Papal Words About the Liturgy

Details: 03 December 2010

Two Elements

Historically and traditionally the sacred liturgy in the Latin Rite presents the figure of Saint John the Baptist, the son of Saint Elizabeth, the Virgin Mary’s cousin, (Luke 1:5; 2:36), and Saint Zachariah, the Jewish priest, (Luke 1:8-9), as one of the most significant Advent personalities, to be pondered and listened to across the centuries by Christians of every time and place, when they annually prepare themselves for the coming of Christ anew by grace at Christmas and wait for His ultimate coming at the end of time. As John once prepared the world for our Lord’s first coming, so his words and intercession are meant to prepare us Catholics for these other "comings" of our Savior to us.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, remarks about the precision with which the Evangelists situate John the Baptist in human history, citing as they do the imperial reign of Tiberias Caesar, the governorship of Pontius Pilate, the kingship of the three sons who succeeded Herod the Great (Herod, the namesake, in Galilee, Philip in Ituraea and Traconitis, and Lysania in Abilene), and the time of the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiphas. The Pope says "Two things attract our attention here. The first is the abundance of references to all the political and religious leaders of Palestine in the years 27-28 A.D." The Evangelists "wanted to warn those who might read or hear about it, that the Gospel is not a legend but an account of a true story, that Jesus of Nazareth is an historical figure Who fits into that precise context."

"The second noteworthy element is that, after ample historical introductions, the subject (of these Gospel passages) becomes the Spirit of God, presented as that Power Which comes down from heaven and settles through John the Baptist on Jesus."

Precursor

The Holy Father says, "John appears in the wilderness as a man dedicated to God. First of all, he preaches repentance, purification, and the gathering of the people for the coming of God. In a sense, this proclamation summarizes the whole of prophecy at the very moment when history is reaching its goal. His mission is to open the door for God, so that Israel is ready to welcome Him and to prepare for this hour in history. The important things are first his call to repentance, which continues what all the prophets said, and second his witness to Christ, which again makes prophecy concrete in the image of the lamb, which is the Lamb of God. Let us recall the stories of Abraham, the stories of Isaac, the sacrifices that involve a lamb, especially the paschal sacrifice, in which a lamb is sacrificed. These substitutes now find their fulfillment. Basically, the paschal lamb stands in the place of us men. Now Christ is sent by God to become the Paschal Lamb, and He shares our fate and thereby transforms it. John says that Christ is not just some historical personage, but is the One Who goes before us all, Who comes forth from the eternity of God and is an intimate Part of that eternity" (John 1:29).

The Bishop of Rome goes on to suggest that in Advent, "Let us gaze on John the Baptist. Challenging and active he stands before us, a type of the manly vocation. In harsh terms he demands "metanoia", a radical transformation of attitudes. Those who would be Christians must be transformed ever again. Our natural disposition, indeed, finds us always ready to assert ourselves, to pay like with like, to put ourselves at the center. Those who want to find God need, again and again, that inner conversion, that new direction. And, this applies also to the total outlook on life. Day by day we encounter the world of visible things. It assaults us through billboards, broadcasts, traffic, and all the activities of daily life, to such an enormous extent that we are tempted to assume there is nothing else but this."

"Yet, the truth is that what is invisible is greater and much more valuable than anything visible. One single soul, in Pascal’s beautiful words, is worth more than the entire visible universe. But, in order to have a living awareness of this, we need conversion. We need to turn around inside, as it were, to overcome the illusion of what is visible and to develop the feeling, ears, the eyes, for what is invisible. This has to be more important than anything that bombards us day after day with such exaggerated urgency. "Metanoite"! Change your attitude so that God may dwell in you and, through you, in the world. John the Baptist himself was not spared this painful process of change, of turning around."

Advent Advice

Pope Benedict XVI, who recently beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham, England, very often has cited and quoted him in his own works. Speaking of Advent, Newman said, "Year passes after year, silently. Christ’s coming is ever nearer than it was. O that as He comes nearer the earth, we may approach nearer to heaven. O my brethren, pray Him to give you a heart to seek Him in sincerity. Pray Him to make you in earnest. You have one work only, to bear your cross after Him. Resolve in His strength to do so. Resolve to be no longer beguiled by mere "shadows of religion", by words, by disputings, or by notions, or high professions, or by excuses or by the world’s promises or threats."

"Pray Him to give you an honest and good heart.... and without waiting begin at once to obey Him with the best heart you have. Any obedience is better than none. Any religious profession which is disjoined from obedience is mere pretence and deceit. All your duties are obediences. You have to seek His face and obedience is the only way of seeking Him. If you believe the truths He has revealed, if you are to regulate yourselves by His precepts, are to be frequent in His ordinances, are to adhere to His Church, what is it, except because He bid you? And, to do what He bids is to obey Him and to obey Him is to approach Him. Every act of obedience is an approach, an approach to Him Who is not far off, though He seems so, but is close behind the visible screen of things which hide Him from us. Earth and sky are but a veil going between Him and us. The day will come when He will rend that veil and show Himself to us. And then, according as we have waited for Him, will He recompense us. But, if we have forgotten Him, He will not know us. But, ‘blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He comes will find watching. He will gird Himself and make them sit down to eat and will serve them Himself. If He comes in the second watch or the third and finds His servants watching, blessed will those servants be’ (Luke 12:37-38). May this be the portion of every one of us. It is hard to attain, but woeful to fail. Life is short, death is certain, and the world to come is everlasting."