I read something this morning which has sustained me throughout what would otherwise have been a miserable day. Courtesy of Damian Thompson's Holy Smoke blog, I learned yesterday about the 'civil war' at the Latin Mass Society. There is no need for me to describe today's developments or to comment on the journalistic style of DT. His posts on the subject must be read but the most sane comments are to be found on Valle Adurni, Saint Mary Magdalene (Fr Ray Blake's blog) and of course Fr Z's WDTPRS. All these helped to keep me from being dispirited, but they were not the main reason for my undisturbed joy. What then was it?
It was this:
The postman brought the latest issue of 'Inside the Vatican' which contained an extensive article: 'The Centrality of Truth in the Thought of Joseph Ratzinger' by Fr. Vincent Twomey. This had to be read straight away and turned out to be most justly titled. What a pleasure to see our Holy Father's writings so cogently traced. In the last section of his article Fr. Twomey points out that in the Pope's writings there is another theme inextricably linked with Truth and that is - joy. This last word, Fr Twomey notes, and I am not surprised to learn it, is the most frequently repeated word in all Pope Benedict's writngs and speeches since his election.
But it is the last two paragraphs that reminded me of two things, and which have sustained me today and will do so for whatever time remains to me:
"At the Mass for the inauguration of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the nature of any pastor's task: it is 'a service to joy, to God's joy which longs to break into the world.'
"Before his election as Pope, he spoke to his fellow cardinals, explaining what Christ meant when he commanded his apostles to bear fruit that would last, namely 'love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching hearts, words that open the soul to joy in the Lord.' He prayed that the Lord would 'once again give us a Shepherd according to his own heart, a Shepherd who will guide us to knowledge of Christ, to his love and to true joy.'
He did."
Deo gratias. Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice!
In Christo pro Papa
J
3 comments:
Hi Jane.
Father Vincent Twomey is an excellent theologian and he's one of the few "friends" of Joseph Ratzinger who hasn't tried to capitalize on it for his own purposes.
I quit taking Inside the Vatican for various reasons, but I might buy this issue just for that article.
Thanks Prima:
If you make an exception, it's the November issue you need to get.
I've subscribed for a year. I too find things which would prevent me from buying it off the stall so to speak, where I could flick through it first, but for a European it's a good 'temperature' guage of the US situation. (It tells me more about that than about the Vatican, because it's never up to date by the time I get it.) For that reason I'll probably renew the subscription.
Also, it lets you know who are the 'good guys'. Fr. Twomey is clearly one, whereas in the same issue one can identify the Patriarch of Lisbon as being a bit 'flaky' as we would say in London!
God bless,
ICPP
J
I used to take this journal but found that the articles was uneven in interest and some were too dull for words. The Rome restaurant of the month was a pretty good feature though!
I've seen Fr Twomey speaking about the Holy Father - I was never sure if he was for or against, so glad to know he is a friend!
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