this truth. As Christ declared: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jh. 15:18-20)
And the hatred of the world might include not only being ridiculed, sidelined, or caricatured as a bigot, but might well come to include fines, im-
