Wisdom, Truth and Glory

Wisdom, Truth and Glory
In pursuit of the truth – cinops be gone - Monday, March 16, 2009

Let’s look for wisdom, truth and the greater glory of God in the following:

We need the living Christ, whom we can know only through our encounter with him. But encounter presumes actual presence – the Real Presence, which, in turn, requires the Sacrament of the Church that alone is authorized to give us the Sacrament, the Church that Christ himself willed into existence and continues to support. The Eucharist, at each new celebration, must be recognized anew as the core of our Christian life. But we cannot celebrate the Eucharist adequately if we are content to reduce it to a ritual of –more or less- half-hours duration. To receive Christ means to worship him. - March 5th entry.

There are many persons who live in conflict with themselves. This aversion for oneself, this inability to accept oneself and to be reconciled with oneself is far removed from the self-abnegation that the Lord asks of us. If we fail to love ourselves, we cannot love our neighbor…. It is true, moreover, that only when we have accepted ourselves can we address a genuine Yes to anyone else. - March 6th, entry.

Our way to the other leads by way of God. Without this intermediary of our unity, we will always be separated from one another by abysses that no good will can bridge. - March 7th.

The end never justifies the means. What is wrong in itself continues to be wrong however noble the end toward which it is directed…. Whatever is done in the name of terrorism affects us precisely as Christians and calls for a Christian response. In the last analysis, all acts of terrorism that label themselves on one way or another as Marxist share a single characteristic: that man wants to appropriate to himself the role of Divine Providence, to usurp the position of God – the story of paradise and the serpent has an relevance in our day. - March 8th entry.

Christianity is no longer tied to the past; it is firmly rooted in today. That was the electrifying thought that Pope John XXIII himself summarized in the word aggiornamento…. Christianity is not linked to any past: Jesus Christ is “yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) - March 9th entry.

A Christianity that believes it has no other function than to be completely in tune with the spirit of the times has nothing to say and no meaning to offer. It can abdicate without more ado.- March 10th entry.

The conversation between Jesus and the teacher of the law deals with a question that concerns all of us. How do I live as I ought? What must I do to make a success of my life? … How, then, can I learn what it means to be human? What must I do? In his question the teacher of the law mentions a prerequisite that we seldom consider nowadays: if my life in this world is to be successful, I must remember that God put me in this world for a purpose and he will one day demand an account of what I have done with my life…. if we fail to keep before our eyes God’s standard, the standard of eternity, then egoism is the only guideline left us…. Hence the first guideline is: live not for yourself alone; live under the eye of God: live in such a way that he will be pleased with you and that you will some day be eternally welcome in the company of God and his saints. - March 11th entry.
The above from “Co-Workers of the Truth” Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, Ignatius Press, 1992
George H. Kubeck,