MORE WISDOM FROM EMERITUS POPE BENEDICT XVI
Truth is justice in action - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com
- Friday, March 11, 2016
March 10th: "Co-Workers of the Truth" Meditations for
Every Day of the Year, Ignatius Press, 1992
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.
Those who live vigilantly in the world of today, who
recognize its contradictions and its destructive tendencies - from the
self-destruction of technology by the destruction of the environment to the
self-destruction of society by racial and class struggle - such people do not
look to Christianity for approbation but for the prophetic salt that burns,
consumes, accuses, & changes.
Nevertheless, a basic aspect of metanoia
comes thereby into view - for it demands that man change if
he is to be saved. It is not the ideology of adaptation that will rescue
Christianity - although adaptation is still operative wherever, with sycophantic
zeal or tardy courage, those institutions are criticized which in any event have
become the powerless butt of world publicity(and in so doing, incidentally, have
entered once again into the apostolic tradition [1 Cor 4:13]); nothing can
rescue it but the prophetic courage to make its voice heard decisively and
unmistakably at this very hour.
March 11th:
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?
For that, it is not enough to earn money or to have
influence. It is possible to be very rich, yet to make a failure of one's life,
to make oneself and others happy? It is possible to have power, but to tear down
more than one builds.
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 view if as a stepping-stone to eternal life.
I must remember that God put me in this world for a
purpose and that he will one day demand an account of what I have done with my
life. There are many persons today who claim that the thought of eternal life
prevents them from acting for their own good in this world.
But the opposite is true: if we fail to keep before
our eyes God's standard, the standard of eternity, then egoism is the only
guidelines left us. Then each person will try to secure for himself as much as
possible of this world's goods.
He will regard everyone else as an enemy of his
happiness, as one who threatens to deprive him of some good. Then
greed and envy become the dominating forces in his life and
poison his world. On the other hand, when we construct our lives that we do not
quail before the eyes of God. then we make visible to others as well as to
ourselves a glimmer of God's goodness.
Hence the first guideline is: live not for
yourself alone; live under the eye of God; 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.
GEORGE H. KUBECK
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