Saturday, October 22, 2005
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT BENEDICT
Benedict was once considered a liberal, back during the days of the Council when he was young. Today the politically correct interpretation is that he has backed away from liberalism and moved into orthodoxy with enthusiasm. That would be reflected in his flirting with making the Tridentine normative. It would be reflected in his most recent demonstration of Eucharistic adoration. I am certainly in synch with him on these points even though I attend the Novus Ordo every Sunday.
While I don't believe a return to the Tridentine will cure our problems, it may be a beginning. Clearly the Novus Ordo has invited liturgical errors aplenty. It is hard to see how it can be rescued when the bishops defy the Pope on liturgical norms.
When I get most discouraged, I close my eyes and imagine that I'm in church kneeling before the monstrance. It helps. St. Don Bosco's prophecy that we will recover through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin and through the Euchrist courses through my thoughts as I puruse the current state of the Church. John Paul II had recourse to the Blessed Virgin. It appears right now that Benedict will have recourse to the Eucharist.
What I suspect is that Benedict is afraid. If he reverts to teachings prior to the Council, he will most likely unloose a firestorm of protest not only from inside but also from outside the Church. Perhaps he is afraid that nothing will survive. If I were a Pope, I would be afraid for the souls and the lives of Catholics all over the world if I were to do what must be done. In this he is standing alone. No one else can make the decisions that he must make. Yet he must make them soon, or the steam roller of heresy will be once again moving forward.
Right now the Church is in a holding pattern, and there is silence mostly. Almost a held breath, waiting to see what he will do. Perhaps one could even say the silence of Eucharistic adoration. Are we all kneeling at the monstrance even though a great many of us don't know it? Has Benedict brought the Church to the monstrance and laid it there, stepped back, and is now waiting for direction? Perhaps he knows all of what I've been blogging and doesn't know what to do. If he retreats into the norms prior to the Council, he will face the world in opposition.
Sandro Magister has made the observation that many more people are attending his liturgies:
But if one looks at the attendance figures for the Wednesday audience at the Vatican and the Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the new pope is seeing twice the numbers of his predecessor.
From May to September of 2004, 194,000 persons attended the audiences of John Paul II. During those same months in 2005, 410,000 have attended those of Benedict XVI.
It’s the same for the Angelus: 262,000 were present over five months for those of pope Karol Wojtlya, and 600,000 over the same months in 2005 for the new pope.
These figures were compiled by the prefecture of the pontifical household, the Vatican body that oversees the audiences.
And yet Benedict XVI doesn’t practice any showmanship, he doesn’t stress any flashy phrases, doesn’t encourage applause or acclamation. He withdraws from the festive mass gatherings that continue to be organized in the style of pope Wojtyla. He arrives only to celebrate the liturgy and preach.
Are these Europeans mostly, or tourists? There is no way to know. If they are Europeans, it could be a good sign that a return to Tradition will bring on a period of growth for the Church. If they are tourists, they may be only curious.
As he backs away from the spotlight...as he points to the Eucharist...he in effect says look to Christ for your leadership, not to me. Yet he must lead.
The monks sponsoring centering prayer/contemplation and asking us to seek God in silence may be doing the work of Christ while intending to do something else. It really is in silence that we find God. Not in a mantra, but in the silence of listening. Because God does speak to us if we let Him--if we tell Him we want to listen--and it is often hard to hear His voice when there are other voices to contend with.
All things work together for good for those who love Him. He can make use of even evil for His purposes, and often does. Taking up a mantra is useless, but taking up relationship is the fulfillment of the Catholic life, and it is a moment to moment act. We seek Him, and He finds us. He finds us most especially in the Eucharist. Once one knows Him there, walking away from Mass is nearly impossible. The Protestants have kept a lot but lost the greatest treasure. And that is why, even though there are Protestants I greatly admire, I will never turn to Protestantism. That is why it is either Roman Catholicism, or if that fails, Orthodoxy. And if both of these fail, there is nothing left but atheism.
