I am away on continuing education for my clinical license and do not have access to my usual time or resources. I have not been able to keep up my series of posts on Papa Luciani.
When I get home, I intend to write a post on his funeral Mass, my memories of it, as well as the words spoken of him at that time.
“The Gospel that Christians proclaim is a Gospel of mercy, love and forgiveness. We believe that the death penalty is not compatible with the Gospel. The common good and public security can be achieved in other ways. The Gospel call us to proclaim the sacredness of human life under all circumstances.” — Archbishop Wilton Gregory and Bishop Kevin Boland, in a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole trying to stop the execution of Troy Davis.
I have wondered at times how much of human conversation consists of simple gossip. Seems to me that many people make it their life’s goal, i.e., to relay to others their opinionated views of another person who of course is not within earshot. I am going to try to count up the number of times I hear someone doing this in the next week. It is so prevalent, one has to wonder if it is some evolutionary artifact deep within our genes.
I have thought also of the blindedness so many of us have to the beauty of our surroundings. I know I am most days. I was driving up to Minneapolis tonight at dusk and marvelled at the sunset to the west of US Highway 52. The beauty of our physical environment is so vast that we don’t see it. We see the bumps in the road instead. No wonder so many are in a sour mood.
The thoughts of many are far from the thoughts of the few. Think about that for a while. See where it takes you. See which side you find yourself on.
God is good. So is humanity, not withstanding the news reports. Remember that. I almost got into an argument with a faithful and good Lutheran about this. I think he thought I was saying humanity never fell from grace, which I wasn’t saying at all. Just that God created human beings good, and so we are. What we do isn’t so hot often, but here is the point which touches a lot of Catholic moral teaching: the person is good, and we must love and respect every human life, but we must weigh in on the behaviors. That is why we can say love the sinner and hate the sin. Seems to me you run the risk of identifying too closely with Satan rather than Christ if you don’t do this.
Thanks for reading the ramble. Kind of fun for me!!
Blessings,
Deacon Bob
Deacon Bob philosophizing at his best
I was thinking today as I was working around the house how untenable capital punishment is in today’s world. For all intents and purposes, it is immoral. Perhaps there is an extraordinary situation where it could be morally used, but I cannot imagine one. Can you? I began thinking about this when I read today that an American born terrorist was executed by a drone plane. Presidents Bush and Obama signed an order to execute certain people on lists without any recourse. Scary. No one should have the authority to execute someone without due process of law.
I was thinking last night and into today how prevalent idolatry is in our society. What I mean is this: so many people have bought into the idea that what is real is what they think. If you think it, it will be true. I’ll bet all of us slip into this way of thinking at times. The old philosopher, Descartes, started it all with his Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). Why is it we keep coming back to philosophies that have been shown fallacious for so many centuries? Perhaps there is nothing new under the sun. By the way, the idolatry piece of this is the belief that I, by my thoughts and perceptions, create reality, i.e., I take over God’s place as creator of all. I for one don’t want God’s job. Too big for me. The truth of the matter is truth and reality are out there to be found. What our thoughts do is bring to life within us are our passions, our emotions. We also must be careful not to go too far in the other extreme and begin to think that I cannot know anything because reality is other than me. I did my senior philosophy paper on epistemology and tried to show that the only way we can really know anything is to become that which we desire to know, e.g., I can only know a chair by becoming a chair. Foolishness on my part, but a fun intellectual exercise for a then 21 year old philosopher.
All we are hearing about again is politics. Do any of us really understand what politics are? We talk about it all the time, but we don’t know what we are talking about. We either don’t like politics or we love it. Why? Because politics have to do with authority. We have problems with authority. Do you know what the Church teaches about political authority? The Church has always considered different ways of understanding authority, taking care to defend and propose a model of authority that is founded on the social nature of the person. Political authority is necessary because of the responsibilities assigned to it. The subject of political authority is the people considered in its entirety as those who have sovereignty. Authority must be guided by moral law. All of its dignity derives from the moral law, which in turn has God as its first source and final end.
We don’t like that part about moral law being the basis for political authority. Too messy, too personal, people say. So instead people want to think of politics as a matter of power, rather than authority. I don’t think this is just a play on words here. There is a difference even within a relationship. Authority first, power second.
Have you ever thought about how peaceful (and rich) life would be like without automobiles? I do. O well! Maybe in heaven.
Too many of us are narrow in our world view. Talked with a guy from Canada today and it made me realize how little of the world outside of the USA I really have known. I am always amazed at how much more people in Europe know about world affairs than I do. I wonder how this is reflected in our spirituality. You can bet your bottom dollar it does. Especially for us deacons.
Hope all of you have a blessed Sunday. Remember, God loves you.
St. Jarlath’s Catholic Church
Iosco Township, Waseca County, Minnesota
Here are some other words written by Peter C. van Lierde about Luciani shortly after his death (my translation of the Italian):
To you, the faithful of Vatican City, and to all of you who nearly every day work here — a simple, sincere and fraternal word.
…. John Paul I…. a truly great gift, a new dawn of light after the long illuminating light of Pope Paul VI: two lights in the Church and the world, differing from one another but both coming from the same God.
God gave us Pope John Paul I and God has taken him. God is love and he gives divinely; and God always remains Love even when he takes away…
All of us have been struck and shaken by the sudden disappearance of the beloved Pope. We have seen the emotional response pervading the Church and the world, the near and the far, the believers and non-believers. All have bowed their heads, reflecting, meditating and praying…..
I would like to add a modest personal experience. Called by Holy Father John Paul I in the first week of his Pontificate, I had the unexpected joy to be able to speak with him. Suddenly, the Pope looked in my eyes with a firm glance, saying amiably: “I want to tell my Vicar General something confidentially. You may see, Monsignor, that I smile, I smile always, but believe me, inside, I suffer.”
Dear faithful ones, I believe I can tell you these profound words of our beloved Pope so that all of you, here in the Vatican, may be able to love him more with our faithful memory, with our holy and devoted service, and call upon him for the growth and vitality of the Church, today and in the future, and for our lives and health, for our work and our spiritual and material security.
I find van Lierde’s experience of Luciani telling him of his sufferings noteworthy. We have always told of Luciani’s smile, his amiability and his warmth. Yet, he suffered, as do all saints.
Papa Luciani, pray for us!
On September 29, 1978, the day the body of John Paul I was found in his bedroom, the Vicar General of the diocese of Rome made this announcement to the city of Rome (my translation of the Italian):
Dear Priests, Religious and citizens of Rome,
With an anguished spirit I have the sad obligation to tell you of the sudden death of Holy Father John Paul I. Before such a sad, unthinkable and mysterious event there remains only a turning to Faith, supported by Christian hope that always leads to true life and for us to repeat: “Lord you know all! May your holy name be forever blessed.”
In one month, the deceased Pope earned for himself the affection of Christians. His pontificate was received by all the world as a sign of faith.
Now, we must pray for his blessed soul.
All the bells of Rome, today at noon and in the evening, and then for the next two days that follow, will ring in mourning.
But above all all the parish and religious communities will gather in insistent prayer for the dead Holy Father, commending his soul to God and praying also for the Holy Catholic Church in mourning.
“We have nothing to fear when we can say, resolutely, even without feelings: Long live Jesus!” — St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, OFM Cap.
Thirty-three years ago today, Pope John Paul I gave his last address for he died late that night. On September 28, 1978 he met a group of bishops from the Philippines on their ad limina visit. In this address he spoke of evangelization, a huge project that his successor would pick up and make one of his center pieces of his papacy.
As I have previously posted, it seems that the New Evangelization started the day Luciani died.
Here are are a few excerpts from the address:
Among the rights of the faithful, one of the greatest is the right to receive God’s word in all its entirety and purity, with all its exigencies and power. A great challenge of our day is the full evangelization of all those who have been baptized… Our message must be a clear proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ…..
For us, evangelization involves an explicit teaching about the name of Jesus, his identity, his teaching, his Kingdom and his promises….the Church [in} her pastoral charity would be incomplete if she did not point out even “higher needs.”… we must help our people to realize just how much they need Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. He is their Savior, the key to their destiny and to the destiny of all humanity…. to proclaim his truth, his love, his justice and salvation in word and example before its neighbors.. to proclaim with the entire Church that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
We ask the sick and the handicapped to understand their important part in God’s plan, and to realize just how much evangelization depends on them.
Read the entire address at:
Within hours of uttering these words, Pope John Paul I would die unexpectedly of a massive heart attack after only 33 days on the throne of St. Peter. It seems to me that Luciani’s final sentence above was a prophecy of sorts regarding Wojtyla’s death and the witness it would provide to the world.
Those of us who were privileged to have been able to approach him or to have served him directly in some manner cannot forget the impact his smile, his presence and his words had upon us. He has been overshadowed by his successor, Blessed Pope John Paul II, but Luciani in a now rather silent way laid the cornerstones to John Paul II’s legacy.
Luciani was, I dare to say, the papal parent of Wojtyla. 
I find it unfortunate that what has been written about most broadly about Luciani since his death have been conspiracy theories and the like about the events of this night 33 years ago today. What I am striving to do, along with notable others, is keep alive Luciani’s memory, and his teaching.
He was always the servant of God. He died in the arms of the One he loved. May his memory endure, and may his cause for canonization proceed without haste.
Papa Luciani, pray for us!
In his General Audience on September 27, 1978 Pope John Paul I spoke of Pope John XXIII’s “third lamp of sanctification” which is charity.
He began with a prayer his mother taught him:
My God, with all my heart above all things I love You, infinite good and our eternal happiness, and for your sake I love my neighbor as myself and forgive offenses received. Oh Lord, may I love you more and more.
Luciani prayed this prayer, he said, several times each day. He takes this prayer, from his mother and uses it to give structure to his thoughts about love.
Here are some excerpts from his address:
To love God is therefore a journey with one’s heart to God. A wonderful journey! … The journeys of love for God are far more interesting. You read them in the lives of the Saints. St. Vincent de Paul, whose feast we celebrate today, for example is a giant of charity: he loved God more than a father and a mother, and he himself was a father for prisoners, sick people, orphans and the poor….
The Journey also brings sacrifices, but these must not stop us. Jesus is on the cross; you want to kiss him?… Love for God is also a mysterious journey; that is, I cannot start unless God takes the initiative first… St. Augustine asked himself: but what about human freedom? God, however, who willed and constructed this freedom, knows how to respect it, though bringing hearts to the point he intended… God draws you not only in a way that you yourself want, but even in such a way that you enjoy being drawn (St. Augustine, Tractates of the Gospel of John, 26.4).
With all my heart…That “all” repeated and applied insistently is really the banner of Christian maximalism. And it is right: God is too great, he deserves too much from us for us to be able to throw to him, as poor Lazarus, a few crumbs of our time and our heart. He is infinite good and will be our eternal happiness: money, pleasure, the fortunes of the world, compared to him, are just fragments… It would not be wise to give so much of ourselves to these things and little of ourselves to Jesus…
Above everything else.We must love “both God and man’; the latter, however, never more than God or against God or as much as God. In other words, love of God, though prevalent, is not exclusive…..
And for your sake I love my neighbor.Here we are in the presence of two loves which are “twin brothers” and inseparable…. Only if I love God in earnest can I love them as sons of God….the seven corporal works of mercy… the list is not complete and it would be necessary to update it… it is not longer a question of this or that individual; there are whole peoples….Consequently, “every exhausting armaments race becomes an intolerable scandal” (Paul VI, Populorum Progessio, 53)…
Lord, may I love you more and more.Here, too, there is obedience to a commandment of God, who put thirst for progress in our hearts….That means, to love God not a little, but so much; not to stop at the point at which we have arrived, but with his help, to progress in love.
Read his entire address at:
www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_i/audiences/documents/hf_jp-i_aud_27091978_en.html
Of course one does not really know, but I cannot help but think that Luciani, despite saying apparently to others that his pontificate would be short-lived, also had planned a lengthy one. He seems to be setting some foundations which he would have used as the basis for a complete structure of his teachings and thoughts. He weaves into this address the thoughts of Pope John XXII and Pope Paul VI, seems to be opening the doors to future references to global matters such as socioeconomic issues, and looking to St. Augustine for theological rooting. Just my interpretation… if any of you out there are better versed in this, I would love to hear you perspective.
Papa Luciani, pray for us!
The relationship between humanity and the environment is a foundational aspect of human identity. This in turn, is illustrative of humanity’s deeper relationship with God. Scripturally, creation is always an object of praise. Salvation is perceived as a new creation. While wounded by sin, the world is destined to undergo a radical purification that will make it a renewed world and a place of righteousness. Just as we as humans are made once more whole by the power of Christ, so to the whole of creation participates in the renewal that flows from Christ’s redeeming sacrifice.
This scriptural and theological understanding represents an essential reference point for evaluating the problems found in the relationship between humanity and the environment.
Care for the environment is a challenge for all of humanity. The environment belongs to the common good, and care for it arises from a common and universal duty. It is not the singular duty of a particular nation, but a common responsibility. This responsibility for what is in fact our common heritage extends not only to the present, but also to the future. It is a responsibility we have towards those who come after us.
To meet this responsibility, the right to a safe and healthy environment should find expression on a juridical level. Politically and socially, economic development must include careful consideration of the need to respect the integrity and cycles of nature so as to conserve natural resources that are by definition limited. The maximization of profit cannot be the primary objective. Also, as developed nations, through the use of technology and science, seek to utilize natural resources, they must pay particular attention to the relationship of indigenous peoples to their lands and resources for such a relationship expresses their fundamental identity.
The social doctrine of the Church reminds us that the goods of the earth were created by God to be used by all. These goods must be shared by all in accordance with justice and charity.
For an more extensive discussion of this, refer to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Nos. 461-481
The Holy Father has been in his homeland of Germany this past week. He spoke to the German Parliament a few days ago, and he also spoke the the youth, to seminarians, to the Orthodox, and others during his time there.
I would like to offer you a brief excerpt from his comments to the youth. I am translating the Italian report from L’Avvenire (www.avvenire.it).
You are the light of the world because Jesus is your light…. Have the courage to use your talents and your gifts for the Reign of God and to give yourselves – like wax to the candle – so that through you the Lord may illuminate the darkness… dare to be saints on fire in whom eyes and hearts shine with the love of Christ so that light may be carried into this world. I am confident that you and may others in Germany may be a torch of hope that does not remain hidden.
Like wax to a candle… To spend ourselves in that way.
A wonderful image for our meditation today.
The promotion of world peace is a central part of the Church’s mission. It is a part of Christ’s work of redemption. The Church is a “sacrament” or sign and instrument of peace for the world.
The Church teaches that true peace is possible only through forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness can be a unilateral act, whereas reconciliation is multilateral. The need for mutual forgiveness does not eliminate the need for justice and truth for they represent the requisites for reconciliation. There is a right to peace which must be respected by all.
It is through prayer that the Church fights for peace, especially in the Eucharistic celebration. This does not preclude, though, an active presence and work by the faithful in establishing peace, including the establishment of international judicial bodies. The principle of universal jurisdiction applies, as does the principle of subsidiarity. The right to peace encourages a society in which there are structures of cooperation with a view to the common good. This peace, as Pope Paul VI said, “[i]s fostered by personal sacrifice, clemency, mercy and love.” (1976 World Day of Peace Message: AAS 67 [1975], 671)
For a more comprehensive discussion of this topic, refer to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 516-520.
Assumption Catholic Church
Canton, Minnesota
Thirty-three years ago today, Pope John Paul I spoke in his Sunday Angelus address of the presence of good and love in the world. He began, though, with two comments about what were then current events demonstrating the presence of evil: a murder of a Roman student three days prior and the kidnapping of a seven-year-old boy, Luca Locci. He then went on to describe the martyrdom of several Sisters.
Here is what he said in part:
People sometimes say: “We are in a society that is all rotten, all dishonest.” That is not true. There are still many good people, so many honest people… let each of us try to be good and infect others with a goodness imbued with the meekness and love taught by Christ…. Pius X, in 1906… beatified the sixteen Carmelites of Compiégne, martyrs during the French revolution. During the trial they were condemned “to death for fanaticism”. And one of them asked in her simplicity: “Your Honor, what does fanaticism mean?” And the judge: “It is your foolish membership of religion.” “Oh, Sisters,” she then said, “did you hear, we are condemned for our attachment to faith. What happiness to die for Jesus Christ!”
They were brought out of the prison… and made to climb into the fatal cart. On the way, they sang hymns; when they reached the guillotine, one after the other knelt before the Prioress and renewed the vow of obedience. Then they struck up “Veni Creator”; the song, however, became weaker and weaker, as the heads of the poor Sisters fell, one by one, under the guillotine. The Prioress, Sister Theresa of St. Augustine, was the last, and her last words were the following: “Love will always be victorious, love can do everything.” That was the right word, not violence, but love, can do everything. Let us ask the Lord for the grace that a new wave of love for our neighbor may sweep over this poor world.
Papa Luciani, pray for us!
