THIS MESSAGE TO AMERICA BY ST. JOHN PAUL II

THIS MESSAGE TO AMERICA BY ST. JOHN PAUL II! 

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM - JUNE 26/17

As recorded by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in his book, "Co-Workers of the Truth" - Meditations for Every Day of the Year, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1992, for the 26th of June.

   

  "One who preaches to the people the word of faith is not saying things that are likely to please them, but must expect to meet them with opposition. Jesus did not promise upholstered chairs of cabinet  posts, but only His baptism and His chalice. In saying that we have identified the two fundamental sacraments, Baptisms and Holy Eucharist, as the essence of His gift to humanity. But we have also made clear what it means to receive Baptism and Holy Eucharist:  Being ready to suffer for the truth and love.

     

     The pope knows this. That is why, in an address to the American Bishops, he alluded to the words of St. Paul: - "Brothers in Christ, When we preach the truth in love, we must expect to be criticized, for we cannot please everyone. But we must expect to be criticized, for we cannot please everyone, But we do, nevertheless, have a genuine contribution to make to the salvation of everyone.

     For that reason, we are humbly convinced that God is with us in our service to the truth and that he 'does not give us the spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and love and of self-discipline' (2-Tim :7). The spirit of cowardice - that is assuredly not a characteristic to John Paul II.

   

    That is why it had to be realized from the beginning [of his papacy] that one day sooner or later, he would have to face opposition. Significantly, that opposition was strongest when the Pope, in his talks to America, addressed the world that is typically Western - when he addressed our world, when he brought into it the salt of the Gospel, when he exposed our wounds to light of Christ's message and revealed them as wounds.

     In this criticism there are some elements that we might even find humorous.. In the so-called "position papers" with which we were bombarded before the papal election, we were told; above all, a Pope must be open to the world. And find it somewhat comical that the same people who are telling him now that he should not go so much into the world: above all, a Pope must be open to the world.

  And I find it somewhat comical that the same people are telling him now that he should not go so much into the world, but should spend more time at home and read. We were told: the Pope must be charismatic, not bureaucratic. And I find it amusing that it is precisely the individual who customarily speaks of the hierarchy as a "Church of wolves" who now reminds the Pope that the Church cannot be led by charism alone.

 

    But there are other, more serious, criticisms that must be taken more seriously. We are told, for example, that the Pope is a product of Conservative theology that is appropriate for a conservative country, but that he is obviously not familiar with the West and its quite different situation. [e.g. a catholic-in-name-politician is OK in the U.S.A., but would not be in Poland.]

    It is said, moreover, that, by reason of his pastoral role, he should not simply decree and decide; he should discuss and convince. But one who truly listens knows that this pope has not spent his life in a small and narrow world - not just because he has already traveled widely in the world, because he has always been surrounded by young people whose enthusiasms, problems, and questions about a world that is, in this sense, still undivided are everywhere the same, but also, more especially, because, as a man, he has himself known and endured all the depths of human life and its sufferings.

 

    In the realm of the human heart, he has discovered the world of the human being and has pondered and suffered anew. By reason of such journeyings, into the adventure of human existence, he can speak with intimate knowledge and can make the word faith perceptible again in all its permanence - the word that in that sense, is certainly conservative, for it protects the ground of human nature....

 

    One who listens carefully to the Pope's words, sees as well that they are not issued as commands, but bear within them the whole history of life that has been nourished by the centuries-long history of faith, and regards humanity anew from this perspective; that he looks at himself with self-criticism, whereas we usually turn away  and do not look at ourselves. Thus the Pope makes visible to us why what is permanent is also something new. (October 25, 1979) -    George H. Kubeck