ENCYCLICAL LETTER

LITTERAE ENCYCLICAE

SPE SALVI

SPE SALVI

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL ON CHRISTIAN HOPE

SUMMI PONTIFICIS BENEDICTI PP. XVI EPISCOPIS PRESBYTERIS AC DIACONIS VIRIS ET MULIERIBUS CONSECRATIS OMNIBUSQUE CHRISTIFIDELIBUS LAICIS DE SPE CHRISTIANA

Introduction

Prooemium

1. “SPE SALVI facti sumus”—in hope we were saved, says Saint Paul to the Romans, and likewise to us (Rom 8:24). According to the Christian faith, “redemption”—salvation—is not simply a given. Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises: what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here?

1. « SPE SALVI facti sumus » – ait sanctus Paulus Romanis et nobis quoque (Rom 8,24). « Redemptio », salus in christiana fide non est tantum simplex notitia. Redemptio nobis offertur eo sensu quod spes data est nobis, spes vero credenda, vi cuius nos praesentem possumus oppetere vitam: operosam quoque praesentem vitam quae geri et accipi potest, dummodo perducat in metam atque si de hac meta certi esse possumus, si haec meta ita sublimis est ut pondus itineris pretium sit operae. Nunc statim menti quaestio obversatur: talis spes cuiusnam est generis, ut comprobari possit assertio secundum quam, initio ab illa sumpto, et simpliciter quoniam illa exsistit, nos redempti sumus? Ac de quanam agitur certitudine?

Faith is Hope

Fides spes est

2. Before turning our attention to these timely questions, we must listen a little more closely to the Bible's testimony on hope. “Hope”, in fact, is a key word in Biblical faith—so much so that in several passages the words “faith” and “hope” seem interchangeable. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews closely links the “fullness of faith” (10:22) to “the confession of our hope without wavering” (10:23). Likewise, when the First Letter of Peter exhorts Christians to be always ready to give an answer concerning the logos—the meaning and the

2. Priusquam his nostris quaestionibus, hodie in animo peculiariter insculptis, mentem intendamus, audiamus oportet accuratius quid Sacra Scriptura de spe testetur. « Spes » revera vox principalis est biblicae fidei – eo ut in diversis locis voces « fides » et « spes » transmutabiles videantur. Ita Epistula ad Hebraeos cum « plenitudine fidei » (10,22) arte coniungit « spei confessionem indeclinabilem » (10,23). Etiam in Epistula Prima Petri, cum christianos hortatur ut promptos sese praebeant ad responsum reddendum de voce logos –

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reason—of their hope (cf. 3:15), “hope” is equivalent to “faith”. We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we 1 fall back from nothing to nothing): so says an epitaph of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making. In the same vein he says to the Thessalonians: you must not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Th 4:13). Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

de sensu scilicet et ratione – suae spei (cfr 3,15), « spes » idem est ac « fides ». Quam decretorium fuerit ad conscientiam primorum christianorum spem credibilem veluti donum recepisse, elucet quoque cum exsistentia christiana comparatur cum vita ante fidem vel cum statu aliarum religionum asseclarum. Paulus Ephesiis memorat quomodo illi, priusquam Christum convenirent, fuerint « promissionis spem non habentes, et sine Deo in hoc mundo » (Eph 2,12). Ille profecto bene novit eos proprios habuisse deos, propriam professos esse religionem; de eorum tamen diis controversias ortas esse et ex eorum contradictoriis fabulis ne ullam quidem spem profluere. Quamvis deos haberent, vitam degebant « sine Deo », quapropter in mundo obscuro morabantur, tenebroso futuro obversabantur. « In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus » 1 scriptum legitur quodam in epitaphio illius aetatis – verba quibus aperte palamque declaratur id quod Paulus innuit. Qui eodem sensu Thessalonicenses alloquitur: vos ita agite « ut non contristemini sicut et ceteri, qui spem non habent » (1 Thess 4,13). In his quoque verbis propria christianorum nota apparet, nempe quod illi habent futurum: quamvis venturi temporis singula ignorent, summatim tamen norunt vitam in vacuum non reduci. Tantummodo cum futurum certum est uti realitas positiva, tunc praesens dignum est ut vivatur. Itaque dicere possumus: christianismum non solum esse « bonum nuntium » – id est communicationem rerum quae ad illud usque tempus ignorabantur. Hodierno sermone dicere possumus christianum nuntium non tantum « informativum » esse, verum etiam « performativum ». Quod sibi vult: Evangelium non est tantum communicatio rerum quae sciri valent, sed communicatio quae actus edit vitamque transformat. Obscura porta temporis, venturi temporis, aperta est. Qui spem habet, aliter vivit; quoniam nova vita data est illi.

1 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI, no. 26003.

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3. Yet at this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slavemarkets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted

3. Nunc tamen quaestio proponitur: quanam in re consistit haec spes quae, uti spes, est « redemptio »? Reapse, medulla responsionis continetur verbis Epistulae ad Ephesios quae nuper memoravimus: Ephesii, priusquam Christum convenirent, spe carebant, quoniam « in hoc mundo sine Deo » morabantur. Deum – verum Deum – cognoscere posse idem est ac spem recipere. Nos, viventes semper sub christiano Dei conceptu et ad eundem consueti, possessionem spei, quae provenit ex vero occursu cum hoc Deo, percipere quasi non possumus. Exemplum, sumptum ex quadam sancta muliere nostrae aetatis, quodammodo conferre potest ad intellegendum quid significet prima vice ac reapse hunc Deum convenire. Etenim mens Nostra vertitur ad Iosephinam Bakhita, cui sanctorum honores decrevit Summus Pontifex Ioannes Paulus II. Nata est circa annum MDCCCLXIX – ne ipsa quidem exactum natalem diem suum noverat – in loco dicto Darfur, in Sudania. Novem annos nata a servorum negotiatoribus rapta est, cruenter percussa et quinquies apud mercatus Sudanienses venundata. Deinde, veluti serva opus praestare debuit matri et uxori cuiusdam ducis, et illic cotidie ad sanguinem vapulabat; quamobrem totam per vitam portavit centum quadraginta et quattuor cicatrices. Tandem anno MDCCCLXXXII a quodam mercatore Italo empta est pro Italiae consule Callisto Legnami, qui ob incursum Madhistarum in Italiam rediit. Hic autem, post terrificos illos « dominos », ad quos in proprietate pertinuerat, Bakhita novisse potuit « dominum » prorsus diversum, quem – ex loquela Venetiarum quam tunc didicerat – « paron » appellabat, Deum scilicet viventem, Deum Iesu Christi. Hactenus tantummodo dominos noverat qui spernebant et vexabant eam, aut, in adiunctis minus asperis, tamquam utilem servam aestimabant. Nunc vero audiebat unum esse « paron » qui omnes dominos excellit, Dominum omnium dominorum; et hunc Dominum bonum esse, ipsam nempe Bonitatem. Paulatim percipiebat se ab hoc Domino cognosci, creatam esse – immo diligi. Ipsa quoque amabatur ab hoc supremo « Paron », in cuius conspectu omnes ceteri domini nonnisi miseri servi

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the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

sunt. Ipsa cognoscebatur et amabatur et exspectabatur. Quinimmo, hic Dominus ipse condicionem verberationum passus erat, et nunc eam praestolabatur « ad dexteram Dei Patris ». Nunc ea « spem » habebat – non amplius tantum parvam spem dominos minus crudeles inveniendi, sed summam spem: ego tandem amatam me sentio et, quodcumque eveniat, ab hoc Amore exspector. Et ita vita mea bona est. Huius spei cognitione nutrita, ipsa « redemptam » se sentiebat, percipiebat se non amplius servam, sed liberam Dei filiam esse. Intellegebat quae Paulus dicere voluit, Ephesios alloquens ipsos primum sine spe et sine Deo in mundo fuisse – sine spe quoniam sine Deo. Ita, cum quidam eam transferre vellent in Sudaniam, Bakhita recusavit; nolebat a suo « Paron » iterum separari. Die IX mensis Ianuarii anno MDCCCXC baptismo ac confirmatione est insignita, et insuper recepit primam sanctam Communionem e manibus Patriarchae Venetiarum. Die VIII mensis Decembris anno MDCCCXCVI Veronae vota nuncupavit apud Congregationem Sororum Canossianarum, ex quo tempore – praeter munera aedituae et ostiariae coenobii – variis in suis itineribus intra Italiae fines, contendit praesertim stimulos ad missionem suscitare: liberationem enim illam, quam conveniens Deum Christi Iesu obtinuerat, etiam ad alios, ad quam maximum hominum numerum, extendere cupiebat. Spem, quae pro ea nascebatur eamque redemerat, sibi reservare non poterat; haec enim spes plurimos contingere, omnes contingere debebat.

The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early Church

Notio spei quae fide nititur apud Novum Testamentum primaevamque Ecclesiam

4. We have raised the question: can our encounter with the God who in Christ has shown us his face and opened his heart be for us too not just “informative” but “performative”—that is to say, can it change our lives, so that we know we are redeemed through the hope that it expresses? Before attempting to answer the question, let us return

4. Antequam rem aggrediamur utrum occursus cum illo Deo, qui in Christo nobis ostendit Vultum suum et aperuit Cor suum, possit quoque nobis esse non solum « informativus », verum etiam « performativus », id est utrum vitam nostram ita transformare valeat ut nos redemptos sentiamus per spem quae illud secum fert, ad

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once more to the early Church. It is not difficult to realize that the experience of the African slave-girl Bakhita was also the experience of many in the period of nascent Christianity who were beaten and condemned to slavery. Christianity did not bring a message of social revolution like that of the ill-fated Spartacus, whose struggle led to so much bloodshed. Jesus was not Spartacus, he was not engaged in a fight for political liberation like Barabbas or Bar- Kochba. Jesus, who himself died on the Cross, brought something totally different: an encounter with the Lord of all lords, an encounter with the living God and thus an encounter with a hope stronger than the sufferings of slavery, a hope which therefore transformed life and the world from within. What was new here can be seen with the utmost clarity in Saint Paul's Letter to Philemon. This is a very personal letter, which Paul wrote from prison and entrusted to the runaway slave Onesimus for his master, Philemon. Yes, Paul is sending the slave back to the master from whom he had fled, not ordering but asking: “I appeal to you for my child ... whose father I have become in my imprisonment ... I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart ... perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother ...” (Philem 10-16). Those who, as far as their civil status is concerned, stand in relation to one an other as masters and slaves, inasmuch as they are members of the one Church have become brothers and sisters—this is how Christians addressed one another. By virtue of their Baptism they had been reborn, they had been given to drink of the same Spirit and they received the Body of the Lord together, alongside one another. Even if external structures remained unaltered, this changed society from within. When the Letter to the Hebrews says that Christians here on earth do not have a permanent homeland, but seek one which lies in the future (cf. Heb 11:13-16; Phil 3:20), this does not mean for one moment

primaevam Ecclesiam iterum redeamus. Haud difficile est percipere parvae servae Africae Bakhitae experientiam eandem fuisse ac tot hominum qui tempore nascentis christianismi vexati sunt et servitute damnati. Christianismus non proclamaverat socialem et turbulentum nuntium, sicut fuerat nuntius quo Spartacus, cruentis certationibus, fefellerat. Iesus non erat Spartacus, nec proeliabatur pro politica liberatione, uti Barabbas vel Bar-Kochba. Quod Iesus, Ipse in cruce mortuus, pertulerat, aliquid erat omnino diversum: occursus nempe cum Domino omnium dominorum, occursus cum Deo viventi, itaque occursus cum spe quae tribulationibus servitutis fortior erat, quapropter vitam et mundum ab intra transformabat. Quod iterum evenerat, in sancti Pauli Epistula ad Philemonem evidentissime patet. Agitur quidem de epistula admodum personali, quam Paulus in carcere scribit et fugitivo servo Onesimo committit ut eam tradat domino suo – nempe Philemoni. Paulus enim rursus mittit servum ad eius dominum a quo fugerat; et hoc facit non imperans, sed adprecans: « Obsecro te de meo filio, quem genui in vinculis [...] quem remisi tibi: eum, hoc est viscera mea [...] Forsitan enim ideo discessit ad horam, ut aeternum illum reciperes, iam non ut servum sed plus servo, carissimum fratrem » (Philm 10-16). Homines qui, secundum civilem condicionem, inter se conveniunt veluti domini et servi, quatenus membra unius Ecclesiae facti sunt invicem fratres ac sorores – et sic mutuo christiani sese appellabant. Per Baptismum regenerati erant et ducti ad bibendum eundem Spiritum, et simul iuncti, alius prope alium, Domini Corpore reficiebantur. Quamvis externae structurae eaedem manerent, hoc ab intra mutabat societatem. Cum vero Epistula ad Hebraeos asserit christianos his in terris mansionem stabilem non habere, sed potius venturam quaerere conversationem (cfr Heb 11,13-16; Philp 3,20), quae res prorsus est alia res quam mera in futuram exspectationem remissio: hodierna societas agnoscitur a christianis uti societas impropria; ipsi enim ad

2 Cf. Dogmatic Poems, V, 53-64: PG 37, 428-429.

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that they live only for the future: present society is recognized by novam pertinent societatem, ad quam iter suscipiunt, quaeque ab Christians as an exile; they belong to a new society which is the goal ipsis peregrinantibus in antecessum accipitur. of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated in the course of that pilgrimage. 5. Addendus est alius aspectus. Epistula Prima ad Corinthios (1,185. We must add a further point of view. The First Letter to the 31) docet nos plerosque ex primis christianis ad humilem Corinthians (1:18-31) tells us that many of the early Christians condicionem socialem pertinere, quam ob causam promptos se belonged to the lower social strata, and precisely for this reason were praebere ad novam spem experiendam, prout ex exemplo sanctae open to the experience of new hope, as we saw in the example of Bakhita deteximus. Nihilominus, inde ab exordiis datae sunt quoque Bakhita. Yet from the beginning there were also conversions in the conversiones inter homines nobiles et doctos, eo quod hi ipsi « sine aristocratic and cultured circles, since they too were living “without spe et sine Deo in mundo » vitam gerebant. Mythus non erat iam hope and without God in the world”. Myth had lost its credibility; the credendus; religio Romanae civitatis redacta erat ad simplices Roman State religion had become fossilized into simple ceremony caerimonias, quae accurate peragebantur, nunc tamen ad « politicam which was scrupulously carried out, but by then it was merely religionem » ducebantur. Rationalismus philosophicus deos in “political religion”. Philosophical rationalism had confined the gods ambitum non-exsistentiae relegaverat. Divinitas diversimode in within the realm of unreality. The Divine was seen in various ways in cosmicis esse viribus cogitabatur, aberat tamen Deus, ad quem preces cosmic forces, but a God to whom one could pray did not exist. Paul effundi possent. Paulus essentialem religionis illius aetatis materiam illustrates the essential problem of the religion of that time quite plena sermonis proprietate explanat, vitam « secundum Christum » accurately when he contrasts life “according to Christ” with life comparans cum vita sub dominio « elementorum mundi » (cfr Col under the dominion of the “elemental spirits of the universe” (Col 2,8). Hoc sub prospectu textus quidam sancti Gregorii Nazianzeni 2:8). In this regard a text by Saint Gregory Nazianzen is quoddam lumen afferre potest. Etenim asserit ille astrologiam finem enlightening. He says that at the very moment when the Magi, attigisse illo tempore quo magi stella ducti Christum novum regem guided by the star, adored Christ the new king, astrology came to an adoraverunt, quoniam stellae nunc volvuntur iuxta circulum a end, because the stars were now moving in the orbit determined by Christo descriptum.2 Etenim hac in scaena invertitur de mundo illius 2 Christ. This scene, in fact, overturns the world-view of that time, aetatis conceptus, qui, diverso tamen modo, aetate quoque nostra which in a different way has become fashionable once again today. It iterum floret. Non sunt elementa mundi, leges materiae quae tandem is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which terrarum orbem et hominem regunt, sed personalis Deus qui stellas, ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God universum scilicet, moderatur; nec leges materiae vel evolutionis governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and constituunt extremum impulsum, sed ratio, voluntas, amor – Persona. of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love—a Person. Si vero hanc Personam novimus et Ipsa nos novit, tunc reapse 3 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817-1821. 4 Summa Theologiae, II-IIae, q.4, a.1. 5 H. Köster in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament VIII (1972), p.586.

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And if we know this Person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free. In ancient times, honest enquiring minds were aware of this. Heaven is not empty. Life is not a simple product of laws and the randomness of matter, but within everything and at the same time above everything, there is a personal will, there is a Spirit who in Jesus has revealed himself as Love.3

inexorabile elementorum materialium dominium esse desinit extremus impulsus; tunc obnoxii non sumus terrarum orbi nec eius legibus; tunc liberi sumus. Haec vero conscientia antiquitus spiritus apertos ad pervestigationem compulit. Caelum vacuum non est. Vita non est simplex effectus legum et fortuiti casus materiae, sed in omnibus simulque super omnia adest voluntas personalis, Spiritus adest qui in Iesu Amor revelatur.3

6. The sarcophagi of the early Christian era illustrate this concept visually—in the context of death, in the face of which the question concerning life's meaning becomes unavoidable. The figure of Christ is interpreted on ancient sarcophagi principally by two images: the philosopher and the shepherd. Philosophy at that time was not generally seen as a difficult academic discipline, as it is today. Rather, the philosopher was someone who knew how to teach the essential art: the art of being authentically human—the art of living and dying. To be sure, it had long since been realized that many of the people who went around pretending to be philosophers, teachers of life, were just charlatans who made money through their words, while having nothing to say about real life. All the more, then, the true philosopher who really did know how to point out the path of life was highly sought after. Towards the end of the third century, on the sarcophagus of a child in Rome, we find for the first time, in the context of the resurrection of Lazarus, the figure of Christ as the true philosopher, holding the Gospel in one hand and the philosopher's travelling staff in the other. With his staff, he conquers death; the Gospel brings the truth that itinerant philosophers had searched for in vain. In this image, which then became a common feature of sarcophagus art for a long time, we see clearly what both educated and simple people found in Christ: he tells us who man truly is and what a man must do in order to be truly human. He shows us the way, and this way is the truth. He himself is both the way and the truth, and therefore he is also the life which all of us are seeking. He

6. Sarcophagi nascentis christianismi hunc conceptum visibiliter collustrant – in conspectu mortis, in cuius praesentia quaestio de vitae sensu vitari nequit. Figura Christi in his vetustis sarcophagis praesertim per duas intellegitur imagines: philosophi nempe et pastoris. Tunc vox « philosophia » in genere non intellegebatur tamquam difficilis disciplina academica, sicut hodie offertur. Philosophus potius erat ille qui artem essentialem docere sciebat: artem vi cuius homo recte se gerit, artem vivendi et moriendi. Profecto, homines pridem perceperunt plerosque eorum, qui tamquam philosophi vagabantur, veluti magistri vitae, tantummodo vaniloqui erant qui per suas fabulas sibi pecuniam conficiebant, dum e contra de vera vita nihil habebant dicendum. Ita verus philosophus desiderabatur ille qui viam vitae vere docere sciebat. Tertio exeunte saeculo primum Romae super sarcophagum cuiusdam infantis, in contextu resurrectionis Lazari, Christi figuram reperimus uti veri philosophi qui altera manu Evangelium, altera vero baculum viatoris proprium philosophi tenet. Hoc quidem baculo Ille vincit mortem; Evangelium docet veritatem quam peregrinantes philosophi frustra quaesiverant. Hac in imagine, quae postea diu permansit in sarcophagorum arte, evidens redditur id quod homines sive docti sive simplices inveniebant in Christo: Ille docet nos quisnam vere sit homo et quidnam facere teneatur ut vere sit homo. Ostendit Ille nobis viam et haec via veritas est. Ipsemet sive via sive veritas est, idcirco etiam vita est quam omnes quaerimus. Monstrat Ille nobis viam ultra mortem; tantummodo qui hoc facere valet, verus est magister vitae.

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also shows us the way beyond death; only someone able to do this is a true teacher of life. The same thing becomes visible in the image of the shepherd. As in the representation of the philosopher, so too through the figure of the shepherd the early Church could identify with existing models of Roman art. There the shepherd was generally an expression of the dream of a tranquil and simple life, for which the people, amid the confusion of the big cities, felt a certain longing. Now the image was read as part of a new scenario which gave it a deeper content: “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want ... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, because you are with me ...” (Ps 23 [22]:1, 4). The true shepherd is one who knows even the path that passes through the valley of death; one who walks with me even on the path of final solitude, where no one can accompany me, guiding me through: he himself has walked this path, he has descended into the kingdom of death, he has conquered death, and he has returned to accompany us now and to give us the certainty that, together with him, we can find a way through. The realization that there is One who even in death accompanies me, and with his “rod and his staff comforts me”, so that “I fear no evil” (cf. Ps 23 [22]:4)—this was the new “hope” that arose over the life of believers.

Idem conceptus visibilis redditur sub imagine pastoris. Sicut evenit in imagine philosophi, ita etiam per imaginem pastoris primaeva Ecclesia niti poterat exemplis arte Romana exsistentibus. Ibi pastor in genere desiderium significabat serenae et simplicis vitae, quam gentes in magnae urbis tumultu versantes appetebant. Tunc imago intellegebatur intra novum ordinem scaenicum, profundiorem ei proferens sensum: « Dominus pascit me, et nihil mihi deerit... Si ambulavero in valle umbrae mortis, non timebo mala, quoniam tu mecum es... » (Ps 23 [22], 1. 4). Verus est pastor Qui novit quoque viam quae per mortis vallem transit; Ille qui etiam per iter extremae solitudinis, in quo nemo me comitari potest, mecum ambulat et ducit me ad hoc iter transeundum: Ipsemet hoc iter percurrit, descendit in regnum mortis, vicit eam et rediit ut nos comitaretur et certiores faceret nos simul secum transitum invenire posse. Conscientia, qua novi exsistere Eum, qui etiam in morte me comitatur et virga et baculo suo me consolatur, ita ut mala non timeam (cfr Ps 23 [22], 4): haec erat nova spes quae super vitam credentium exoriebatur.

7. We must return once more to the New Testament. In the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews (v. 1) we find a kind of definition of faith which closely links this virtue with hope. Ever since the Reformation there has been a dispute among exegetes over the central word of this phrase, but today a way towards a common interpretation seems to be opening up once more. For the time being I shall leave this central word untranslated. The sentence therefore reads as follows: “Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen”. For the Fathers and for the theologians of the Middle Ages, it was clear that the Greek word hypostasis was to be rendered in Latin with the term substantia. The Latin translation of the text produced at the time of the early Church therefore reads:

7. Iterum redeamus oportet ad Novum Testamentum. In capite undecimo Epistulae ad Hebraeos (v. 1) quandam repperimus definitionem fidei quae hanc virtutem arte cum spe coniungit. Huius propositionis de praecipuo verbo inde a Reformatione discussio suscipitur inter exegetas, quae hodie viam aperire videtur ad communem interpretationem. In praesens hoc praecipuum verbum sine versione relinquimus. Huiusmodi propositio ita sonat: « Fides est hypostasis rerum sperandarum; probatio rerum quae conspici nequeunt ». Iuxta sententiam Patrum et theologorum Medii Aevi perspicuum erat verbum Graecum hypostasim Latine vertendum esse sub voce substantiae. Idcirco Latina textus versio, antiqua in Ecclesia exorta, ita profertur: « Est autem fides sperandarum

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Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium—faith is the “substance” of things hoped for; the proof 4 of things not seen. Saint Thomas Aquinas, using the terminology of the philosophical tradition to which he belonged, explains it as follows: faith is a habitus, that is, a stable disposition of the spirit, through which eternal life takes root in us and reason is led to consent to what it does not see. The concept of “substance” is therefore modified in the sense that through faith, in a tentative way, or as we might say “in embryo”—and thus according to the “substance”—there are already present in us the things that are hoped for: the whole, true life. And precisely because the thing itself is already present, this presence of what is to come also creates certainty: this “thing” which must come is not yet visible in the external world (it does not “appear”), but because of the fact that, as an initial and dynamic reality, we carry it within us, a certain perception of it has even now come into existence. To Luther, who was not particularly fond of the Letter to the Hebrews, the concept of “substance”, in the context of his view of faith, meant nothing. For this reason he understood the term hypostasis/substance not in the objective sense (of a reality present within us), but in the subjective sense, as an expression of an interior attitude, and so, naturally, he also had to understand the term argumentum as a disposition of the subject. In the twentieth century this interpretation became prevalent—at least in Germany—in Catholic exegesis too, so that the ecumenical translation into German of the New Testament, approved by the Bishops, reads as follows: Glaube aber ist: Feststehen in dem, was man erhofft, Überzeugtsein von dem, was man nicht sieht (faith is: standing firm in what one hopes, being convinced of what one does not see). This in itself is not incorrect, but it is not the meaning of the text, because the Greek term used (elenchos) does not have the subjective sense of “conviction” but the objective sense of “proof”. Rightly, therefore, recent Prot- estant exegesis has arrived at a different interpretation: “Yet there can be no question but that this

substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium ». Fides enim est « substantia » rerum quae sperantur; probatio rerum quae videri nequeunt. Thomas Aquinas,4 philosophicae traditionis usurpans verba in qua reperitur, ita rem explanat: « fides est habitus mentis, quo inchoatur vita aeterna in nobis, faciens intellectum assentire non apparentibus ». Ideo conceptus « substantiae » mutatus est eo sensu quod per fidem, initiali modo, dicere possemus « in germine » – proinde secundum « substantiam » – inesse iam in nobis res quae sperantur: omnia, veram vitam. Et sane quoniam eadem iam res adest, haec praesentia rei quae eveniet edit quoque certitudinem: haec « res » ventura in mundo externo nondum visibilis apparet; attamen, eo quod, uti initialem et dynamicam realitatem, eam intra nos portamus, iam nunc quaedam innuitur eiusdem perceptio. Secundum Lutherum, cui Epistula ad Hebraeos paulum placebat, conceptus « substantiae » modo quo ille fidem percipiebat, fundamento omnino carebat. Hac de causa vocem hypostasim/substantiam non sensu obiectivo (de re in nobis exsistente), sed sensu subiectivo intellexit, uti manifestationem cuiusdam interioris habitudinis et ideo congruenter intellegere debuit quoque vocem argumentum uti habitudinem subiecti. Haec interpretatio XX saeculo solidata est – saltem in Germania – in exegesi quoque catholica, ita ut oecumenica versio ad linguam Germanicam Novi Testamenti, ab Episcopis approbata, sic proferatur: « Glaube aber ist: Feststehen in dem, was man erhofft, Überzeugtsein von dem, was man nicht sieht » (fides est: fortes esse in rebus sperandis, persuasos esse in rebus quae videri nequeunt). Hic effatus per se non est erroneus: attamen a textus significatione est alienus, quandoquidem Graecana vox (elenchos) subiectiva « persuasionis » vi caret, sed obiectivam « probationis » vim retinet. Itaque recens exegesis protestantica diversam iure obtinuit persuasionem: « In praesens tamen minime dubitandum est hanc iam traditam protestanticam interpretationem sustineri non posse ».5 Fides non est solum personalis inclinatio ad ea quae ventura sunt sed

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classical Protestant understanding is untenable.” Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a “proof” of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”. The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.

adhuc omnino absunt; ipsa nobis quiddam largitur. Nobis iam nunc tribuit aliquid realitatis exspectatae, et haec praesens realitas « probationem » quandam nobis constituit rerum quae nondum conspiciuntur. Ipsa attrahit futurum intra tempus praesens, eo ut hoc extremum tempus non sit amplius solum illud « nondum ». Exsistentia huius futuri mutat praesens; praesens futura realitate attingitur, et ita res futurae in praesentes vertuntur et praesentes in futuras.

8. This explanation is further strengthened and related to daily life if we consider verse 34 of the tenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, which is linked by vocabulary and content to this definition of hope-filled faith and prepares the way for it. Here the author speaks to believers who have undergone the experience of persecution and he says to them: “you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property (hyparchonton—Vg. bonorum), since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession (hyparxin—Vg. substantiam) and an abiding one.” Hyparchonta refers to property, to what in earthly life constitutes the means of support, indeed the basis, the “substance” for life, what we depend upon. This “substance”, life's normal source of security, has been taken away from Christians in the course of persecution. They have stood firm, though, because they considered this material substance to be of little account. They could abandon it because they had found a better “basis” for their existence—a basis that abides, that no one can take away. We must not overlook the link between these two types of “substance”, between means of support or material basis and the word of faith as the “basis”, the “substance” that endures. Faith gives life a new basis, a new foundation on which we can stand, one which relativizes the habitual foundation, the reliability of material income. A new freedom is created with regard to this habitual foundation of life, which only appears to be capable of providing support, although this is obviously not to deny its

8. Haec dilucidatio ulterius confirmatur et ad vitam realem transfertur, si rationem habemus de versu 34o capitis decimi Epistulae ad Hebraeos, qui, quatenus ad linguam et materiam attinet, cum hac definitione fidei spe plenae nectitur eamque praeparat. Auctor hoc in loco credentes alloquitur qui persecutionem experti sunt et dicit illis: « Vinctis compassi estis et rapinam bonorum (hyparchonton – Vg: bonorum) vestrorum cum gaudio suscepistis, cognoscentes vos habere meliorem substantiam (hyparxin – Vg: substantiam) et manentem ». Hyparchonta illae sunt proprietates, ea videlicet quae in terrestri exsistentia victum constituunt, nempe fundamentum, « substantiam » « vitae qua fulcitur. Christiani, saevientibus persecutionibus, de hac « substantia », naturali vitae securitate, sunt detracti. Pertulerunt eam quoniam omni modo censebant hanc materialem substantiam neglegi posse. Poterant eam relinquere, quia invenerant aliud « fundamentum » aptius ad eorum exsistentiam, fundamentum permanens, quod nemo auferre valet. Nihil fieri potest quin nexus videatur inter hanc duplicem speciem « substantiae », inter victum seu fundamentum materiale intercedere et affirmationem fidei uti « fulcrum », uti manentem « substantiam ». Fides novum fulcrum confert vitae, novum fundamentum quo homo fulciri potest, quamobrem consuetum fundamentum, commendatio proventus materialis, relativum redditur. Nova exsurgit libertas prae hoc vitae fundamento, quod tantum potest eam simulate sustentare, quamvis hac de causa congruens eius sensus negari nequeat. Haec

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normal meaning. This new freedom, the awareness of the new “substance” which we have been given, is revealed not only in martyrdom, in which people resist the overbearing power of ideology and its political organs and, by their death, renew the world. Above all, it is seen in the great acts of renunciation, from the monks of ancient times to Saint Francis of Assisi and those of our contemporaries who enter modern religious Institutes and movements and leave everything for love of Christ, so as to bring to men and women the faith and love of Christ, and to help those who are suffering in body and spirit. In their case, the new “substance” has proved to be a genuine “substance”; from the hope of these people who have been touched by Christ, hope has arisen for others who were living in darkness and without hope. In their case, it has been demonstrated that this new life truly possesses and is “substance” that calls forth life for others. For us who contemplate these figures, their way of acting and living is de facto a “proof” that the things to come, the promise of Christ, are not only a reality that we await, but a real presence: he is truly the “philosopher” and the “shepherd” who shows us what life is and where it is to be found.

nova libertas, conscientia novae « substantiae » quae data est nobis, est revelata non tantum in martyrio, quo homines protervae ideologiae eiusque politicis instrumentis obstiterunt, et, per eorum mortem, mundum renovarunt. Ipsa monstrata est praesertim per extremas renuntiationes inde a monachis veteris temporis ad Franciscum Assisiensem et ad homines nostrae aetatis, qui apud recentia Instituta et Motus religiosos, Christi amore compulsi, omnia reliquerunt ut hominibus fidem et amorem Christi traderent, ut corpore et mente dolentibus auxilium ferrent. Ibi enim nova « substantia » comprobata est uti vera « substantia »; ex spe horum hominum, Christo ducente, exorta est spes pro aliis qui vitam in tenebris gerebant et sine spe. Ibi declaratum est hanc vitam novam possidere vere « substantiam », quae pro ceteris vitam promovet. Nobis, qui has figuras conspicimus, haec eorum actio et vita reapse « probatio » est quod res futurae, promissio nempe Christi non solum est realitas speranda, sed vera praesentia: Ipse est vere « philosophus » et « pastor » qui docet nos quidnam sit vita et ubinam ipsa inveniatur.

9. In order to understand more deeply this reflection on the two types of substance—hypostasis and hyparchonta—and on the two approaches to life expressed by these terms, we must continue with a brief consideration of two words pertinent to the discussion which can be found in the tenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. I refer to the words hypomone (10:36) and hypostole (10:39). Hypo- mone is normally translated as “patience”—perseverance, constancy. Knowing how to wait, while patiently enduring trials, is necessary for the believer to be able to “receive what is promised” (10:36). In the religious context of ancient Judaism, this word was used expressly for the expectation of God which was characteristic of Israel, for their persevering faithfulness to God on the basis of the certainty of the Covenant in a world which contradicts God. Thus the word indicates a lived hope, a life based on the certainty of hope. In

9. Ad hanc considerationem penitius perficiendam de duplici genere substantiarum – hypostasis et hyparchonta – ac de duplici genere vitae cum iisdem expresso, breviter cogitemus de duobus verbis quae ad rem pertinent, quaeque inveniuntur in capite decimo Epistulae ad Hebraeos. Agitur de verbis hypomone (10,36) et hypostole (10,39). Hypomone recte vertitur in vocem « patientiam » – perseverantiam, constantiam. Facultas exspectandi, dum patienter probationes tolerantur, necessaria est credenti qui promissionem reportare possit (cfr 10, 36). In religiosa vita veteris Iudaismi hoc verbum consulto adhibebatur ad ostendendam exspectationem Dei, proprietatem populi Israelis: quamobrem perseverandum est in fidelitate erga Deum sub fulcimine certitudinis Foederis, in hac societate quae Deum impugnat. Ita enim hoc verbo significatur spes vitaliter gesta, vita quae spei certitudine nititur. Novo in Testamento haec Dei

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the New Testament this expectation of God, this standing with God, takes on a new significance: in Christ, God has revealed himself. He has already communicated to us the “substance” of things to come, and thus the expectation of God acquires a new certainty. It is the expectation of things to come from the perspective of a present that is already given. It is a looking-forward in Christ's presence, with Christ who is present, to the perfecting of his Body, to his definitive coming. The word hypostole, on the other hand, means shrinking back through lack of courage to speak openly and frankly a truth that may be dangerous. Hiding through a spirit of fear leads to “destruction” (Heb 10:39). “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control”—that, by contrast, is the beautiful way in which the Second Letter to Timothy (1:7) describes the fundamental attitude of the Christian.

exspectatio, haec confirmatio a Dei parte novum sensum accipit: in Christo enim Deo hoc est demonstratum. « Substantiam » enim rerum venturarum iam nobis patefecit, ita etiam Dei exspectatio novam accipit certitudinem. Ex rebus enim venturis exspectatur, iam inde a rebus in praesentia donatis. Exspectatur quidem Christo praesente et cum Christo praesente ut in eius Corpore totum compleatur donec extremus eius veniat adventus. Verbo autem hypostole absentia eius exprimitur qui aperte non vult neque honeste veritatem fortasse periculis obnoxiam. Dum autem absconduntur homines coram hominibus ex timore ne eorum mores ad « perditionem » perducant (Heb 10,39). « Non enim dedit nobis Deus spiritum timoris sed virtutis et dilectionis et sobrietatis » – ita contra Epistula Secunda ad Timotheum (1,7) designat pulchra elocutione intimum christiani adfectum.

Eternal life – what is it?

Vita aeterna – quid est?

10. We have spoken thus far of faith and hope in the New Testament and in early Christianity; yet it has always been clear that we are referring not only to the past: the entire reflection concerns living and dying in general, and therefore it also concerns us here and now. So now we must ask explicitly: is the Christian faith also for us today a life-changing and life-sustaining hope? Is it “performative” for us—is it a message which shapes our life in a new way, or is it just “information” which, in the meantime, we have set aside and which now seems to us to have been superseded by more recent information? In the search for an answer, I would like to begin with the classical form of the dialogue with which the rite of Baptism expressed the reception of an infant into the community of believers and the infant's rebirth in Christ. First of all the priest asked what name the parents had chosen for the child, and then he continued with the question: “What do you ask of the Church?”

10. Hucusque de fide deque spe locuti sumus Novo in Testamento atque christiani nominis initiis; manifestum tamen semper fuit non de praeterito solum tempore nos disserere; tota enim meditatio vitam respicit mortemque hominis in universum ac proinde etiam nos hodie quoque tangit. Debemus nihilominus expressis verbis nos interrogare: estne etiam nobis christiana fides hodie, quaedam spes nostram vitam quae transfigurat atque sustentat? Nobis quidem est « performativa » – nuntius videlicet qui novo modo vitam ipsam etiam conformat, vel iam « informatio » dumtaxat quam interea seposuimus quaeque notitiis recentioribus iam superata videtur? Responsionem quaerentes nos proficisci volumus a comprobata dialogi forma qua Baptismi ritus receptionem infantis in credentium communitatem inducebat et eius in Christo nativitatem. Ante omnia petebat sacerdos quod nomen infanti elegissent parentes, et proxima deinde prosequebatur interrogatione: « Quid petis ab Ecclesia? ». Et

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Answer: “Faith”. “And what does faith give you?” “Eternal life”. According to this dialogue, the parents were seeking access to the faith for their child, communion with believers, because they saw in faith the key to “eternal life”. Today as in the past, this is what being baptized, becoming Christians, is all about: it is not just an act of socialization within the community, not simply a welcome into the Church. The parents expect more for the one to be baptized: they expect that faith, which includes the corporeal nature of the Church and her sacraments, will give life to their child—eternal life. Faith is the substance of hope. But then the question arises: do we really want this—to live eternally? Perhaps many people reject the faith today simply because they do not find the prospect of eternal life attractive. What they desire is not eternal life at all, but this present life, for which faith in eternal life seems something of an impediment. To continue living for ever —endlessly—appears more like a curse than a gift. Death, admittedly, one would wish to postpone for as long as possible. But to live always, without end— this, all things considered, can only be monotonous and ultimately unbearable. This is precisely the point made, for example, by Saint Ambrose, one of the Church Fathers, in the funeral discourse for his deceased brother Satyrus: “Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin ... began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, 6 immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.” A little earlier, Ambrose had said: “Death is, then, no cause for mourning, for it is the cause of mankind's salvation.”7

respondebatur: « Fidem ». « Et quid tibi donat fides? ». « Vitam aeternam ». Hunc sermonem conferentes, petebant infanti parentes accessum ad fidem, cum credentibus communitatem, cum in fide clavem viderent ad « vitam aeternam ». Re quidem vera, cum praesenti tum praeterito tempore, hoc agitur in Baptismate cum quis christianus fit: non modo de actu quodam susceptionis agitur in communitatem, non simpliciter de admissione in Ecclesiam. Plus sibi parentes exspectant pro infante baptizando: confidunt enim fidem illam, pars cuius Ecclesiae corpus est eiusque sacramenta, ei ipsi vitam esse daturam – nempe vitam aeternam. Spei enim substantia fides est. Cooritur simul tamen quaestio: cupimusne revera hoc – sempiternum vivere? Plures forsitan hodie idcirco fidem repudiant tantummodo quia illis vita aeterna non videatur optabilis res. Aeternam respuunt vitam sed praesentem accipiunt, et fides propterea de vita aeterna hunc ad finem videtur potius impedimentum. Vivere enim in aeternum – sine fine – pergere magis damnatio videtur quam donatio. Mortem certissime cupiunt differre quam longissime. Atqui vivere sine termino – hoc, omnibus perpensis, videtur tantummodo taedio plenum ac tandem intolerabile quiddam. Hoc ipsum, verbi gratia, omnino dicit Ecclesiae Pater Ambrosius funebri in sermone pro fratre Satyro vita functo: « Et mors quidem in natura non fuit, sed conversa est in naturam; non enim a principio Deus mortem instituit, sed pro remedio dedit [...] Praevaricatione damnata in labore diuturno, gemituque intolerando vita hominum coepit esse miserabilis: debuitque dari finis malorum, ut mors restitueret, quod vita amiserat. Immortalitas enim oneri potius quam usui est, nisi aspiret gratia ».6 Iam antea dixerat Ambrosius: « Non igitur maerenda mors, quae causa salutis est publicae ».7

6 De excessu fratris sui Satyri, II, 47: CSEL 73, 274. 7 Ibid., II, 46: CSEL 73, 273. 8 Cf. Ep. 130 Ad Probam 14, 25-15, 28: CSEL 44, 68-73.

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11. Whatever precisely Saint Ambrose may have meant by these words, it is true that to eliminate death or to postpone it more or less indefinitely would place the earth and humanity in an impossible situation, and even for the individual would bring no benefit. Obviously there is a contradiction in our attitude, which points to an inner contradiction in our very existence. On the one hand, we do not want to die; above all, those who love us do not want us to die. Yet on the other hand, neither do we want to continue living indefinitely, nor was the earth created with that in view. So what do we really want? Our paradoxical attitude gives rise to a deeper question: what in fact is “life”? And what does “eternity” really mean? There are moments when it suddenly seems clear to us: yes, this is what true “life” is—this is what it should be like. Besides, what we call “life” in our everyday language is not real “life” at all. Saint Augustine, in the extended letter on prayer which he addressed to Proba, a wealthy Roman widow and mother of three consuls, once wrote this: ultimately we want only one thing—”the blessed life”, the life which is simply life, simply “happiness”. In the final analysis, there is nothing else that we ask for in prayer. Our journey has no other goal—it is about this alone. But then Augustine also says: looking more closely, we have no idea what we ultimately desire, what we would really like. We do not know this reality at all; even in those moments when we think we can reach out and touch it, it eludes us. “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought,” he says, quoting Saint Paul (Rom 8:26). All we know is that it is not this. Yet in not knowing, we know that this reality must exist. “There is therefore in us a certain learned ignorance (docta ignorantia), so to speak”, he writes. We do not know what we would really like; we do not know this “true life”; and yet we know that there must be 8 something we do not know towards which we feel driven.

11. Quidquid his verbis ipsis sanctus Ambrosius dicere voluit – verum quidem est mortis amotionem vel etiam dilationem sine fine reicere terram ipsam hominumque genus in condicionem intolerabilem neque singulis ipsis ullum adferre beneficium. Manifesto exsistit hic repugnantia quaedam in nostris adfectionibus, quae ad interiorem quandam nostrae ipsius exsistentiae contradictionem reicit. Ex altera enim parte mori nolumus; at praecipue qui nos diligit mori nos non vult. Ex altera vero neque exsistere sine termino optamus neque condita est terra hoc cum rerum prospectu. Quid igitur reapse concupiscimus? Hoc velut paradoxum nostri ipsius animi altiorem excitat interrogationem: re quidem vera quid est « vita »? Et quid sibi vere vult vocabulum « aeternitatis »? Fit nonnumquam ut inopinato perspiciamus: ita hoc proprie esset – « vita » vera – sicque esse deberet. Ex contrario id quod cotidiana in actione « vitam » nuncupamus, reapse non id est. Sua in fusiore epistula de oratione ad Probam, viduam nempe Romanam, prosperam triumque matrem consulum, scripsit quondam: Unum dumtaxat ad extremum conquirimus – « beatam vitam », vitam quae simpliciter est vita, est simpliciter « felicitas ». Omnibus quidem ponderatis nihil aliud est quod precantes petimus. Ad nihil aliud progredimur – de hac una re agitur. Sed etiam postmodum Augustinus addit: melius quidem intuentes, minime novimus quid tandem exoptemus quid vere velimus. Etenim hanc rem ignoramus nos; tunc etiam, cum attingere id nos arbitramur, revera non tangimus. « Nam quid oremus, sicut oportet, nescimus », ipse verbis sancti Pauli confitetur (Rom 8,26). Id quod scimus non id solum est quod quaerimus. Nescientes tamen scimus hoc revera exsistere debere. « Est ergo in nobis quaedam, ut ita dicam, docta ignorantia », scribit ille. Revera nescimus quid vere velimus; non hanc « veram vitam » cognoscimus; et tamen comprehendimus exsistere aliquid debere quod nos non noverimus et ad quod impelli nos sentimus.8

9 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1025.

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12. I think that in this very precise and permanently valid way, Augustine is describing man's essential situation, the situation that gives rise to all his contradictions and hopes. In some way we want life itself, true life, untouched even by death; yet at the same time we do not know the thing towards which we feel driven. We cannot stop reaching out for it, and yet we know that all we can experience or accomplish is not what we yearn for. This unknown “thing” is the true “hope” which drives us, and at the same time the fact that it is unknown is the cause of all forms of despair and also of all efforts, whether positive or destructive, directed towards worldly authenticity and human authenticity. The term “eternal life” is intended to give a name to this known “unknown”. Inevitably it is an inadequate term that creates confusion. “Eternal”, in fact, suggests to us the idea of something interminable, and this frightens us; “life” makes us think of the life that we know and love and do not want to lose, even though very often it brings more toil than satisfaction, so that while on the one hand we desire it, on the other hand we do not want it. To imagine ourselves outside the temporality that imprisons us and in some way to sense that eternity is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality—this we can only attempt. It would be like plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a moment in which time— the before and after—no longer exists. We can only attempt to grasp the idea that such a moment is life in the full sense, a plunging ever anew into the vastness of being, in which we are simply overwhelmed with joy. This is how Jesus expresses it in Saint John's Gospel: “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (16:22). We must think along these lines if we want to understand the object of Christian hope, to understand what it is that our faith, our being with Christ, leads us to 9 expect.

12. Augustinum ibi describere exsistimamus ratione valde acuta semperque valida necessariam hominis condicionem, statum enim unde omnes eius repugnantiae proveniant eiusque simul spes. Eandem ipsam aliquo modo concupiscimus vitam, illam veram quae deinceps neque morte afficiatur, sed eodem tempore ignoramus quo nos impelli sentiamus. Haud valemus non protendere ad id nos, verumtamen id omne quod experiri possumus vel efficere scimus non id esse quod cupiamus. Haec « res » ignota est vera « spes » nos quae instigat et quod ignota est, eodem tempore causa est omnium desperationum sicut etiam omnium verarum vel exitialium impulsionum erga orbem verum et hominem germanum. Ipsum « vita aeterna » vocabulum contendit nomen huic rei ignoratae et tamen cognitae addere. Non quidem sufficit illud verbum quod potius turbationem generat. « Aeterna » in nobis namque notionem gignit alicuius rei interminabilis et hoc ingerit nobis timorem; « vita » autem cogit nos aliquam a nobis iam cognitam vitam cogitare, quam profecto diligimus neque amittere volumus et quae tamen saepius eodem tempore nobis fatigatio est quam recreatio, ita ut dum hinc eam cupiamus illinc respuamus. Nostra solummodo cogitatione exire possumus ex temporali rerum cognitione cuius sumus veluti captivi et aliquo modo praesentire aeternum tempus non esse dierum Kalendarii consecutionem sed summum retributionis tempus, quo universitas rerum nos amplectitur nosque amplectimur universitatem. Tempus scilicet id est ut in mare amoris infiniti mergamur, ubi tempus ipsum – anterius et posterius – iam non exsistit. Studere tantummodo possumus fingere hoc temporis punctum vitam sensu pleno esse, ubi nempe in ipsius exsistentiae vastitatem mergitur, dum gaudio simpliciter obruimur. Ita quidem Iesus apud Ioannem eloquitur: « Iterum autem videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollit a vobis » (16,22). In hanc enim partem cogitare debemus si comprehendere concupiscimus quo tandem christiana tendat spes, ex fide quid exspectemus atque nostra ex vita cum Christo.9

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Is Christian hope individualistic?

Num christiana spes ad singulos dumtaxat pertinet?

13. In the course of their history, Christians have tried to express this “knowing without knowing” by means of figures that can be represented, and they have developed images of “Heaven” which remain far removed from what, after all, can only be known negatively, via unknowing. All these attempts at the representation of hope have given to many people, down the centuries, the incentive to live by faith and hence also to abandon their hyparchonta, the material substance for their lives. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, in the eleventh chapter, outlined a kind of history of those who live in hope and of their journeying, a history which stretches from the time of Abel into the author's own day. This type of hope has been subjected to an increasingly harsh critique in modern times: it is dismissed as pure individualism, a way of abandoning the world to its misery and taking refuge in a private form of eternal salvation. Henri de Lubac, in the introduction to his seminal book Catholicisme. Aspects sociaux du dogme, assembled some characteristic articulations of this viewpoint, one of which is worth quoting: “Should I have found joy? No ... only my joy, and that is something wildly different ... The joy of Jesus can be personal. It can belong to a single man and he is saved. He is at peace ... now and always, but he is alone. The isolation of this joy does not trouble him. On the contrary: he is the chosen one! In his blessedness he passes through the battlefields with a rose in his hand.”10

13. Saeculorum suorum decursu conati sunt christiani scientiam hanc interpretari quae figuris reddi non potest idcircoque imagines « caeli » perfecerunt quae semper procul ab iis rebus absunt quas omnino tantummodo negando novimus, id est per scientiam nullam. Conamina haec omnia effingendae spei multis dant per saecula impetum ut secundum fidem vivant et propterea eorum « hyparchonta », substantiae enim materiales eorum vitae augescant. Epistulae ad Hebraeos auctor capite undecimo genus quoddam eorum historiae definit qui in spe vivunt atque etiam eorum experientiae in itinere, quae quidem historia a tempore Abelis eorum tangit aetatem. Huius vero spei generis recentioribus temporis durior usque censura est excitata: de puro individualismo agitur qui miseriae propriae relinquit totum orbem et in aeternam quandam salutem refugit solummodo privatam. Henricus de Lubac primarii in prooemio operis sui Catholicisme. Aspects sociaux du dogme, quasdam collegit huius generis proprias voces, quarum digna una est quae proferatur: « Iamne repperi laetitiam? Haudquaquam... meum solum gaudium inveni. Id quod est aliquid horribiliter aliud... Iesu enim laetitia potest esse unius hominis solius, et iam salva est. In pace quidem est... et nunc et in perpetuum, attamen ipsa sola. Haec in gaudio solitudo non eam perturbat. Ex contrario: « Ea scilicet selecta est! Proelia feliciter cum rosa in manu transit ».10

14. Against this, drawing upon the vast range of patristic theology, de 14. De hac re secundum Patrum theologiam in omni eius plenitudine Lubac was able to demonstrate that salvation has always been valuit demonstrare de Lubac salutem semper esse veluti rem considered a “social” reality. Indeed, the Letter to the Hebrews communitatis habitam. Epistula ad Hebraeos ipsa de quadam urbe 10 Jean Giono, Les vraies richesses (1936), Preface, Paris 1992, pp.18-20; quoted in Henri de Lubac, Catholicisme. Aspects sociaux du dogme, Paris 1983, p.VII. 11 Ep. 130 Ad Probam 13, 24: CSEL 44, 67. 12 Sententiae III, 118: CCL 6/2, 215.

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speaks of a “city” (cf. 11:10, 16; 12:22; 13:14) and therefore of communal salvation. Consistently with this view, sin is understood by the Fathers as the destruction of the unity of the human race, as fragmentation and division. Babel, the place where languages were confused, the place of separation, is seen to be an expression of what sin fundamentally is. Hence “redemption” appears as the reestablishment of unity, in which we come together once more in a union that begins to take shape in the world community of believers. We need not concern ourselves here with all the texts in which the social character of hope appears. Let us concentrate on the Letter to Proba in which Augustine tries to illustrate to some degree this “known unknown” that we seek. His point of departure is simply the expression “blessed life”. Then he quotes Psalm 144 [143]:15: “Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.” And he continues: “In order to be numbered among this people and attain to ... everlasting life with God, ‘the end of the commandment is charity that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith' (1 Tim 1:5).”11 This real life, towards which we try to reach out again and again, is linked to a lived union with a “people”, and for each individual it can only be attained within this “we”. It presupposes that we escape from the prison of our “I”, because only in the openness of this universal subject does our gaze open out to the source of joy, to love itself—to God.

loquitur (cfr 11,10.16; 12,22; 13,14) ideoque in commune de salute. Congruenter a Patribus intellegitur peccatum tamquam generis hominum unitatis eversio, veluti divisio et ruptio. Turris Babelis locus confusionis linguarum atque partitionis se demonstrat illius rei quae denique tamen in radice peccatum est. Sic enim comparet « redemptio » omnino sicuti unitatis restauratio, ubi iterum simul invenimur in coniunctione quae inter credentes totius orbis effingitur. Haud necesse est de singulis his locis disceptemus, ubi indoles spei communitaria elucet. Cum Epistula ad Probam restamus, ubi aliquantulum illuminare contendit Augustinus hanc ignotam simul et cognitam veritatem quam ipsi conquirimus. Punctum unde progreditur ille est simpliciter locutio « beata vita ». Deinde Psalmum 144 [143], 15 adfert: « Beatus populus cui Dominus est Deus », et prosequitur: « In ipso populo ut simus, atque [...] cum eo sine fine vivendum pervenire possimus, finis praecepti est caritas de corde puro, et conscientia bona, et fide non ficta » (1 Tim 1,5).11 Haec vera vita ad quam studemus semper nos intendere semper cum vita iungitur in necessaria coniunctione alicuius « populi » dum se singulis pro hominibus complere potest dumtaxat intra illud « nos ». Antea quidem poscit exitum de carcere ipsius personae « ego », quoniam solummodo huic rei universali aperta recludit oculos ad laetitiae fontem, ad amorem ipsum, – ad Deum.

15. While this community-oriented vision of the “blessed life” is certainly directed beyond the present world, as such it also has to do with the building up of this world—in very different ways, according to the historical context and the possibilities offered or excluded thereby. At the time of Augustine, the incursions of new peoples were threatening the cohesion of the world, where hitherto there had been a certain guarantee of law and of living in a juridically ordered society; at that time, then, it was a matter of strengthening the basic

15. Hic « vitae beatae » prospectus, quae ad communitatem dirigitur spectat profecto ad aliquid ultra orbem praesentem, sed ita omnino agere debet de mundi aedificatione – modis valde diversis, secundum historiae adiuncta atque facultates inde vel oblatas vel exclusas. Sancti Augustini tempore, cum novorum populorum invasio minaretur totius mundi cohaerentiae, ubi certum dabatur iuris pignus atque vitae in communione quadam iuridica, intererat fundamenta roborare reapse hanc vitae pacisque communitatem sustinentia, ut

13 Cf. ibid. III, 71: CCL 6/2, 107-108.

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foundations of this peaceful societal existence, in order to survive in a changed world. Let us now consider a more or less randomly chosen episode from the Middle Ages, that serves in many respects to illustrate what we have been saying. It was commonly thought that monasteries were places of flight from the world (contemptus mundi) and of withdrawal from responsibility for the world, in search of private salvation. Bernard of Clairvaux, who inspired a multitude of young people to enter the monasteries of his reformed Order, had quite a different perspective on this. In his view, monks perform a task for the whole Church and hence also for the world. He uses many images to illustrate the responsibility that monks have towards the entire body of the Church, and indeed towards humanity; he applies to them the words of pseudo-Rufinus: “The human race lives 12 thanks to a few; were it not for them, the world would perish ...”. Contemplatives—contemplantes—must become agricultural labourers—laborantes—he says. The nobility of work, which Christianity inherited from Judaism, had already been expressed in the monastic rules of Augustine and Benedict. Bernard takes up this idea again. The young noblemen who flocked to his monasteries had to engage in manual labour. In fact Bernard explicitly states that not even the monastery can restore Paradise, but he maintains that, as a place of practical and spiritual “tilling the soil”, it must prepare the new Paradise. A wild plot of forest land is rendered fertile—and in the process, the trees of pride are felled, whatever weeds may be growing inside souls are pulled up, and the ground is thereby prepared so that bread for body and soul can flourish.13 Are we not perhaps seeing once again, in the light of current history, that no positive world order can prosper where souls are overgrown?

quis in orbis commutatione superstes esse posset. Obtutum potius nostrum studeamus casu in momentum quoddam mediae aetatis conicere certis rationibus proprium. Ad communem id est conscientiam, videbantur coenobia veluti loca fugae ex mundo (« contemptus mundi ») atque effugia officiorum erga mundum in privatae cuiusdam salutis conquisitione. Bernardus Claravallensis, suo cum ordine reformato qui iuvenum multitudinem in monasteria adduxit, hac de re aestimationem omnino aliam habebat. Ex eius mente munus habent monachi pro tota Ecclesia ac proinde pro mundo ipso. Pluribus enim imaginibus officium monachorum pro integro Ecclesiae instituto illuminat, quin immo pro omni hominum genere; eis nempe dicta Pseudo-Rufini adhibet: « Humanum genus vivit paucis, quia nisi hi essent, mundus periret... ».12 Contemplantes evadere debent opifices agricolae – laborantes –, nobis dicit. Operis namque nobilitas, quam christiani a Iudaeis uti hereditatem acceperant, iam monasticis in regulis Augustini ac Benedicti splendebat. Iterum hunc conceptum Bernardus repetit. Nobiles iuvenes qui ad coenobia eius concurrebant sese etiam manuum operibus subdere debebant. Reapse explicitis verbis adseverat Bernardus neque coenobium ipsum redintegrare posse Paradisum; defendit idcirco monasterium debere veluti locum spiritalis et cotidianae orationis, novum praeparare Paradisum. Silvestris agrorum partitio redditur fertilis – tunc omnino cum eodem tempore superbiae arbores succiduntur, cum id omne evellitur silvestris generis quod in animabus crescit et sic terra paratur in qua panis pro corpore animaque prosperari potest.13 Nonne nobis confirmare denuo licet, hodiernae coram historiae condicione, nullam veram orbis aedificationem ibi florere posse ubi animae penitus insilvescant.

The transformation of Christian faith-hope in the modern age

Fidei speique christianae transfiguration recentioribus temporibus

16. How could the idea have developed that Jesus's message is

16. Quomodo enucleari potuit cogitatio illa: Christi nuntium stricto

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narrowly individualistic and aimed only at each person singly? How did we arrive at this interpretation of the “salvation of the soul” as a flight from responsibility for the whole, and how did we come to conceive the Christian project as a selfish search for salvation which rejects the idea of serving others? In order to find an answer to this we must take a look at the foundations of the modern age. These appear with particular clarity in the thought of Francis Bacon. That a new era emerged—through the discovery of America and the new technical achievements that had made this development possible—is undeniable. But what is the basis of this new era? It is the new correlation of experiment and method that enables man to arrive at an interpretation of nature in conformity with its laws and thus finally to achieve “the triumph of art over nature” (victoria cursus 14 artis super naturam). The novelty—according to Bacon's vision— lies in a new correlation between science and praxis. This is also given a theological application: the new correlation between science and praxis would mean that the dominion over creation —given to man by God and lost through original sin—would be reestablished.15

17. Anyone who reads and reflects on these statements attentively will recognize that a disturbing step has been taken: up to that time, the recovery of what man had lost through the expulsion from Paradise was expected from faith in Jesus Christ: herein lay “redemption”. Now, this “redemption”, the restoration of the lost “Paradise” is no longer expected from faith, but from the newly discovered link between science and praxis. It is not that faith is simply denied; rather it is displaced onto another level—that of 14 15 16 17

sensu ad singulos pertinere et solum unumquemque tangere? Quomodo eo perventum est ut « salutem animae » interpretarentur tamquam fugam ab officiis pro universo corpore et ut proinde disciplinam christiani nominis haberent uti singularem quandam inquisitionem salutis quae aliorum declinarent adiutorium? Huic interrogationi ut respondeatur, oculos conicere oportet in elementa recentioris aetatis principalia. Haec enim maxima perspicuitate in Francisco Bacone emergunt. Disputari etenim non licet novam enatam esse quasi aetatem, America detecta novisque repertis technicis rationibus quae hanc progressionem permiserunt. At quibus fundamentis haec innitur historica conversio? Nova quidem est necessitudo experimentorum modorumque hominem quae idoneum reddit ut ad interpretationem naturae adveniat legibus suis congruam ac propterea tandem consequatur « victoriam cursus artis super naturam ».14 Ad Baconis mentem – novitas inde venit quod nova ratione scientia coniunguntur et usus. Hoc dein adhiberi potest etiam theologica ratione: nova enim haec inter scientiam et cotidianum usum habitudo significat dominationem in res creatas, homini a Deo concessam at originali peccato amissam restaurari posse.15 17. Qui has legit affirmationes easque attento animo perpendit, transitum omnino turbantem ibi agnoscit: ad id usque tempus revocatio eorum omnium, quae homo paradisum terrenum conquirens perdiderat, ex fide in Iesum Christum exspectabatur ibidemque « redemptio » perspiciebatur. Nunc vero eadem illa « redemptio », « paradisi » amissi redintegratio non iam a fide petitur verum ex coniunctione nuper reperta inter scientiam et usum. Hoc accidit non quod fides inde simpliciter negetur; potius vero transfertur alium in ordinem – rerum scilicet tantummodo privatarum

Novum Organum I, 117. Cf. ibid. I, 129. Cf. New Atlantis. In Werke IV, ed. W. Weischedel (1956), p.777.

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purely private and other-worldly affairs—and at the same time it becomes somehow irrelevant for the world. This programmatic vision has determined the trajectory of modern times and it also shapes the present-day crisis of faith which is essentially a crisis of Christian hope. Thus hope too, in Bacon, acquires a new form. Now it is called: faith in progress. For Bacon, it is clear that the recent spate of discoveries and inventions is just the beginning; through the interplay of science and praxis, totally new discoveries will follow, a totally new world will emerge, the kingdom of man.16 He even put forward a vision of foreseeable inventions—including the aeroplane and the submarine. As the ideology of progress developed further, joy at visible advances in human potential remained a continuing confirmation of faith in progress as such.

atque ultra terrestrium – et simul quadamtenus iam mundo nihil significat. Hic prospectus ordinatus iam iter designavit temporum recentiorum afficitque etiam praesens fidei discrimen quod in re ipsa est ante omnia spei christianae discrimen. Ita etiam spes apud Baconem novam induit formam. Vocatur enim nunc: fides in progressionem. Namque Bacon manifesto opinatur inventa ac reperta nuperius exorientia solummodo esse initium, propter consonantiam autem inter scientiam et usum novis ex repertis orbem funditus novum nasciturum, hominis regnum.16 Ita etiam ille prospectum exhibet inventionum praevisarum – usque ad aeronavigium nec non navem subaquaneam. Progrediente autem notione ipsa augmentorum, laetitia super aspectabilibus humanae potentiae progressibus constans remanet affirmatio fidei de progressu uti tali.

18. At the same time, two categories become increasingly central to the idea of progress: reason and freedom. Progress is primarily associated with the growing dominion of reason, and this reason is obviously considered to be a force of good and a force for good. Progress is the overcoming of all forms of dependency—it is progress towards perfect freedom. Likewise freedom is seen purely as a promise, in which man becomes more and more fully himself. In both concepts—freedom and reason—there is a political aspect. The kingdom of reason, in fact, is expected as the new condition of the human race once it has attained total freedom. The political conditions of such a kingdom of reason and freedom, however, appear at first sight somewhat ill defined. Reason and freedom seem to guarantee by themselves, by virtue of their intrinsic goodness, a new and perfect human community. The two key concepts of “reason” and “freedom”, however, were tacitly interpreted as being in conflict with the shackles of faith and of the Church as well as those of the political structures of the period. Both concepts therefore

18. Eodem vero tempore duo rerum ordines magis magisque ingrediuntur progressus notionem: ratio atque libertas. Etenim ante omnia progressio est auctus crescentis dominationis ipsius rationis quae quidem ratio manifesto iudicatur veluti potestas boni pro bono. Victoria quidem progressio est omnium vinculorum – etenim perfectam procedit ad libertatem. Ipsa quoque libertas accipitur tantummodo ut res promissa, ubi homo se ad sui plenitudinem perficit. Utraque in conceptione – libertatis et rationis – adest similiter politicus aspectus. Exspectatur namque rationis regnum sicuti status novus hominum generis usquequaque liberati. Talis autem rationis libertatisque regni condiciones politicae primo tamen tempore haud bene definitae videntur. Ex se quidem ratio et libertas praestare videntur, suam propter intrinsecam bonitatem, novam hominum communitatem perfectam. Utroque in praecipuo illo conceptu « rationis » et « libertatis » cogitatio tamen tacito modo semper etiam tendit in repugnantiam vinculorum fidei et Ecclesiae, quemadmodum etiam vinculorum tunc temporis legum status. Bini itaque illi conceptus in se potestatem eversivam continent alicuius

18 I. Kant, Das Ende aller Dinge, in Werke VI, ed. W.Weischedel (1964), p.190.

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contain a revolutionary potential of enormous explosive force.

ingentis explosivae potentiae.

19. We must look briefly at the two essential stages in the political realization of this hope, because they are of great importance for the development of Christian hope, for a proper understanding of it and of the reasons for its persistence. First there is the French Revolution—an attempt to establish the rule of reason and freedom as a political reality. To begin with, the Europe of the Enlightenment looked on with fascination at these events, but then, as they developed, had cause to reflect anew on reason and freedom. A good illustration of these two phases in the reception of events in France is found in two essays by Immanuel Kant in which he reflects on what had taken place. In 1792 he wrote Der Sieg des guten Prinzips über das böse und die Gründung eines Reiches Gottes auf Erden (“The Victory of the Good over the Evil Principle and the Founding of a Kingdom of God on Earth”). In this text he says the following: “The gradual transition of ecclesiastical faith to the exclusive sovereignty of pure religious faith is the coming of the Kingdom of God.”17 He also tells us that revolutions can accelerate this transition from ecclesiastical faith to rational faith. The “Kingdom of God” proclaimed by Jesus receives a new definition here and takes on a new mode of presence; a new “imminent expectation”, so to speak, comes into existence: the “Kingdom of God” arrives where “ecclesiastical faith” is vanquished and superseded by “religious faith”, that is to say, by simple rational faith. In 1795, in the text Das Ende aller Dinge (“The End of All Things”) a changed image appears. Now Kant considers the possibility that as well as the natural end of all things there may be another that is unnatural, a perverse end. He writes in this connection: “If Christianity should one day cease to be worthy of love ... then the prevailing mode in human thought would be rejection and opposition to it; and the Antichrist ... would begin his—albeit short—regime (presumably based on fear and self-interest); but then, because Christianity, though destined to be the world religion, would not in fact be

19. Breviter mentem conicere debemus duo in stadia essentialia politicae effectionis huius ipsius spei, quoniam magni sunt momenti christianae in spei itinere, ut bene comprehendatur atque etiam permaneat. Imprimis exstat Gallica eversio tamquam conatus restituendi dominatus rationis libertatisque tunc vero etiam modo politica via solido. Illuminismi Europa primis temporibus stupescens hos eventus respexit, attamen propter eorum progressionem debuit aliter iam ponderare rationem ac libertatem. His in duobus gradibus quibus omne id quod in Gallia evenerat recipiebatur, plurimum significant scriptiones binae Emmanuelis Kant ubi eosdem perpendit eventus. Anno MDCCXCII opus scripsit: Der Sieg des guten Prinzips über das Böse und die Gründung eines Reiches Gottes auf Erden (Victoria principii boni de malo et cuiusdam Regni Dei in terris constitutio). Ibi ipse asseverat: « Lentior transitus ab ecclesiastica fide ad dominationem totam purae fidei religiosae efficit Regni Dei adventum ».17 Dicit enim rerum eversiones accellerare posse hunc transitum ab ecclesiastica fide ad fidem rationalem. « Regnum Dei », super quo erat Iesus locutus novam hic induit definitionem novamque sumit praesentiam; ut ita dicamus exsistit nova « exspectatio subita »: « Regnum Dei » eo pervenit ubi « ecclesiastica fides » vincitur ac substituitur « religiosa fide », hoc est simplici fide rationali. Anno autem MDCCXCV in scriptione illius Das Ende aller Dinge (Omnium rerum finis) mutata quaedam emergit imago. Fieri enim posse arbitratur Kant ut iuxta naturalem omnium rerum terminum, alius etiam deprehendatur contra naturam, id est perversus. Hac de re scribit: « Si res christiana olim aliquando iam non digna fuerit amore [...] tunc dominans hominum cogitatio fieri debebit de aliqua repudiatione et repugnantia contra eam; inaugurabit anti-christus [...] suum quantumvis breve regimen (conditum – ut praesumitur – in timore et egoismo). Postmodum tamen, quoniam christianum nomen, quod etiam destinatum est uti religio universalis, revera non adiutum esset ut id fieret, aspectu

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favoured by destiny to become so, then, in a moral respect, this could morali evadere poterit finis omnium rerum (perversus) ».18 lead to the (perverted) end of all things.”18 20. Saeculum XIX suam non fefellit fidem de progressione veluti nova humanae spei figura et rationem libertatemque reputare perrexit 20. The nineteenth century held fast to its faith in progress as the new quemadmodum astra ductoria quae in spei itinere erant sequenda. form of human hope, and it continued to consider reason and Velocior usque auctus technicae progressionis atque industriarum freedom as the guiding stars to be followed along the path of hope. transformationis cum ea coniunctae generaverunt tamen satis Nevertheless, the increasingly rapid advance of technical celeriter condicionem omnino novam status socialis: ordo enim natus development and the industrialization connected with it soon gave est opificum industriae et sic dictus « industrialis proletariatus », rise to an entirely new social situation: there emerged a class of terrificas cuius vitae condiciones Fridericus Engels anno industrial workers and the so-called “industrial proletariat”, whose MDCCCXLV turbanti modo descripsit. Legentibus hoc clarum esse dreadful living conditions Friedrich Engels described alarmingly in debebat: istud prosequi non potest; commutatio pernecessaria est. 1845. For his readers, the conclusion is clear: this cannot continue; a Verumtamen haec mutatio concussura erat immo et totam structuram change is necessary. Yet the change would shake up and overturn the eversura societatis altioris. Post illius medii ordinis motum anno entire structure of bourgeois society. After the bourgeois revolution MDCCLXXXIX iam tempus advenerat novae seditionis, videlicet of 1789, the time had come for a new, proletarian revolution: proletarianae. Haudquaquam poterat simpliciter technicus progressus progress could not simply continue in small, linear steps. A parvis passibus lineari modo procedere. Saltus poscebatur alicuius revolutionary leap was needed. Karl Marx took up the rallying call, revolutionis. Hanc temporis illius appellationem suscepit Carolus and applied his incisive language and intellect to the task of Marx atque linguae cogitationisque vibratione novum hunc magnum launching this major new and, as he thought, definitive step in passum provehere studuit et, uti opinabatur, decretorium in annalibus history towards salvation—towards what Kant had described as the versus salutem – scilicet ad id quod « Dei regnum » designaverat “Kingdom of God”. Once the truth of the hereafter had been rejected, Kant. Cum veritas temporis post mortem esset diluta, iam causa it would then be a question of establishing the truth of the here and futura esset veritatem statuendi citra et ante illum limitem. Censura now. The critique of Heaven is transformed into the critique of earth, caeli in terrae transit censuram, theologiae reprehensio in politicae the critique of theology into the critique of politics. Progress towards rationis vituperationem. Progressus enim ad meliora, ad mundum the better, towards the definitively good world, no longer comes perpetuo bonum, non iam simpliciter ex scientia nascitur, verum ex simply from science but from politics—from a scientifically politica ratione – politica via scientifico modo ordinata, quae conceived politics that recognizes the structure of history and society historiae ac societatis structuram agnoscere valet sicque semitam and thus points out the road towards revolution, towards allindicat ad rerum conversionem, id est ad omnium rerum encompassing change. With great precision, albeit with a certain immutationem. Perdiligenter omnino, etiamsi solummodo una ex onesided bias, Marx described the situation of his time, and with parte, Marx condicionem sui temporis descripsit atque acumine great analytical skill he spelled out the paths leading to revolution— analytico vias ad rerum eversionem illustravit – non modo scientia: and not only theoretically: by means of the Communist Party that per communistarum factionem, ex communistarum praeconio anni came into being from the Communist Manifesto of 1848, he set it in MDCCCXLVIII natam, eam definite incohavit. Eius promissio, Spe Salvi - Benedictus PP. XVI - 30 November 2007

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motion. His promise, owing to the acuteness of his analysis and his clear indication of the means for radical change, was and still remains an endless source of fascination. Real revolution followed, in the most radical way in Russia. 21. Together with the victory of the revolution, though, Marx's fundamental error also became evident. He showed precisely how to overthrow the existing order, but he did not say how matters should proceed thereafter. He simply presumed that with the expropriation of the ruling class, with the fall of political power and the socialization of means of production, the new Jerusalem would be realized. Then, indeed, all contradictions would be resolved, man and the world would finally sort themselves out. Then everything would be able to proceed by itself along the right path, because everything would belong to everyone and all would desire the best for one another. Thus, having accomplished the revolution, Lenin must have realized that the writings of the master gave no indication as to how to proceed. True, Marx had spoken of the interim phase of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a necessity which in time would automatically become redundant. This “intermediate phase” we know all too well, and we also know how it then developed, not ushering in a perfect world, but leaving behind a trail of appalling destruction. Marx not only omitted to work out how this new world would be organized—which should, of course, have been unnecessary. His silence on this matter follows logically from his chosen approach. His error lay deeper. He forgot that man always remains man. He forgot man and he forgot man's freedom. He forgot that freedom always remains also freedom for evil. He thought that once the economy had been put right, everything would automatically be put right. His real error is materialism: man, in fact, is not merely the product of economic conditions, and it is not possible to redeem him purely from the outside by creating a favourable economic environment. Spe Salvi - Benedictus PP. XVI - 30 November 2007

propter accuratas investigationes perspicuamque instrumentorum significationem ad radicitus effectam mutationem, allexit et usque semper denuo allicit. Rerum deinde conversio extremo maxime modo in Russia etiam evenit. 21. Sed cum eius victoria clare etiam animadversus est praecipuus Marx error. Ipse perdiligenter significavit quomodo conversio efficienda sit. Nobis autem non dixit quomodo res postea procedere debuerint. Pro certo plane habebat, ordine civium dominante suis rebus spoliatis, auctoritateque politica eversa et instrumentis productionis socialem ad rationem eversis Novam Ierusalem effectum iri. Tunc enim omnes contradictiones abiissent; homo eiusque mundus denique in se clarum vidissent. Tum cuncta procedere recta via suis viribus potuissent, quoniam omnia ad omnes pertinerent et omnes res optimas alter alteri cupivissent. Sic, post eversionem feliciter factam, debuit intellegere Lenin in magistri scriptis nullum repertum esse indicium quomodo esset procedendum. Ipse enim de intervallo quodam erat locutus dictaturae proletariatus veluti necessitate quae tamen deinceps ex se demonstratura se erat inutilem. Hanc « intermediam aetatem » optime novimus et scimus quomodo deinde etiam ea augesceret, sanum ad lucem mundum non adferens, sed a tergo devastantem relinquens deletionem. Marx non solum necessaria novi mundi excogitare elementa et instituta omisit – his enim ipsis iam opus esse non debebat. Quod de hoc ipse nihil docet, clare ex sua rerum dispositione oritur. Altius inhaeret error eius. Ipse oblitus est hominem manere semper hominem. Hominem oblitus est atque eius oblitus est libertatem. Oblitus est libertatem manere semper libertatem, etiam pro malo. Censebat, semel ordinata oeconomia, omnia ordinata esse futura. Eius verus error est materialismus: homo, revera, non est tantummodo condicionum oeconomicarum fructus eumque resanare non possumus solummodo ex externo prolixas creantes condiciones oeconomicas.

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22. Again, we find ourselves facing the question: what may we hope? A self-critique of modernity is needed in dialogue with Christianity and its concept of hope. In this dialogue Christians too, in the context of their knowledge and experience, must learn anew in what their hope truly consists, what they have to offer to the world and what they cannot offer. Flowing into this self-critique of the modern age there also has to be a self-critique of modern Christianity, which must constantly renew its self-understanding setting out from its roots. On this subject, all we can attempt here are a few brief observations. First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? In the nineteenth century, faith in progress was already subject to critique. In the twentieth century, Theodor W. Adorno formulated the problem of faith in progress quite drastically: he said that progress, seen accurately, is progress from the sling to the atom bomb. Now this is certainly an aspect of progress that must not be concealed. To put it another way: the ambiguity of progress becomes evident. Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil—possibilities that formerly did not exist. We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.

22. Ita iterum aliud quiddam interrogatur: quid sperare possumus? Necesse quidem est ut moderna aetas se ipsa iudicet, dialogum instituens cum christianismo eiusque spei notione. In eiusmodi dialogo etiam christiani, in circumstantiis suarum cognitionum suarumque peritiarum, discernere iterum debent in quo vere propria constet spes, quid habeant ut mundo offerant et quid autem offerre non possint. Oportet ad sui ipsius iudicium modernae aetatis etiam sui ipsius iudicium confluat christianismi moderni, cui semper iterum discernendum est ad se ipsum intellegendum, initium a propriis capiens fundamentis. Hac de re hic tantummodo quaedam summatim praebere possumus. Ante omnia quaerendum est: quid vere sibi vult « progressio »; quid promittit et quid non promittit? Iam XIX saeculo vigebat reprehensio fiduciae progressui datae. XX saeculo Theodorus W. Adorno quaestionem fiduciae progressioni traditae efficaci significavit modo: progressio, si diligentius inspiceretur, ea esset quae a funda ad ingens pyrobolum pervenit. Nunc sane haec est progressionis pars quae non est celanda. Aliis verbis: evidens redditur duplex progressionis ratio. Sine dubio, ea novas praebet boni possibilitates, sed etiam ingentes patefacit possibilitates mali – possibilitates quae antea non exsistebant. Nos omnes testes facti sumus quo pacto in manibus erroneis progressio fieri possit et facta sit reapse terribilis in malo progressio. Si technicae progressioni non respondet in ethica formatione hominis progressio, in corroborando homine interiore (cfr Eph 3,16; 2 Cor 4,16), tunc ea non est progressio, sed quaedam in hominem atque in mundum minatio.

23. As far as the two great themes of “reason” and “freedom” are concerned, here we can only touch upon the issues connected with them. Yes indeed, reason is God's great gift to man, and the victory of reason over unreason is also a goal of the Christian life. But when does reason truly triumph? When it is detached from God? When it has become blind to God? Is the reason behind action and capacity for action the whole of reason? If progress, in order to be progress, needs moral growth on the part of humanity, then the reason behind

23. Quod ad duo pertinet magna argumenta « rationis » et « libertatis », hic possunt solummodo hae commemorari quaestiones quae cum illis nectuntur. Revera ratio magnum est homini donum Dei, atque victoria rationis super irrationalitatem propositum est etiam fidei christianae. Sed quando ratio vere imperat? Quando a Deo seiungitur? Quando pro Deo caeca est facta? Ratio dominandi et operandi iam estne tota ratio? Si progressio ut vere sit progressio morali indiget humanitatis proventu, ratio igitur dominandi et

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action and capacity for action is likewise urgently in need of integration through reason's openness to the saving forces of faith, to the differentiation between good and evil. Only thus does reason become truly human. It becomes human only if it is capable of directing the will along the right path, and it is capable of this only if it looks beyond itself. Otherwise, man's situation, in view of the imbalance between his material capacity and the lack of judgement in his heart, becomes a threat for him and for creation. Thus where freedom is concerned, we must remember that human freedom always requires a convergence of various freedoms. Yet this convergence cannot succeed unless it is determined by a common intrinsic criterion of measurement, which is the foundation and goal of our freedom. Let us put it very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope. Given the developments of the modern age, the quotation from Saint Paul with which I began (Eph 2:12) proves to be thoroughly realistic and plainly true. There is no doubt, therefore, that a “Kingdom of God” accomplished without God—a kingdom therefore of man alone—inevitably ends up as the “perverse end” of all things as described by Kant: we have seen it, and we see it over and over again. Yet neither is there any doubt that God truly enters into human affairs only when, rather than being present merely in our thinking, he himself comes towards us and speaks to us. Reason therefore needs faith if it is to be completely itself: reason and faith need one another in order to fulfil their true nature and their mission.

operandi instanter per apertionem rationis ad salutiferas vires fidei similiter est integranda, ad discrimen inter bonum et malum. Hoc modo tantum ratio fit vere humana. Fit humana solummodo si apta est quae viam voluntati significet, et ad hoc idonea est solummodo si ultra se ipsam inspicit. Alioquin condicio hominis, cum inter materialem facultatem et iudicii cordis absentiam sit disparitas, illi et creato comparat periculum. Hoc modo in argumento libertatis, oportet memoretur humanam libertatem concursum semper poscere variarum libertatum. Hic concursus tamen suum non potest assequi propositum, si communi non decernitur intrinseca norma mensurae, quae fundamentum est nostrae libertatis et finis. Id nunc simplici dicamus modo: homo indiget Deo, aliter sine spe manet. Progressionibus inspectis aetatis modernae, sententia sancti Pauli principio memorata (Eph 2,12) perquam realis apparet et vera. Nullum igitur est dubium quin « regnum Dei » quod sine Deo institutum est – regnum igitur solius hominis – necessario ad finem « exitus perversi » omnium rerum a Kant descripti perveniat: id vidimus et semper iterum videmus. Hoc idem dici potest: Deus vere in humanas ingreditur res solummodo si non est a nobis solummodo cogitatus, sed si Ipse nobis occurrit nobiscumque loquitur. Hanc ob rem ratio indiget fide ut ipsa in se tota esse possit: ratio ac fides inter se poscuntur ut veram suam compleant naturam suumque munus.

The true shape of Christian hope

Vera christianae spei effigies

24. Let us ask once again: what may we hope? And what may we not hope? First of all, we must acknowledge that incremental progress is possible only in the material sphere. Here, amid our growing knowledge of the structure of matter and in the light of ever more advanced inventions, we clearly see continuous progress towards an

24. Iterum nos ipsos interrogemus: quid sperare possumus? Et quid sperare non possumus? Ante omnia adfirmare debemus additionalem progressionem tantummodo in materiali sensu fieri posse. Hic, augescente cognitione structurarum materiae atque in congruentia cum inventionibus in dies progredientibus, clare quaedam consecutio

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ever greater mastery of nature. Yet in the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man's freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others—if that were the case, we would no longer be free. Freedom presupposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. Naturally, new generations can build on the knowledge and experience of those who went before, and they can draw upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity. But they can also reject it, because it can never be self-evident in the same way as material inventions. The moral treasury of humanity is not readily at hand like tools that we use; it is present as an appeal to freedom and a possibility for it. This, however, means that:

datur progressionis ad maiorem usque naturae dominationem. In conscientiae ethicae ambitu decisionisque moralis deest similis additionis possibilitas eo quod humana libertas semper nova est atque iterum iterumque sua debet ferre iudicia. Numquam ab aliis omnino pro nobis iam pronuntiata sunt – si ita esset, nos revera liberi haud essemus. Libertas postulat ut in praecipuis deliberationibus singuli homines, singulae generationes novum constituant initium. Utique novae generationes super cognitiones et peritias aedificare possunt illorum qui eas praecesserunt, sicut etiam accipere possunt de morali thesauro totius humanitatis. Sed etiam eum respuere possunt, quia is eandem non potest habere materialium inventionum perspicuitatem. Moralis thesaurus humanitatis non adest sicut instrumenta adsunt quae adhibentur; is veluti invitatio exstat ad libertatem atque possibilitas pro ea. Sed hoc quae sequuntur a) The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world significat: can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however a) Rectus humanarum rerum status, moralis mundi salus numquam good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; simpliciter per structuras collocari in tuto potest, quamvis validae eae yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the sint. Eiusmodi structurae non solum magni sunt ponderis, sed best structures function only when the community is animated by necessariae; eae tamen non possunt neque debent hominis libertatem convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the delere. Etiam optimae structurae tantummodo operantur si quadam in social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist communitate validae sunt persuasiones quae aptae sint ad rationem on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community. praebendam hominibus ut libere communitatis ordini haereant. Libertas quadam persuasione indiget; persuasio quaedam ex se non b) Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in exsistit, sed semper rursus communiter est acquirenda. this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined— good—state of the world, man's freedom would be denied, and hence

b) Cum homo semper liber maneat atque cum eius libertas semper fragilis sit, numquam hoc in mundo regnum boni vigebit definitive consolidatum. Qui meliorem promittit mundum, certo usque mansurum, falsum pollicetur; hic enim humanam ignorat libertatem. Libertas semper denuo est pro bono acquirenda. Libera bono adhaesio numquam simpliciter per se exsistit. Si structurae adessent

19 Chapters on charity, Centuria 1, ch. 1: PG 90, 965. 20 Cf. ibid.: PG 90, 962-966.

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quae irrevocabili modo quandam determinatam – bonam – mundi 25. What this means is that every generation has the task of engaging condicionem inducerent, praecideretur hominis libertas, et hanc ob anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs; rem denique nullo modo bonae essent structurae. this task is never simply completed. Yet every generation must also 25. Ex dictis sententiis eruitur usque novum onerosum opus make its own contribution to establishing convincing structures of explorandi rectum humanarum rerum ordinem ad singulas freedom and of good, which can help the following generation as a generationes pertinere; numquam est opus omnino conclusum. guideline for the proper use of human freedom; hence, always within Attamen quaeque generatio propriam etiam ferre debet opem ad human limits, they provide a certain guarantee also for the future. In persuasibiles libertatis bonique ordines statuendos, qui sequentem other words: good structures help, but of themselves they are not iuvent generationem veluti indices ad rectum humanae libertatis enough. Man can never be redeemed simply from outside. Francis usum atque hoc modo praestent, semper humanos intra limites, Bacon and those who followed in the intellectual current of firmam etiam futurum in tempus fidem. Aliis verbis: bonae modernity that he inspired were wrong to believe that man would be structurae iuvant, sed solae non sufficiunt. Homo numquam redeemed through science. Such an expectation asks too much of simpliciter extrinsecus redimi potest. Franciscus Bacone et asseclae science; this kind of hope is deceptive. Science can contribute greatly cogitationi recentioris aetatis adhaerentes ab eo inspiratae, cum to making the world and mankind more human. Yet it can also censerent per scientiam redimi hominem, errabant omnino. Eiusmodi destroy mankind and the world unless it is steered by forces that lie exspectatione nimis postulatur a scientia: haec spei species fallax est. outside it. On the other hand, we must also acknowledge that modern Scientia multum conferre potest ad humaniores mundum et hominem Christianity, faced with the successes of science in progressively reddendos. Ea tamen mundum et hominem etiam delere potest, si structuring the world, has to a large extent restricted its attention to viribus non temperatur quae extra eam inveniuntur. Ceterum the individual and his salvation. In so doing it has limited the horizon animadvertendum etiam est christianismum recentis aetatis, prae of its hope and has failed to recognize sufficiently the greatness of its rebus faustis scientiae in progrediente mundi constitutione, se task—even if it has continued to achieve great things in the potissimum ad singulam tantummodo personam convertisse eiusque formation of man and in care for the weak and the suffering. salutem. Hoc modo confinia spei suae coartavit ac ne magnitudinem quidem suae missionis recognovit – licet magnum sit id quod facere in homine instituendo perrexit atque in curandis infirmis et patientibus. they would not be good structures at all.

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Conf. X 43, 70: CSEL 33, 279. Sermo 340, 3: PL 38, 1484; cf. F. Van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, London and New York 1961, p.268. Sermo 339, 4: PL 38, 1481. Conf. X 43, 69: CSEL 33, 279.

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26. It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love. This applies even in terms of this present world. When someone has the experience of a great love in his life, this is a moment of “redemption” which gives a new meaning to his life. But soon he will also realize that the love bestowed upon him cannot by itself resolve the question of his life. It is a love that remains fragile. It can be destroyed by death. The human being needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty which makes him say: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38- 39). If this absolute love exists, with its absolute certainty, then—only then—is man “redeemed”, whatever should happen to him in his particular circumstances. This is what it means to say: Jesus Christ has “redeemed” us. Through him we have become certain of God, a God who is not a remote “first cause” of the world, because his only-begotten Son has become man and of him everyone can say: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

26. Non est scientia quae hominem redimit. Homo per caritatem redimitur. Id valet iam in ambitu mere mundiali. Cum quis sua in vita magnum amorem experitur, illud est « redemptionis » tempus, quod novam eius vitae offert significationem. Sed cito ille intelleget quoque amorem sibi donatum, per se ipsum, suae vitae quaestionem non absolvere. Est amor qui fragilis manet. Potest morte deleri. Homo absoluto indiget amore. Indiget hac certitudine vi cuius ille dicere potest: « Neque mors neque vita neque angeli neque principatus neque instantia neque futura neque virtutes neque altitudo neque profundum neque alia quaelibet creatura poterit nos separare a caritate Dei, quae est in Christo Iesu Domino nostro » (Rom 8,38-39). Si hic exsistit absolutus amor sua cum absoluta certitudine, tunc – solummodo tunc – homo « redemptus » est, quodcumque ei peculiari in casu obveniat. Id intellegitur cum dicimus: Iesus Christus nos « redemit ». Per Ipsum facti sumus certi de Deo – de Deo qui remotam quandam non constituit mundi « primam causam », quoniam eius Filius unigenitus homo factus est, de quo unusquisque dicere potest: « In fide vivo Filii Dei, qui dilexit me et tradidit seipsum pro me » (Gal 2,20).

27. In this sense it is true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12). Man's great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await “eternal life”—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), has also explained to us what “life” means: “this is eternal

27. Hoc sensu verum est illum qui Deum ignorat, quamvis multiplicem spem habeat, in intimo sine spe esse, sine illa magna spe quae totam sustinet vitam (cfr Eph 2,12). Vera, magna hominis spes, quae omnes praeter deceptiones perstat, potest esse solummodo Deus – Deus qui nos dilexit et nos usque diligit « in finem », « usque ad plenam consummationem » (cfr Io 13,1 et 19,30). Qui amore tangitur, percipere incipit quid proprie « vita » sit. Percipere incipit quid sit vox spei quam in ritu Baptismatis reperimus: ex fide « aeternam vitam » exspecto – veram vitam quae, totaliter et sine minationibus, tota in sua plenitudine omnino est vita. Iesus qui de se ipso dixit se venisse ut vitam nos haberemus et abundantius haberemus (cfr Io 10,10), explanavit etiam nobis quid sibi vult « vita »: « Haec est autem vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum et, quem misisti, Iesum Christum » (Io 17,3). Vero verbi sensu

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life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we “live”. 28. Yet now the question arises: are we not in this way falling back once again into an individualistic understanding of salvation, into hope for myself alone, which is not true hope since it forgets and overlooks others? Indeed we are not! Our relationship with God is established through communion with Jesus—we cannot achieve it alone or from our own resources alone. The relationship with Jesus, however, is a relationship with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 1 Tim 2:6). Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his “being for all”; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole. In this regard I would like to quote the great Greek Doctor of the Church, Maximus the Confessor († 662), who begins by exhorting us to prefer nothing to the knowledge and love of God, but then quickly moves on to practicalities: “The one who loves God cannot hold on to money but rather gives it out in God's fashion ... in the same manner in accordance with the measure of justice.”19 Love of God leads to participation in the justice and generosity of God towards others. Loving God requires an interior freedom from all possessions and all material goods: the love of God is revealed in responsibility 20 for others. This same connection between love of God and responsibility for others can be seen in a striking way in the life of Saint Augustine. After his conversion to the Christian faith, he decided, together with some like-minded friends, to lead a life totally dedicated to the word of God and to things eternal. His intention was to practise a Christian version of the ideal of the contemplative life expressed in the great tradition of Greek philosophy, choosing in this Spe Salvi - Benedictus PP. XVI - 30 November 2007

vita non invenitur in se tantum neque solummodo ex se: quaedam ipsa est necessitudo. Et vita sua in universitate necessitudo est cum Illo qui fons est vitae. Si necessitudine fruimur cum Illo qui non moritur, qui ipsa est Vita ipseque Amor, tunc sumus in vita. Tunc « vivimus ». 28. Nunc interrogatio oritur: nonne hoc modo fortasse incidimus iterum in salutis individualismum, ut dicunt? In spe scilicet tantummodo pro me quae deinde, reapse, non est spes vera, quia alios obliviscitur et neglegit? Non. Necessitudo cum Deo per communionem cum Iesu instituitur – nos soli atque tantum cum nostris facultatibus illuc non pervenimus. Necessitudo tamen cum Iesu necessitudo est cum Illo, qui dedit in redemptionem semetipsum pro omnibus nobis (cfr 1 Tim 2,6). In communione esse cum Iesu Christo nos esse « pro omnibus » implicat, hoc nostrum facit essendi modum. Ille nos pro aliis obligat, sed solummodo in communione cum Illo nos pro aliis vere esse possumus, pro omnibus simul sumptis. Velimus hac de re praeclarum memorare Graecum Ecclesiae doctorem, sanctum Maximum Confessorem († DCLXII), qui primum adhortatur ne ullam rem cognitioni amorique Dei anteponamus, sed deinde statim ad consecutiones pervenit et usus: « Qui Deum diligit [...], pecunias servare non potest, sed divine eas dispensat [...] aequaliter pro iustae necessitatis modo distribuit ».19 Ex amore in Deum participatio oritur iustitiae bonitatisque Dei erga alios; Deum amare interiorem postulat libertatem prae omni possessione omnibusque rebus materialibus: amor Dei in responsalitate patefit de alio.20 Eundem inter amorem Dei et responsalitatem de hominibus nexum videre possumus permoventi modo in vita sancti Augustini. Suam post conversionem in christianam fidem ille, una cum nonnullis amicis similis mentis, ducere voluit vitam quae tota verbo Dei dicaretur aeternisque rebus. In animo habuit ad finem adducere christianis cum bonis contemplativae specimen vitae significatae a magna Graeca philosophia, eligens hoc modo « optimam partem »

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way the “better part” (cf. Lk 10:42). Things turned out differently, however. While attending the Sunday liturgy at the port city of Hippo, he was called out from the assembly by the Bishop and constrained to receive ordination for the exercise of the priestly ministry in that city. Looking back on that moment, he writes in his Confessions: “Terrified by my sins and the weight of my misery, I had resolved in my heart, and meditated flight into the wilderness; but you forbade me and gave me strength, by saying: ‘Christ died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for 21 him who for their sake died' (cf. 2 Cor 5:15)”. Christ died for all. To live for him means allowing oneself to be drawn into his being for others.

(cfr Lc 10,42). Sed res aliter evenit. Cum die Dominico Missae interesset in Hipponensi urbe portu instructa, ab Episcopo ex multitudine est vocatus atque ordinari ad ministerium sacerdotale illa in urbe gerendum coactus. Postea illam respiciens horam suis in Confessionibus scribit: « Conterritus peccatis meis et mole miseriae meae agitaveram corde meditatusque fueram fugam in solitudinem, sed prohibuisti me et confirmasti me dicens: “Ideo Christus pro omnibus mortuus est, ut qui vivunt iam non sibi vivant, sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est” » (cfr 2 Cor 5,15).21 Christus pro omnibus mortuus est. Vivere Ei significat se sinere implicari suo « actu essendi pro alio ».

29. For Augustine this meant a totally new life. He once described his daily life in the following terms: “The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted, its insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud must be put in their place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled; the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be 22 encouraged, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved.” “The Gospel terrifies me”23 —producing that healthy fear which prevents us from living for ourselves alone and compels us to pass on the hope we hold in common. Amid the serious difficulties facing the Roman Empire—and also posing a serious threat to Roman Africa, which was actually destroyed at the end of Augustine's life—this was what he set out to do: to transmit hope, the hope which came to him from faith and which, in complete contrast with his introverted temperament, enabled him to take part decisively and with all his strength in the task of building up the city. In the same chapter of the Confessions in which we have just noted the decisive reason for his commitment “for all”, he says that Christ “intercedes for us,

29. Id nempe in Augustinum vitam prorsus novam intulit. Ille aliquando ita propriam descripsit cotidianam vitam: « Corripiendi sunt inquieti, pusillanimes consolandi, infirmi suscipiendi, contradicentes redarguendi, insidiantes cavendi, imperiti docendi, desidiosi excitandi, contentiosi cohibendi, superbientes reprimendi, desperantes erigendi, litigantes pacandi, inopes adiuvandi, oppressi liberandi, boni approbandi, mali tolerandi, [heu!] omnes amandi ».22 « Evangelium me terret » 23 – illa salutaris terrificatio quae nobis impedit ne pro nobis ipsis vivamus quaeque nos ad transmittendam nostram communem spem incitat. Revera hoc fuit Augustini consilium: difficili in condicione imperii Romani quae etiam Africae Romanae minabatur et, in fine Augustini vita, immo eam delevit, spem transmittendi – spem scilicet quae ei a fide manabat quaeque, indoli ipsius introversae omnino obsistens, eum idoneum reddidit qui firmiter omnibusque viribus aedificandae urbi operam daret. Eodem in Confessionum capite, in quo paulo ante praecipuam rationem sui studii vidimus « pro omnibus », ille ait: Christus « interpellat pro nobis; alioquin desperarem. Multi enim et magni sunt idem languores, multi sunt et magni; sed amplior est medicina tua. Potuimus putare Verbum tuum remotum a coniunctione hominis et

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otherwise I should despair. My weaknesses are many and grave, many and grave indeed, but more abundant still is your medicine. We might have thought that your word was far distant from union with man, and so we might have despaired of ourselves, if this Word had not become flesh and dwelt among us.”24 On the strength of his hope, Augustine dedicated himself completely to the ordinary people and to his city—renouncing his spiritual nobility, he preached and acted in a simple way for simple people. 30. Let us summarize what has emerged so far in the course of our reflections. Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain. In this regard our contemporary age has developed the hope of creating a perfect world that, thanks to scientific knowledge and to scientifically based politics, seemed to be achievable. Thus Biblical hope in the Kingdom of God has been displaced by hope in the kingdom of man, the hope of a better world which would be the real “Kingdom of God”. This seemed at last to be the great and realistic hope that man needs. It was capable of galvanizing—for a time—all man's energies. The great objective seemed worthy of full commitment. In the course of time, however, it has become clear that this hope is constantly receding. Above all it has become apparent that this may be a hope for a future generation, but not for me. And however much “for all” may be part of the great hope—since I

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desperare de nobis, nisi caro fieret et habitaret in nobis ».24 Vi suae spei, Augustinus in simplicem plebem suamque urbem multum contulit – propriam posthabuit spiritalem nobilitatem atque simplici modo pro simplici populo praedicavit et est operatus.

30. Summatim tractemus ea quae ex nostris cogitationibus emersa sunt. Homini, succedentibus diebus, multae sunt spes – minores maioresque – variae variis in aetatibus propriae vitae. Nonnumquam videri potest unum ex his spei generibus plene ei satisfacere eumque aliis spei generibus non egere. In iuventute spes magni et satiantis amoris esse potest; spes cuiusdam in professione altioris ordinis, alius aliusve exitus pro reliquo vitae tempore decretorius. Cum tamen haec spei specimina ad effectum adducuntur, clare liquet id non fuisse revera totum. Palam etiam animadvertitur hominem spe indigere, quae ultra progrediatur. Hic manifeste patet ei quiddam solum infinitum sufficere posse, aliquid nempe quod semper plus erit quam id quod ille consequi aliquando valet. Hoc sensu recenti aetate spes aucta est instaurationis cuiusdam mundi perfecti qui, ob progressionem scientiae et ob politicam scientifice solidatam, digna videbatur ut ad rem deduceretur. Hoc modo spes biblica regni Dei spe regni hominis est substituta, spe cuiusdam mundi melioris, qui credebatur verum esse « regnum Dei ». Haec videbatur tandem magna spes et cum realitate congruens, qua homo indiget. Ea apta erat ut moveret – per aliquod tempus – omnes hominis vires; magnum propositum dignum videbatur omnis studii. Sed temporis decursu clare patuit hanc spem semper longius usque fugere. Ante omnia intellectum est hanc fortasse spem fuisse hominibus qui post proximum tempus erunt, sed non spem mihi. Et quamvis illud « pro omnibus » partem habeat magnae spei – non possum, revera, adversus alios et sine iisdem felix fieri – verum manet spem, quae ad me directe non pertinet, ne veram quidem esse spem. Et perspicuum factum est hanc spem fuisse contra libertatem, quia condicio rerum 31

cannot be happy without others or in opposition to them—it remains true that a hope that does not concern me personally is not a real hope. It has also become clear that this hope is opposed to freedom, since human affairs depend in each generation on the free decisions of those concerned. If this freedom were to be taken away, as a result of certain conditions or structures, then ultimately this world would not be good, since a world without freedom can by no means be a good world. Hence, while we must always be committed to the improvement of the world, tomorrow's better world cannot be the proper and sufficient content of our hope. And in this regard the question always arises: when is the world “better”? What makes it good? By what standard are we to judge its goodness? What are the paths that lead to this “goodness”? 31. Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life. Let us now, in the final section, develop this idea in more detail as we focus our attention on some of the “settings” in which we can learn in practice about hope and its exercise.

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humanarum in singulis generationibus rursus pendet a libera hominum deliberatione qui ad eam pertinent. Si haec libertas, ob condiciones et structuras, esset eis adempta, mundus, definitive, bonus non esset, quia mundus sine libertate nullo modo est mundus bonus. Ita quamvis necessarium sit continuum ad mundum meliorem reddendum studium, melior futuri temporis mundus argumentum esse non potest proprium et nostrae spei sufficiens. Semper hac de re quaestio ponitur: Quando mundus « melior » est? Quid eum bonum reddit? Qua norma iudicari potest illud « esse bonum »? Quibus viis ad hanc pervenitur « bonitatem »?

31. Iterum: opus sunt nobis spes – minores maioresque – quae in itinere nos in dies sustineant. Quae tamen non sufficiunt sine illa magna spe, quae cetera omnia superare debet. Haec magna spes Deus tantum esse potest, qui universum amplectitur et nobis offerre et largiri potest quod nos soli assequi non valemus. Utique dono gratificari ad spem pertinet. Deus spei est fundamentum – non quilibet deus, sed ille Deus qui humanum possidet vultum quique nos in « finem dilexit » (Io 13,1): singulos scilicet omnes ac totum humanum genus. Eius regnum non est aliquid ultra realitatem fictum, in futuro tempore positum quod numquam adveniet; regnum eius adest ubi Ipse amatur et ubi amor eius nos attingit. Tantummodo amor eius nobis tribuit facultatem cotidie in omni sobrietate perseverandi, quin ammittamus spei impulsum hoc in mundo qui suapte natura est imperfectus. Eodem quidem tempore eius amor nobis offert certitudinem exsistentiae huius quod solum obscuro animi intuitu cernimus et tamen in interioribus praestolamur: illius scilicet vitae quae « vere » vita est. In extrema parte hoc amplius explanandum curabimus, dum mentem Nostram ad quaedam « loca » convertimus ubi spes reapse discitur et exercetur.

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“Settings” for learning and practising hope

« Loca » ad spem discendam et exercendam

I. Prayer as a school of hope

I. Oratio tamquam spei schola

32. A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation 25 that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone. The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude.

32. Primus essentialis locus ad spem discendam est oratio. Si nemo amplius me audit, adhuc Deus me audit. Si cum nullo amplius possum colloqui ac neminem invocare, cum Deo semper loqui possum. Si nemo adest qui me adiuvare potest – ubi de necessitate vel exspectatione agitur, quae humanam sperandi facultatem supergreditur – Ipse me adiuvare potest.25 Si extremam in solitudinem relegor...; at qui orat numquam est omnino solus. Ex tredecim annis in carcere detentus, ex quibus novem segregatus, Cardinalis Nguyên Van Thuân, recolendae memoriae, reliquit nobis praestantem libellum: Orationes spei. Per tredecim annos carceris, cum animo esset fere omnino confractus, facultas Deum audiendi, cum Ipso loquendi, fecit ut in eo spei virtus cresceret, quae post eius liberationem tribuit illi ut pro hominibus toto in orbe testis fieret spei – illius magnae spei, quae etiam in noctibus solitudinis non occidit.

33. Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. “By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. Augustine refers to Saint Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come (cf. Phil 3:13). He then uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you

33. Sanctus Augustinus intimam conexionem inter orationem et spem in quodam sermone de Epistula Prima Ioannis ornatissime illustravit. Ipse orationem definit tamquam desiderii exercitium. Homo est ad magnam realitatem creatus – ad ipsum Deum, ut ab Eo impleretur. Sed cor eius nimis angustum est prae hac magna realitate, cui destinatum est. Extendendum sit oportet. « Sic Deus [donum sui] differendo extendit desiderium [nostrum]; desiderando extendit animum, extendendo facit capacem [suscipiendi Ipsum] ». Augustinus remittit ad sanctum Paulum, qui de se dicit extentum vivere in ea quae ventura sunt (cfr Philp 3,13). Splendidam deinde adhibet imaginem ad processum extensionis et praeparationis humani cordis describendum. « Puta quia melle [quod imago est teneritudinis

25 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2657. 26 Cf. In 1 Ioannis 4, 6: PL 35, 2008f. 27 Testimony of Hope, Boston 2000, pp.121ff.

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with honey [a symbol of God's tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are 26 destined. Even if Augustine speaks directly only of our capacity for God, it is nevertheless clear that through this effort by which we are freed from vinegar and the taste of vinegar, not only are we made free for God, but we also become open to others. It is only by becoming children of God, that we can be with our common Father. To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw to our own private corner of happiness. When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well. In prayer we must learn what we can truly ask of God—what is worthy of God. We must learn that we cannot pray against others. We must learn that we cannot ask for the superficial and comfortable things that we desire at this moment— that meagre, misplaced hope that leads us away from God. We must learn to purify our desires and our hopes. We must free ourselves from the hidden lies with which we deceive ourselves. God sees through them, and when we come before God, we too are forced to recognize them. “But who can discern his errors? Clear me from hidden faults” prays the Psalmist (Ps 19:12 [18:13]). Failure to recognize my guilt, the illusion of my innocence, does not justify me and does not save me, because I am culpable for the numbness of my conscience and my incapacity to recognize the evil in me for what it is. If God does not exist, perhaps I have to seek refuge in these lies, because there is no one who can forgive me; no one who is the true criterion. Yet my encounter with God awakens my conscience in such a way that it no longer aims at self-justification, and is no longer a mere reflection of me and those of my contemporaries who shape my thinking, but it becomes a capacity for listening to the Good itself.

Dei eiusque bonitatis] te vult implere Deus: si aceto plenus es, ubi mel pones? ». Vas, id est cor, prius extendendum est ac deinde mundandum: ab aceto eiusque sapore liberandum. Hoc laborem postulat, dolorem requirit, sed solummodo sic accommodatio peragitur ad quam destinati sumus.26 Etiamsi Augustinus immediate tantum de capacitate Deum suscipiendi loquitur, omnino tamen liquet hominem in hoc labore, in quo ipse ab aceto eiusque aceti sapore se liberat, non solum pro Deo liberum fieri, sed profecto etiam aliis se aperire. Nam solum filii Dei facti, apud communem Patrem nostrum esse possumus. Orare non significat ex historia exire et in angulum privatum propriae felicitatis recedere. Rectus orationis modus est processus interioris purificationis, qui nos capaces efficit pro Deo et ita prorsus etiam capaces pro hominibus. In oratione homo discere debet quid vere ipsi a Deo poscere liceat – quid Dei dignum sit. Discere debet se contra alium precari non posse. Discere debet se futtilia et commoda, quae illo temporis vestigio ipse cupit, sibi poscere non licere – haec falsa parva spes est, quae eum segregat a Deo. Sua desideria suasque spes mundare debet. Se eripere debet a secretis mendaciis, quibus se ipsum decipit: Deus perspicit ea, atque comparatio cum Deo hominem urget ut ipse quoque ea agnoscat. « Errores quis intellegit? Ab occultis munda me » (19 [18], 13), orat Psalmista. Culpae ignoratio, innocentiae falsa imago non me excusat nec salvat, quoniam ego ipse noxius sum torporis conscientiae, incapacitatis malum in me uti malum agnoscendi. Si Deus non est, forsitan confugere cogor in huiusmodi mendacia, quia nemo est qui mihi ignoscere possit, nemo qui vera sit rerum mensura. Sed occursus cum Deo excutit meam conscientiam, ut ipsa mihi non sit amplius iustificatione, nec repercussione mei ipsius et coaequalium qui condicionibus me astringunt, sed capacitas fiat ipsum Bonum audiendi.

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34. For prayer to develop this power of purification, it must on the one hand be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly. Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, in his book of spiritual exercises, tells us that during his life there were long periods when he was unable to pray and that he would hold fast to the texts of the Church's prayer: the Our Father, the Hail 27 Mary and the prayers of the liturgy. Praying must always involve this intermingling of public and personal prayer. This is how we can speak to God and how God speaks to us. In this way we undergo those purifications by which we become open to God and are prepared for the service of our fellow human beings. We become capable of the great hope, and thus we become ministers of hope for others. Hope in a Christian sense is always hope for others as well. It is an active hope, in which we struggle to prevent things moving towards the “perverse end”. It is an active hope also in the sense that we keep the world open to God. Only in this way does it continue to be a truly human hope.

34. Ut oratio hanc purificatoriam vim explicet, una ex parte ea sit oportet omnino personalis, collationem mei ipsius constituat cum Deo, cum Deo viventi. Altera ex parte tamen ea debet iterum iterumque conduci et illustrari praestantioribus Ecclesiae sanctorumque precibus, oratione liturgica, in qua Dominus iugiter docet nos congruenter orare. Cardinalis Nguyên Van Thuân suo in libro Exercitiorum spiritalium narravit quomodo eius in vita longa temporis spatia exstiterint incapacitatis orandi et quomodo ipse verbis orationum Ecclesiae adhaeserit: orationibus Pater noster, Ave Maria necnon precibus Liturgiae.27 Cum oratur, necesse est ut semper hic nexus detur inter communem et personalem orationem. Sic loqui possumus Deo, sic Deus nos alloquitur. Sic purificationes in nobis peraguntur, per quas habiles erimus ad Deum atque idonei efficiemur ad hominibus serviendum. Sic habiles erimus ad magnam spem et spei ministri erimus pro aliis: spes christiano sensu semper est etiam spes pro aliis. Agitur enim de spe actuosa, in qua certamus, ne res ad « perversum exitum » dirigantur. Agitur de spe actuosa hoc quoque sensu ut nos mundum Deo apertum teneamus. Solum ita ea quoque uti spes vere humana permanet.

II. Action and suffering as settings for learning hope

II. Agere et pati tamquam loca ad spem discendam

35. All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. This is so first of all in the sense that we thereby strive to realize our lesser and greater hopes, to complete this or that task which is important for our onward journey, or we work towards a brighter and more humane world so as to open doors into the future. Yet our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working for the world's future either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance. If we cannot hope for more than is effectively attainable

35. Omnis sincera rectaque hominis actio spes est in actu. Ita est in primis eo sensu quod nostras spes – minores maioresque – provehere intendimus: hoc vel illud munus solvere quod pro ulteriore vitae nostrae itinere magni est momenti; nostro studio conferre ad mundum paulo clariorem humanioremque reddendum, et ad ianuas quoque ad futura tempora aperiendas. Studium tamen cotidianum ad propriam vitam prosequendam adque universorum futurum nos lassat vel vertitur in fanatismum, nisi illustremur lumine maioris spei quae nec iacturis in parvis adversitatibus nec historiae rerum turbatione deleri possit. Si nobis sperare non licet ultra ea quae singulis

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at any given time, or more than is promised by political or economic authorities, our lives will soon be without hope. It is important to know that I can always continue to hope, even if in my own life, or the historical period in which I am living, there seems to be nothing left to hope for. Only the great certitude of hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can then give the courage to act and to persevere. Certainly we cannot “build” the Kingdom of God by our own efforts—what we build will always be the kingdom of man with all the limitations proper to our human nature. The Kingdom of God is a gift, and precisely because of this, it is great and beautiful, and constitutes the response to our hope. And we cannot—to use the classical expression—”merit” Heaven through our works. Heaven is always more than we could merit, just as being loved is never something “merited”, but always a gift. However, even when we are fully aware that Heaven far exceeds what we can merit, it will always be true that our behaviour is not indifferent before God and therefore is not indifferent for the unfolding of history. We can open ourselves and the world and allow God to enter: we can open ourselves to truth, to love, to what is good. This is what the saints did, those who, as “God's fellow workers”, contributed to the world's salvation (cf. 1 Cor 3:9; 1 Th 3:2). We can free our life and the world from the poisons and contaminations that could destroy the present and the future. We can uncover the sources of creation and keep them unsullied, and in this way we can make a right use of creation, which comes to us as a gift, according to its intrinsic requirements and ultimate purpose. This makes sense even if outwardly we achieve nothing or seem powerless in the face of overwhelming hostile forces. So on the one hand, our actions engender hope for us and for others; but at the same time, it is the great hope based upon God's promises that gives us courage and

momentis re obtineri possunt atque politicae et oeconomicae potestates sperandum nobis offerunt, vita nostra eo reducitur ut mox spe careat. Scire interest: adhuc sperare possum, licet pro vita mea aut in hoc historico momento appareat me nihil habere exspectandum. Tantum magna spei certitudo nempe quod, praeter improsperos exitus, mea vita personalis et integra historia custodiuntur sub indelebili Amoris potestate et huius gratia, pro ipso sensum habent ac pondus; talis tantum spes animum adhuc addere potest ad operandum et prosequendum. Certe, regnum Dei propriis viribus « construere » soli non valemus – quod construimus, semper regnum hominis omnibus circumscriptum remanet limitibus naturae humanae propriis. Regnum Dei donum est, idcirco magnum ac pulchrum est et responsum ad spem constituit. Nec valemus – ut tradita utamur loquela – caelum nostris operibus « mereri ». Illud superat ea quae nos meremur, sicut amari numquam « meritum », sed semper donum est. Attamen, cum omni nostra conscientia « maioris valoris » caeli, patet quoque actiones nostras coram Deo inertes non esse ideoque nec inertes pro historiae progressu. Aperire possumus nosmet ipsos et mundum ingressui Dei: veritatis, amoris, boni. Quod sancti fecerunt, qui veluti « adiutores Dei » in mundum salvandum suam operam contulerunt (cfr 1 Cor 3,9; 1 Thess 3,2). Possumus vitam nostram et mundum a venenis eripere et a sordibus quae praesens et futurum tempus destruere possent. Detegere possumus ac puras servare creationis fontes et sic, una cum creatione quae uti donum nos praecedit, secundum eius intrinsecas exigentias et finem quod iustum est facere. Hoc sensum retinet etiamsi, ex iis quae apparent, exitum non assequamur vel, prae adversis insidiis, viribus orbati videamur. Ita una ex parte, nostra ex actione oritur spes pro nobis et pro aliis; eodem tamen tempore haec est magna spes quae Dei promissionibus nititur qui tam in secundis quam in adversis animum nobis infundit nostraque ducit opera.

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directs our action in good times and bad. 36. Like action, suffering is a part of our human existence. Suffering stems partly from our finitude, and partly from the mass of sin which has accumulated over the course of history, and continues to grow unabated today. Certainly we must do whatever we can to reduce suffering: to avoid as far as possible the suffering of the innocent; to soothe pain; to give assistance in overcoming mental suffering. These are obligations both in justice and in love, and they are included among the fundamental requirements of the Christian life and every truly human life. Great progress has been made in the battle against physical pain; yet the sufferings of the innocent and mental suffering have, if anything, increased in recent decades. Indeed, we must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world altogether is not in our power. This is simply because we are unable to shake off our finitude and because none of us is capable of eliminating the power of evil, of sin which, as we plainly see, is a constant source of suffering. Only God is able to do this: only a God who personally enters history by making himself man and suffering within history. We know that this God exists, and hence that this power to “take away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) is present in the world. Through faith in the existence of this power, hope for the world's healing has emerged in history. It is, however, hope—not yet fulfilment; hope that gives us the courage to place ourselves on the side of good even in seemingly hopeless situations, aware that, as far as the external course of history is concerned, the power of sin will continue to be a terrible presence.

36. Sicut opera, dolores quoque ad humanam exsistentiam pertinent. Ipsi proveniunt sive ex naturae coartatione sive ex cumulo culparum, quae in historiae decursu sunt coacervatae, et in praesens quoque irrevocabiliter crescunt. Omnibus certe viribus contendatur oportet ad dolorem extenuandum: innocentium dolor, quantum fieri potest, est arcendus; dolores sedandi; ita est agendum ut morbi mentales superentur. Omnia haec sive iustitiae sive caritatis officia sunt, quae ad praecipuas condiciones tam christianae exsistentiae quam cuiusque vitae vere humanae pertinent. In certamine contra physicum dolorem magni peracti sunt progressus; passio innocentium et etiam morbi mentales superioribus decenniis potius aucti sunt. Etenim, omni ope adlaborandum est ad passionem superandam, eam tamen e mundo prorsus tollere non possumus – et hoc quidem, quoniam nostram limitationem prorsus excutere non est in nobis ac nemo nostrum auferre valet potestatem mali, culpae, quae iugiter – uti patet – fons est doloris. Hoc agere posset solum Deus: tantum Deus, qui Ipsemet in historiam ingreditur, homo fit et in ea patitur. Nos novimus hunc Deum exsistere, et ideo hanc potestatem quae « tollit peccatum mundi » (Io 1,29) in mundo adesse. Per fidem in exsistentiam huius potestatis ingressa est spes in historiam sanationis mundi. At illa certo spes est et non expletio; spes quae nobis animum facit ut nos ex parte boni ponamus, etiam ubi res inanis videtur, in conscientia quod secundum historiae exteriorem processum, culpae potestas etiam futuro in tempore quaedam terribilis manet praesentia.

37. Let us return to our topic. We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which

37. Ad nostrum argumentum redeamus. Studium est in nobis dolores arcendi eisque adversandi, non vero de mundo eos auferendi. Etenim ubi homines, dolores vitare cupientes, ab omnibus quae dolores resipere possent se subtrahere contendunt, ubi labori ac dolori veritatis, amoris et boni parcere cupiunt, in vitam vacuam prolabuntur, in qua forsitan nihil est doloris, sed tantum privatio

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there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. In this context, I would like to quote a passage from a letter written by the Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh († 1857) which illustrates this transformation of suffering through the power of hope springing from faith. “I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises, for his mercy is for ever (Ps 136 [135]). The prison here is a true image of everlasting Hell: to cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, manacles—are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, for his mercy is for ever. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone — Christ is with me ... How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim? (cf. Ps 80:1 [79:2]). Behold, the pagans have trodden your Cross underfoot! Where is your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have for you, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to your love. O Lord, show your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity your power may be shown and may be glorified before the nations ... Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, for his mercy is for ever ... I write these things to you in order that your faith and

sensus et solitudo obscurius percipiuntur. Nec remotio tribulationis, nec fuga doloris hominem sanant, sed potestas tribulationem admittendi et in ea maturandi, in ea sensum inveniendi cum Christo per coniunctionem, qui immenso amore passus est. Hoc in contextu nonnullas sententias ex quadam epistula martyris Vietnamiensis Pauli Le-Bao-Thin († MDCCCLVII) memorare velimus, in quibus patet haec transformatio doloris vi spei quae ex fide oritur. « Ego, Paulus, pro nomine Christi vinctus, tribulationes meas vobis referre volo quibus cotidie immersus sum, ita ut, amore erga Deum accensi, laudes mecum Deo praebeatis, quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius (cfr Ps 136 [135]). Hic carcer vere imago est inferni aeterni: ad supplicia crudelia omnis generis, ut sunt compedes, catenae ferreae et vincula, adduntur odium, vindictae, calumniae, verba indecentia, querelae, actus mali, iuramenta iniusta, maledictiones et tandem angustiae et tristitia. Deus autem qui olim liberavit tres pueros de camino ignis, mihi semper adest meque ab istis tribulationibus liberavit et eas in dulcedinem convertit, quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius. In medio autem horum tormentorum, quae alios conterrere solent, gratia Dei, gaudio repletus sum et laetitia, quia non solus sed cum Christo sum. [...] Quomodo autem sustineam spectaculum istud, videns cotidie imperatores, mandarinos eorumque satellites blasphemantes nomen sanctum tuum, Domine, qui sedes super Cherubim et Seraphim (cfr Ps 80 [79], 2)? Ecce, crux tua a pedibus paganorum conculcata est! Ubi est gloria tua? Videns haec omnia, malo, amore tui succensus, abscissis membris, mori in testimonium amoris tui. Ostende, Domine, potentiam tuam, salva me et sustine me, ut virtus tua in infirmitate mea ostendatur et glorificetur coram gentibus. [...] Fratres carissimi, audientes haec omnia, gratias agatis immortales in laetitia Deo, a quo bona cuncta procedunt, benedicite Domino mecum, quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius! [...] Scribo vobis haec omnia, ut coniungatur fides vestra et mea. Hac saeviente tempestate, ancoram iacio usque ad

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mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.”28 This is a letter from “Hell”. It lays bare all the horror of a concentration camp, where to the torments inflicted by tyrants upon their victims is added the outbreak of evil in the victims themselves, such that they in turn become further instruments of their persecutors' cruelty. This is indeed a letter from Hell, but it also reveals the truth of the Psalm text: “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there ... If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light' —for you darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day; darkness and light are the same” (Ps 139 [138]:8-12; cf. also Ps 23 [22]:4). Christ descended into “Hell” and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light. Suffering and torment is still terrible and well- nigh unbearable. Yet the star of hope has risen—the anchor of the heart reaches the very throne of God. Instead of evil being unleashed within man, the light shines victorious: suffering—without ceasing to be suffering—becomes, despite everything, a hymn of praise.

thronum Dei: spem vivam, quae est in corde meo ».28 Haec epistula est ex « inferno ». Palam totus ostenditur horror campi captivorum constipationis, in quo tormentis ex parte tyrannorum adiungitur pravitatis impetus in eosdem patientes, qui sic iterum instrumenta fiunt atrocitatis carnificum. Epistula est ex inferno, sed in ea dictio Psalmi confirmatur: « Si ascendero in caelum, tu illic es; si descendero in infernum, ades. [...] Si dixero: “Forsitan tenebrae compriment me” [...], nox sicut dies illuminabitur – sicut tenebrae eius ita et lumen eius » (Ps 139 [138], 8-12; cfr etiam Ps 23 [22], 4). Christus descendit ad « inferos » et sic prope est eum qui illuc proicitur, eique tenebras in lumen mutat. Dolores et tormenta terribilia pergunt esse ac fere intoleranda. Orta est tamen stella spei – ancora cordis quae ad Dei thronum pervenit. Pravitas in hominem non invehitur, immo vincit lux: dolores – etsi dolores esse non desinunt – fiunt tamen canticum laudis.

38. The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer. This holds true both for the individual and for society. A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is a cruel and inhuman society. Yet society cannot accept its suffering members and support them in their trials unless individuals are capable of doing so themselves; moreover, the individual cannot accept another's suffering unless he personally is able to find meaning in suffering, a path of purification and growth in maturity, a journey of hope. Indeed, to accept the “other” who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way

38. Humanitatis mensura determinatur essentialiter per habitudinem inter dolorem et dolentem. Hoc valet tam pro singulis quam pro societate. Societas quae dolentes accipere non potest neque adiuvare per participatum affectum, ut dolor dividatur et etiam interius feratur, est societas crudelis et inhumana. Nihilominus societas non valet patientes excipere nec eos in doloribus sustinere, si ipsi singuli ad hoc faciendum inhabiles sunt, et, alioquin, alter alterius dolores suscipere nequit, si ipsemet in dolore sensum, viam purificationis et maturitatis, iter spei detegere non potest. Excipere proximum dolentem significat illius dolores sibi assumere, ita ut mei quoque fiant. At eo quod dolor nunc condivisus redditur, in quo alterius

28 The Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, 24 November. 29 Sermones in Cant., Sermo 26, 5: PL 183, 906.

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that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love. The Latin word con-solatio, “consolation”, expresses this beautifully. It suggests being with the other in his solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude. Furthermore, the capacity to accept suffering for the sake of goodness, truth and justice is an essential criterion of humanity, because if my own wellbeing and safety are ultimately more important than truth and justice, then the power of the stronger prevails, then violence and untruth reign supreme. Truth and justice must stand above my comfort and physical well-being, or else my life itself becomes a lie. In the end, even the “yes” to love is a source of suffering, because love always requires expropriations of my “I”, in which I allow myself to be pruned and wounded. Love simply cannot exist without this painful renunciation of myself, for otherwise it becomes pure selfishness and thereby ceases to be love.

praesentia inest, dolor hic amoris lumine penetratur. Verbum Latinum consolatio eleganter hoc exprimit, cum adumbret esse cum aliquo in solitudine, quapropter tunc non est amplius solitudo. Sed etiam facultas assumendi dolorem propter bonitatis, veritatis et iustitiae amorem, humanitatis mensuram constituit, quia si definitive prosperitas et incolumitas mea maioris est momenti quam veritas et iustitia, tunc fortioris dominium praevalet; tunc violentia et mendacium dominantur. Veritas et iustitia commoditati meae et physicae integritati excellere debent, alioquin ipsa mea vita in mendacium mutatur. Ac denique, etiam illud « fiat » erga amorem fons efficitur doloris, quoniam amor usque exigit mei ipsius expropriationes, in quibus me excidi ac vulnerari permitto. Amor profecto exsistere non potest sine hac etiam onerosa renuntiatione mei ipsius; alioquin fiet purus egoismus et hac de re se ipsum qua talem dissolvit.

39. To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves—these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself. Yet once again the question arises: are we capable of this? Is the other important enough to warrant my becoming, on his account, a person who suffers? Does truth matter to me enough to make suffering worthwhile? Is the promise of love so great that it justifies the gift of myself? In the history of humanity, it was the Christian faith that had the particular merit of bringing forth within man a new and deeper capacity for these kinds of suffering that are decisive for his humanity. The Christian faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities. It has shown us that God —Truth and Love in person—desired to suffer for us and with us. Bernard of Clairvaux coined the marvellous expression: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis29 —God cannot suffer, but he can suffer with. Man is worth so much to God

39. Pati cum alio, pro aliis; pati propter veritatis et iustitiae amorem; pati ex amore et ut quisque persona efficiatur quae vere amet – haec sunt fundamentalia humanitatis elementa, quorum derelictio hominem ipsum deleret. Sed iterum surgit quaestio: hoc peragere possumus? Estne alter satis gravis, ut ego pro eo patiens fiam? Estne veritas mihi tam magni ponderis ut pretium solvam doloris? Estne tanta amoris promissio ut donum mei ipsius iustificet? Ad christianam fidem in historia humanitatis hoc meritum pertinet in homine nova ratione novaque subtilitate suscitandi capacitatem talium modorum patiendi qui decretorii sunt pro eius humanitate. Christiana fides ostendit nobis veritatem, iustitiam, amorem non solum specimina, sed realitates maximae esse densitatis. Nam ipsa ostendit nobis Deum – Veritatem videlicet et ipsum Amorem – pro nobis et nobiscum pati voluisse. Bernardus Claravallensis effinxit hunc mirum dicendi modum: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis 29 – Deus pati non potest sed compati potest. Deus hominem tam magno aestimat ita ut Ipse homo factus sit, ad compatiendum cum homine, modo plane reali in carne et sanguine, sicut

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that he himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way—in flesh and blood—as is revealed to us in the account of Jesus's Passion. Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love—and so the star of hope rises. Certainly, in our many different sufferings and trials we always need the lesser and greater hopes too—a kind visit, the healing of internal and external wounds, a favourable resolution of a crisis, and so on. In our lesser trials these kinds of hope may even be sufficient. But in truly great trials, where I must make a definitive decision to place the truth before my own welfare, career and possessions, I need the certitude of that true, great hope of which we have spoken here. For this too we need witnesses—martyrs—who have given themselves totally, so as to show us the way—day after day. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day— knowing that this is how we live life to the full. Let us say it once again: the capacity to suffer for the sake of the truth is the measure of humanity. Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon. The saints were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done before them, because they were brimming with great hope.

nobis in narratione Passionis Iesu demonstratur. Illinc in omnem humanam passionem ingressus est ille qui doloris et tolerantiae particeps fit; illinc in omnem passionem difunditur con-solatio compatientis Dei amoris et ita stella spei oritur. Procul dubio inter varios nostros dolores et tribulationes iugiter indigemus etiam parvis mediisque spei formis – benevola visitatione, interiorum ac exteriorum vulnerum sanatione, prospera cuiusdam discriminis solutione, et ita porro. In minoribus tribulationibus hae spei formae possunt etiam sufficere. Sed vere magnis in tribulationibus, in quibus mihi est definitive decernendum, utrum veritas valetudini, honorum cursibus, possessioni sit anteponenda, certitudo verae, magnae spei, cuius mentionem fecimus, necessaria redditur. Quamobrem indigemus quoque testibus, martyribus, qui plane in dies sese obtulerunt, ut ipsi nobis hoc ostenderent. Iisdem indigemus ut inter parvas vicissitudines vitae cotidianae, bonum commoditati anteponamus – scientes hac ratione nos ipsos veram vitam vivere. Hoc Nobis iterum dicere liceat: capacitas patiendi propter amorem veritatis mensura est humanitatis. Haec tamen capacitas patiendi pendet ex genere et ex mensura spei quam intra nos perferimus ac super quam aedificamus. Magna spe repleti, sancti magnum humanae exsistentiae iter conficere potuerunt eadem ratione qua antea id fecit Christus.

40. I would like to add here another brief comment with some relevance for everyday living. There used to be a form of devotion— perhaps less practised today but quite widespread not long ago—that included the idea of “offering up” the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating “jabs”, thereby giving them a meaning. Of course, there were some exaggerations and perhaps unhealthy applications of this devotion, but we need to ask ourselves whether there may not after all have been something essential and helpful contained within it. What does it mean to offer something up? Those who did so were convinced that they could insert these

40. Adhuc parvam addere volumus animadversionem non sine quadam significatione quoad cotidiana negotia. Ad quandam hodie fortasse minus adhibitam, sed nuper adhuc valde diffusam formam pietatis, pertinebat cogitatio parvos labores cotidianos « offerendi », qui nos iterum iterumque veluti acuti ictus percutiunt, ita eis sensum conferentes. In hac pietate haud dubie exaggeratae vel forsitan etiam insanae res inerant, sed interrogare oportet an etiam in iis non contineretur aliquid essentiale quod nos iuvare posset. Quid sibi vult « offerre »? Hi homines pro comperto habebant se exiguos suos labores in magnam Christi com-passionem includere posse, qui ita

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little annoyances into Christ's great “com-passion” so that they somehow became part of the treasury of compassion so greatly needed by the human race. In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning and contribute to the economy of good and of human love. Maybe we should consider whether it might be judicious to revive this practice ourselves.

quodammodo participes fierent thesauri compassionis, qua humanum genus indiget. Hoc modo parvae angustiae vitae cotidianae possent sensum acquirere et ad bonitatis et amoris oeconomiam apud homines conferre. Forsitan nobis quaerendum est an talis agendi modus etiam pro nobis prospectus sapiens rursus fieri possit.

III. Judgement as a setting for learning and practising hope

III. Iudicium tamquam locus ad spem discendam et exercendam

41. At the conclusion of the central section of the Church's great Credo—the part that recounts the mystery of Christ, from his eternal birth of the Father and his temporal birth of the Virgin Mary, through his Cross and Resurrection to the second coming—we find the phrase: “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”. From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice. Faith in Christ has never looked merely backwards or merely upwards, but always also forwards to the hour of justice that the Lord repeatedly proclaimed. This looking ahead has given Christianity its importance for the present moment. In the arrangement of Christian sacred buildings, which were intended to make visible the historic and cosmic breadth of faith in Christ, it became customary to depict the Lord returning as a king— the symbol of hope—at the east end; while the west wall normally portrayed the Last Judgement as a symbol of our responsibility for our lives—a scene which followed and accompanied the faithful as they went out to resume their daily routine. As the iconography of the Last Judgement developed, however, more and more prominence was given to its ominous and frightening aspects, which obviously held more fascination for artists than the splendour of hope, often all too well concealed beneath the horrors.

41. In magno Credo Ecclesiae media pars, quae tractat de mysterio Christi initium sumens ab aeterno ortu ex Patre atque a temporali nativitate ex Maria Virgine ut, per crucem et resurrectionem, ad eius alterum adventum redeatur, hisce concluditur verbis: « ... iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos ». Prospectus Iudicii iam a primordiis animos christianorum in eorum vita cotidiana permovit tamquam regula ad vitam praesentem temperandam, tamquam monitum ad eorum conscientiam simulque tamquam spes de divina iustitia. Fides in Christum numquam solum retro respexit nec solum in altum, sed semper etiam in futurum, in horam iustitiae quam Dominus saepe praenuntiaverat. Hic contuitus in futurum tempus christianismum in praesentia dignitate ditavit. In christianis sacris aedibus exstruendis, quae visibilem reddere volebant historicam et cosmicam amplitudinem fidei in Christum, consuetudo vigebat in latere orientali Dominum veluti regem redeuntem – spei imaginem – effingendi, in latere vero occidentali Iudicium finale tamquam responsalitatis pro nostra vita imaginem, speciem quae fideles ita in eorum cotidiano itinere aspiciebat et comitabatur. Attamen in evolutione iconographica fortiter praevaluit minax et horribilis Iudicii aspectus, qui evidenter artifices alliciebat, potius quam splendor spei quae saepe minacibus signis obscurabatur.

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42. In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the background: Christian faith has been individualized and primarily oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement, however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally different form. The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history. A world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God. A God with responsibility for such a world would not be a just God, much less a good God. It is for the sake of morality that this God has to be contested. Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim. A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world. This is why the great thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, were equally critical of atheism and theism. Horkheimer radically excluded the possibility of ever finding a thisworldly substitute for God, while at the same time he rejected the image of a good and just God. In an extreme radicalization of the Old Testament prohibition of images, he speaks of a “longing for the totally Other” that remains inaccessible—a cry of yearning directed at world history. Adorno also firmly upheld this total rejection of

42. Nova aetate mens de Iudicio finali obsolescit: fides christiana ad individuum reducitur et praesertim ad personalem animae salutem vertitur; consideratio de historia universali autem magna ex parte progressionis cogitatione comprehenditur. Attamen materia fundamentalis circa exspectationem Iudicii prorsus non evanescit. Nunc autem illud formam plane diversam induit. Atheismus XIX et XX saeculi secundum suas radices suumque finem, est quidam moralismus: reclamatio contra mundi et universalis historiae iniustitias. Mundus, in quo talis datur moles iniustitiae, doloris innocentium atque immanitatis potestatum, boni Dei opus nequit esse. Ille Deus qui de tali mundo curam adhiberet, iustus Deus non esset, ac minore quidem ratione bonus. Moralis rei nomine hic Deus oppugnetur oportet. Quandoquidem non exsistit ille Deus qui iustitiam constituat, homo ipsemet nunc vocari videtur ad iustitiam statuendam. Si coram dolore huius mundi reclamatio contra Deum comprehensibilis videtur, ambitiosum desiderium ut hominum societas ea facere possit et debeat quae nullus Deus facit nec facere potest, superbum exstat atque intrinsecus non verum. Quod demum ex huiusmodi propositione graves immanitates iustitiaeque violationes sunt secutae, id haud casu evenit, sed in intrinseca huius praesumptionis falsitate innititur. Mundus qui per se suam iustitiam creare ipse debet, is sine spe est mundus. Nemo nihilque de saeculorum mundi doloribus respondet. Nemo nihilque praestat ne regiminis protervitas – sub quocumque allicienti ideologiae involucro se ostendens – in mundo dominari pergat. Sic eximii Francofurtensis scholae philosophi, scilicet Maximilianus Horkheimer et Theodorus W. Adorno simul atheismum theismumque aequabiliter notarunt. Horkheimer funditus negavit succedaneum quiddam immanens pro Deo reperiri posse, cum tamen eadem opera Dei boni iustique speciem etiam respueret. Quando apud Vetus Testamentum imagines radicitus vetantur, is de « omnino Alterius rei desiderio » loquitur, quae attingi non potest – clamatio est desiderii,

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images, which naturally meant the exclusion of any “image” of a loving God. On the other hand, he also constantly emphasized this “negative” dialectic and asserted that justice —true justice—would require a world “where not only present suffering would be wiped out, but also that which is irrevocably past would be undone.”30 This, would mean, however—to express it with positive and hence, for him, inadequate symbols—that there can be no justice without a resurrection of the dead. Yet this would have to involve “the resurrection of the flesh, something that is totally foreign to idealism and the realm of Absolute spirit.”31

quae ad universalem historiam convertitur. Adorno etiam hac omnium imaginum recusatione prorsus tenetur, quae amantis Dei etiam « imaginem » amovet. At semper is hanc dialecticam « negativam » extulit atque autumavit iustitiam, veram videlicet iustitiam, orbem secum ferre, in quo non modo praesentes dolores delerentur, verum etiam quae omnino abierunt revocarentur.30 Id autem significat – quod positivis symbolis ideoque ad eius mentem non sufficientibus exprimitur – iustitiam absque mortuorum resurrectione dari non posse. Talis tamen rerum prospectus secum fert « carnis resurrectionem, quod idealismo, videlicet spiritus absoluti provinciae, prorsus alienum est ».31

43. Christians likewise can and must constantly learn from the strict rejection of images that is contained in God's first commandment (cf. Ex 20:4). The truth of negative theology was highlighted by the Fourth Lateran Council, which explicitly stated that however great the similarity that may be established between Creator and creature, 32 the dissimilarity between them is always greater. In any case, for the believer the rejection of images cannot be carried so far that one ends up, as Horkheimer and Adorno would like, by saying “no” to both theses—theism and atheism. God has given himself an “image”: in Christ who was made man. In him who was crucified, the denial of false images of God is taken to an extreme. God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer who shares man's God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself. This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive, yet we can begin to grasp it 33 through faith. Yes, there is a resurrection of the flesh. There is

43. Absoluta ex omnium imaginum repudiatione, quam primum Dei Mandatum complectitur (cfr Ex 20,4), usque discere denuo potest debetque quoque christianus. Theologiae negativae veritatem extulit IV Concilium Lateranense, quod palam edixit, quantalibet sit similitudo, quae inter Creatorem et creaturam viget, maiorem usque adesse inter Illum illamque dissimilitudinem.32 Credens tamen, eo quod omnis imago repudiatur, pervenire non potest illuc, ubi sistere debet, sicut arbitrantur Horkheimer atque Adorno, utramque negans thesim, videlicet theismum et atheismum. Deus « imaginem » sibi ipse dedit: in Christo qui homo factus est. In Eo, Crucifixo, Dei imaginum falsarum detrectatio ad summum est perducta. Nunc Deus nimirum suum Vultum in ipsa patientis effigie ostendit, qui hominis a Deo deserti condicionem communicat, in se eandem recipiens. Patiens hic innocens factus est spei certitudo: Deus est, atque Deus iustitiam ratione quadam creare valet, quam nos intellegere non

30 31 32 33

Negative Dialektik (1966), Third part, III, 11, in Gesammelte Schriften VI, Frankfurt am Main 1973, p.395. Ibid., Second part, p.207. DS 806. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 988-1004.

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justice. There is an “undoing” of past suffering, a reparation that sets things aright. For this reason, faith in the Last Judgement is first and foremost hope—the need for which was made abundantly clear in the upheavals of recent centuries. I am convinced that the question of justice constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest argument, in favour of faith in eternal life. The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's return and for new life become fully convincing.

valemus, quamque tamen per fidem percipere possumus. Utique, carnis est resurrectio.33 Iustitia est.34 Praeteriti maeroris est « abrogatio », reparatio quam ius restituit. Hanc ob rem in novissimum Iudicium fides in primis ac potissimum est spes, spes scilicet illa, cuius necessitas in ipsis postremorum saeculorum submotionibus liquide apparuit. Persuasum quidem habemus iustitiae causam praecipuum esse argumentum, quidquid est, pro fide de vita aeterna argumentum esse validissimum. Eo quod quisque necessitatem habet satisfactionis, quae hac in vita non datur, immortalitatis amoris, quem exspectamus, id magni ponderis procul dubio est argumentum ut illud credatur hominem ad aeternitatem factum esse; sed dum id cum illa impossibilitate nectitur historiae iniustitiam novissimum esse verbum, Christi reditus novaeque vitae necessitas multum quidem suadent.

44. To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in 35 love. God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace. This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ. Both these things—justice and grace—must be seen in their correct inner

44. Quod adversus Deum iustitiae nomine arguitur id non iuvat. Sine Deo mundus est sine spe mundus (cfr Eph 2,12). Deus unus iustitiam efficere potest. Atque fides nos certos reddit: Is id agit. Novissimi Iudicii imago in primis terrifica non est imago, sed spei imago; nobis fortasse ipsa spei decretoria imago. An terroris quoque est imago? Dixerimus: imago est quae officii conscientiam complectitur. Imago igitur est illius terroris de quo sanctus Hilarius loquitur, omnem scilicet nostrum metum in amore locari.35 Deus iustitia est et iustitiam creat. Haec nostra solatio atque nostra spes. At sua in iustitia simul est gratia. Hoc scimus, Christum cruci affixum et resuscitatum contuentes. Ambae – iustitia et gratia – suo in interiore iustoque vinculo perspici debent. Gratia iustitiam non repellit.

34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Cf. ibid., 1040. Cf. Tractatus super Psalmos, Ps 127, 1-3: CSEL 22, 628-630. Gorgias 525a-526c. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033-1037. Cf. ibid., 1023-1029. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030-1032. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1032.

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relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of equal value. Dostoevsky, for example, was right to protest against this kind of Heaven and this kind of grace in his novel The Brothers Karamazov. Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened. Here I would like to quote a passage from Plato which expresses a premonition of just judgement that in many respects remains true and salutary for Christians too. Albeit using mythological images, he expresses the truth with an unambiguous clarity, saying that in the end souls will stand naked before the judge. It no longer matters what they once were in history, but only what they are in truth: “Often, when it is the king or some other monarch or potentate that he (the judge) has to deal with, he finds that there is no soundness in the soul whatever; he finds it scourged and scarred by the various acts of perjury and wrong-doing ...; it is twisted and warped by lies and vanity, and nothing is straight because truth has had no part in its development. Power, luxury, pride, and debauchery have left it so full of disproportion and ugliness that when he has inspected it (he) sends it straight to prison, where on its arrival it will undergo the appropriate punishment ... Sometimes, though, the eye of the judge lights on a different soul which has lived in purity and truth ... then he is struck with admiration and sends him to the isles of the blessed.”36 In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an

Iniustitiam in ius non mutat. Non veluti spongia est quaedam quae omnia delet ita ut quod factum sit in terra eandem tandem habeat vim. Adversus id genus caelum gratiamque merito clamat, exempli gratia, Dostoievskij sua in commenticia fabula, quae est Fratres Karamazov. Improbi tandem, in aeterno convivio, permixte ad mensam prope victimas non sedebunt, proinde quasi nihil acciderit. Hoc in loco Platonis scriptum afferre volumus, quod aliquam iusti iudicii praesensionem ostendit, quod partim christiano verum est ac salutare. Licet fabulares imagines adhibuerit, quae alioquin perquam clare veritatem manifestant, ipse asseverat nudas tandem ante iudicem astare animas. Nunc nihil id valet quod in historia quondam fuerunt, sed quod in veritate sunt. « Tunc ipse [iudex] ante se fortasse [...] alicuius regis vel dominatoris habet animam et nihil in ea videt sani. Eam reperit percussam et cicatricum refertam, quae ex peieratione et iniustitia oriuntur [...] atque omnia sunt detorta et mendaciis insolentiaque plena, et nihil est rectum, quandoquidem illa sine veritate adolevit. Atque ipse videt quemadmodum anima, propter arbitrium, vehementiam, elationem et in agendo impudentiam, immanitate infamiaque oneretur. Coram hoc spectaculo, eam ipse in carcerem conicit, ubi merito punietur [...] Nonnumquam autem dissimilem animam videt, quae piam sinceramque vitam exegit [...], in qua complacuit eamque ad beatorum insulas mox amandat ».36 In divitis epulonis pauperisque Lazari parabola (cfr Lc 16,19-31) Iesus ad nostram monitionem quandam animae imaginem ostendit, quae adrogantia opibusque vastatur, quaeque inter se et pauperem foveam insuperabilem ipsa fodit, quae fovea inclusionis est intra corporis delicias; fovea quidem alterius oblivionis, imperitiae amandi, quae nunc in igneam sitim et iam insanabilem commutatur. Effari hic debemus Iesum hac in parabola de postrema sorte post Iudicium universale haud loqui, qui vero opinationem quandam refert, quae etiam apud veterem Iudaicam doctrinam reperitur, quae quandam condicionem mediam inter mortem ac resurrectionem memorat, in qua ultimum iudicium

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intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced.

adhuc deest.

45. This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God. The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means. With death, our life-choice becomes definitive—our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of 37 good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only 38 brings to fulfilment what they already are.

45. Haec mediae condicionis vetus-Iudaica opinio illud secum fert: non detinentur dumtaxat animae in quadam temporaria custodia, sed poenam iam luunt, sicut divitis epulonis parabola ostendit, aut contra temporariae cuiusdam beatitudinis formis iam fruuntur. Atque tandem non desunt qui opinentur hoc in statu purgationes et sanationes etiam dari, quae ad Deum communicandum animam paratam efficiunt. Primigenia Ecclesia has cogitationes sumpsit, ex quibus exinde in occidentali Ecclesia paulatim purgatorii doctrina est orta. Haud hic necesse habemus ut historicas huius progressionis semitas, implicatas quidem, perpendamus; interrogemus solummodo quid sit revera istud. Mortuo homine, eius vitae electio consummatur – vita haec ante Iudicem sistit. Eius electio, quae per vitae cursum fingitur, varias species habere potest. Sunt quidam qui veritatis desiderium amorisque alacritatem deleverint. In iis omnia facta sunt mendacia; ii odio vixerunt iique in se amorem ipsi proculcarunt. Terrificus est hic prospectus, sed quaedam nostrae historiae personae huius generis species horrendum in modum agnoscere sinunt. Talibus in hominibus nihil sanabile invenias et boni dissipatio irreparabilis: id ipsum inferni 37 verbo significatur. At contra integerrimae personae esse possunt, quae se a Deo penitus pervadi sunt passae, quapropter omnino proximo praesto sunt. De hominibus nempe agitur, qui a Deo communicato toti prorsus diriguntur, quorum ad Deum accessio illud solummodo complet quod ii iam sunt.38

46. Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose— there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil — much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still

46. Attamen prout experti sumus, neuter consuetus est casus humanae exsistentiae. Plerisque in hominibus – sic opinari possumus – in ima eorum essentia ad veritatem, ad amorem, ad Deum postremus et interior aditus manet. In iis tamen, quae in vita cotidie eliguntur, novis usque cum malo implicationibus ipsa operitur – multae sordes puritatem tegunt, cuius tamen sitis manet atque nihilo secius semper denuo ex omni ignobilitate emergit et in anima inest.

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constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each person's particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images—simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriagefeast.

Quid talibus hominibus, cum ante Iudicem sunt, accidit? Numne omnes sordes quae per vitae cursum sunt coacervatae extemplo nullius momenti erunt? Aut quid aliud eveniet? Sanctus Paulus in Epistula Prima ad Corinthios aliquid affert quod ad dispar Dei iudicium de hominibus pro cuiusque condicionibus attinet. Per figuras hoc efficit, quae illud invisibile quodammodo significare nituntur, quasque nos in notiones convertere non possumus – quod orbem ultra mortem inspicere utique nequimus, neque de eo ullam rem sumus experti. Illo in loco asseverat Paulus in primis christianam exsistentiam in communi fundamento inniti: in Iesu Christo. Fundamentum hoc perstat. Si hoc in fundamento firmiter constitimus atque in eo vitam nostram aedificavimus, ne in morte quidem hoc fundamentum nobis tolli posse scimus. Paulus exinde pergit: « Si quis autem superaedificat supra fundamentum aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosos, ligna, faenum, stipulam, uniuscuiusque opus manifestum erit; dies enim declarabit: quia in igne revelatur, et uniuscuiusque opus quale sit ignis probabit. Si cuius opus manserit, quod superaedificavit, mercedem accipiet; si cuius opus arserit, detrimentum patietur, ipse autem salvus erit, sic tamen quasi per ignem » (3,12-15). Ceterum hoc in scripto prorsus liquet hominum salutem dissimiles formas obtinere; quasdam aedificatas res penitus ardere posse; ut quis salvetur, per « ignem » transeat ipse oportere, ut capax tandem fiat Dei et ad aeternum nuptiarum convivium accedat.

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47. Nonnulli theologi recentiores urentem ignem eundemque salvantem ipsum esse Christum, Iudicem et Salvatorem, putant. 47. Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which Occursus cum Eo actus est decretorius Iudicii. Eius coram intuitu both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze omnia mendacia dissipantur. Quem cum convenimus, urens nos Is commutat atque liberat, ut nos ipsi revera fiamus. Res, per vitae all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, cursum fabricatae, aridae stipulae, vana gloriatio, evadere atque transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All corruere possunt. At in huius occursus maerore, in quo illud nostrae that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure personae sordidum et insanum nobis patet, est salus. Eius intuitus, bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the

impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly timereckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ.39 The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

Eius cordis tactus per commutationem procul dubio dolentem « tamquam per ignem » nos sanat. Dolor tamen est beatus, in quo sancta eius amoris vis ita nos pervadit veluti flamma, ut nos ad nos prorsus tandem pertineamus ideoque ad Deum. Sic iustitiae pacisque commixtio manifestatur: nostra vivendi ratio haud est nullius momenti, sed nostrae sordes non in sempiternum nos maculant, si saltem ad Christum, ad veritatem amoremque usque tendimus. Ceterum sordes hae in Christi passione sunt iam perustae. Exstante Iudicio eius amoris magnum pondus pro omni malo, quod in mundo est et in nobis, experimur accipimusque. Amoris dolor nostra salus nostrumque gaudium fit. Perspicuum est comburendi « tempus », quod commutat, per nostri temporis mundani mensuras metiri nos non posse.

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Huius commutans « momentum » occursus terrestrem temporis mensuram praetergreditur – cordis tempus est, « transitus » tempus ad Deum in Christi Corpore communicandum.39 Dei Iudicium, tum quia est iustitia tum quia gratia, spes est. Si gratia dumtaxat esset, quae omnia terrena exigua redderet, responsionis ad interrogationem de iustitia debitor esset Deus – quae interrogatio coram historia Deoque ipso nobis est decretoria. Si mera esset iustitia, nobis omnibus causa esset tandem timoris. Dei in Christo incarnatio ita utrumque inter se – videlicet iudicium et gratiam – iunxit, ut iustitia firmiter constitueretur: nos omnes nostram salutem « cum metu et tremore » (Philp 2,12) exspectamus. Gratia nihilominus nobis cunctis dat copiam sperandi et fidenter Iudicem conveniendi, quem nostrum « advocatum », parakleton, novimus (cfr 1 Io 2,1).

48. Ratio etiam quaedam est memoranda, quandoquidem ad christianam spem exercendam magnum habet pondus. Apud veterem 48. A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important Iudaismum illa reperitur etiam opinatio defunctos, in medio statu for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the versantes, per precationem iuvari posse (cfr ex. gr. 2 Mac 12,38-45: I idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state saeculo a. Chr.). Hanc congruentem consuetudinem in se receperunt through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). christiani, quae tam ad orientalem quam ad occidentalem Ecclesiam The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is

common to the Eastern and Western Church. The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state. The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death— this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon? Now a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only 40 thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too

spectat. In Orientali parte purificatorius expiatoriusque animarum dolor « in vita post hanc futura » haud cognoscitur, sed diversi beatitatis aut etiam perpessionum gradus medio in statu noscuntur. Attamen defunctorum animabus « refectio refrigeriumque » per Eucharistiam, orationes atque eleemosynas ministrari possunt. Quod ultramundanam partem attingere potest caritas, quodque mutuo accipiendi dandique praebetur facultas, qua re affectuum vinculis inter nos ultra mortis fines coniungimur, haec summi ponderis fuit christianitatis omnium saeculorum decursu persuasio, quae hodiernis quoque temporibus solans manet experientia. Quis necesse esse non sentiat, ut suis necessariis, qui ultramundanam vitam iam attigerunt, quoddam boni gratique animi documentum aut veniae postulatio perveniant? Nunc quispiam interroget: si « purgatorium » plane est per ignem in Domino, Iudice ac Salvatore, convento purificatio, quomodo tertius quidam agere potest, licet alicui prorsus sit proximus? Cum illud interrogamus, persuadere nobis debemus nullum hominem esse clausam monadem. Nostrae quidem exsistentiae arte inter se communicantur, per multiplices reciprocasque actiones inter se devinciuntur. Nemo solus vivit. Nemo solus peccat. Nemo solus salvatur. In meam vitam continenter ingreditur aliorum vita. Videlicet in iis quae ego cogito, dico, facio, ago. Atque mea vita vicissim in aliorum vitam ingreditur: scilicet cum in malum tum in bonum. Sic mea pro altero precatio quiddam minime est alienum, externum, ne post mortem quidem. Quod exsistentiae inter se implicantur, mea gratiarum actio ad eum conversa, mea pro eo precatio quandam eius purificationis portionem praebere possunt. Atque in hoc non oportet terrestre tempus Dei tempore computetur: in animarum communione terrestre tempus plane superatur. Numquam est nimis sero ad alterius cor movendum neque umquam res est inutilis. Sic christianae spei notionis elementum magni ponderis ultra explicatur. Nostra nempe spes essentialiter ceteris quoque semper est spes; hoc modo tantum ipsa etiam mihi revera est spes.40 Sicut christiani numquam nos

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the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.

solummodo interrogare debemus: quomodo me ipse salvare possum? Interrogare quoque nos debemus: quid facere possum ut ceteri salventur atque ceteris spei sidus etiam oriatur? Tunc quoque meae ipsi saluti summopere consuluero.

Mary, Star of Hope

Maria spei stella

49. With a hymn composed in the eighth or ninth century, thus for over a thousand years, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of God, as “Star of the Sea”: Ave maris stella. Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14).

49. Quodam saeculi VIII/IX hymno, scilicet mille annorum plus emenso spatio, Mariam, Domini Matrem, veluti « maris stellam » salutat Ecclesia: Ave maris stella. Hominum vita iter est. Ad quam metam? Quomodo vitae semitam invenire possumus? Vita veluti in historiae pelago apparet iter, quod saepenumero obscuratur procellaque agitatur, in quo cursum demonstrantia sidera suspicimus. Germanae quidem nostrae vitae sidera homines sunt qui rectam vitam exigere noverunt. Spei lumina sunt ipsi. Certe Iesus Christus ipse est lux, sol qui supra omnes historiae tenebras ascendit. Sed Eum ut attingamus proximis luminibus nobis opus est, personis videlicet quae ex eiusdem luce lucem ministrant quaeque sic nostri itineris cursum dirigunt. Atque quis hominum magis quam Maria spei stella esse nobis potest – quae per suum illud « fiat » ipsi Deo nostri orbis reclusit ianuam; quae vivens Foederis Arca facta est, in qua Deus caro factus est, unus ex nobis est factus, tabernaculum inter nos tetendit (cfr Io 1,14)?

50. So we cry to her: Holy Mary, you belonged to the humble and great souls of Israel who, like Simeon, were “looking for the consolation of Israel” (Lk 2:25) and hoping, like Anna, “for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38). Your life was thoroughly imbued with the sacred scriptures of Israel which spoke of hope, of the promise made to Abraham and his descendants (cf. Lk 1:55). In this way we can appreciate the holy fear that overcame you when the angel of the Lord appeared to you and told you that you would give birth to the One who was the hope of Israel, the One awaited by the world. Through you, through your “yes”, the hope of the ages became reality, entering this world and its history. You bowed low before the greatness of this task and gave your consent: “Behold, I

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50. Sic ad eam convertimur: Sancta Maria, ad illas tu humiles magnasque Israel animas pertinebas, quae veluti Simeon « consolationem Israel » (Lc 2,25) exspectabant atque sicut Anna « redemptionem Ierusalem » (Lc 2,38) opperiebantur. Vitam in Israel Sacris Litteris agere solebas, quae de spe loquebantur – de promissione Abraham et semini eius facta (cfr Lc 1,55). Intellegimus sic sacrum timorem, qui te invasit, cum Dei angelus tuum cubiculum ingrederetur tibique nuntiaretur te Eum esse genituram quem Israel speraret mundusque exspectaret. Per te tuumque illud « sic » millenniorum spes effecta est, in mundum eiusque historiam intravit.

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am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). When you hastened with holy joy across the mountains of Judea to see your cousin Elizabeth, you became the image of the Church to come, which carries the hope of the world in her womb across the mountains of history. But alongside the joy which, with your Magnificat, you proclaimed in word and song for all the centuries to hear, you also knew the dark sayings of the prophets about the suffering of the servant of God in this world. Shining over his birth in the stable at Bethlehem, there were angels in splendour who brought the good news to the shepherds, but at the same time the lowliness of God in this world was all too palpable. The old man Simeon spoke to you of the sword which would pierce your soul (cf. Lk 2:35), of the sign of contradiction that your Son would be in this world. Then, when Jesus began his public ministry, you had to step aside, so that a new family could grow, the family which it was his mission to establish and which would be made up of those who heard his word and kept it (cf. Lk 11:27f). Notwithstanding the great joy that marked the beginning of Jesus's ministry, in the synagogue of Nazareth you must already have experienced the truth of the saying about the “sign of contradiction” (cf. Lk 4:28ff). In this way you saw the growing power of hostility and rejection which built up around Jesus until the hour of the Cross, when you had to look upon the Saviour of the world, the heir of David, the Son of God dying like a failure, exposed to mockery, between criminals. Then you received the word of Jesus: “Woman, behold, your Son!” (Jn 19:26). From the Cross you received a new mission. From the Cross you became a mother in a new way: the mother of all those who believe in your Son Jesus and wish to follow him. The sword of sorrow pierced your heart. Did hope die? Did the world remain definitively without light, and life without purpose? At that moment, deep down, you probably listened again to the word spoken by the angel in answer to your fear at the time of the Annunciation: “Do not be afraid, Mary!” (Lk 1:30). How many times had the Lord, your Son, said the same thing to his

Tu nempe huius muneris magnitudini te subiecisti et es assensa: « Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum » (Lc 1,38). Cum sancto gaudio repleta, tuam necessariam Elisabeth conventura, Iudaeae montes festinanter transires, futurae Ecclesiae imago facta es, quae suo in gremio per historiae montes mundi spem fert. Sed praeter gaudium quod per tuum « Magnificat » verbis et cantico in saecula effudisti, arcana quoque oracula prophetarum de servi Dei in hoc mundo doloribus noveras. Intra Bethlemiticum stabulum in nativitate splendor angelorum fulsit, bonum nuntium pastoribus deferentium, at simul Dei paupertas hoc in mundo plane percipiebatur. Simeon Senex de gladio tibi est locutus animam tuam pertransituro (Lc 2,35), de contradictionis signo in mundo quod signum erit Filius tuus. Cum publicis muneribus operam dare coepit Iesus, recedere tu debuisti, ut nova familia adolescere posset, ad quam constituendam ipse venerat, quaeque increscere debebat iis operantibus, qui audituri erant tuaque verba observaturi (Lc 11,27). Licet magnitudo gaudiumque inceptae Iesu operae exstarent, in Nazarethana iam synagoga illorum verborum « signum cui contradicetur » (Lc 4,28s) veritatem experiri debuisti. Animadvertisti sic inimicitiae repudiationisque augeri vim, quae circa Iesum gradatim adolescebat usque ad crucis horam, in qua mundi Salvatorem, Davidis heredem, Dei Filium, veluti omni re destitutum, ludibrio habitum inter latrones morientem videre debuisti. Verbum suscepisti: « Mulier, ecce filius tuus » (Io 19,26). Ex cruce novam missionem excepisti. Ex cruce nova quidem ratione mater es facta: mater scilicet illorum qui in tuum Filium credere Eumque sequi volunt. Doloris gladius cor tuum pertransivit. Eratne spes mortua? Eratne orbis tandem sine luce, vita sine meta? Hora illa tuo in animo iterum angeli verbum procul dubio auscultasti, quo ipse annuntiationis momento metuenti tibi responderat: « Ne timeas, Maria! » (Lc 1,30). Quam saepe Dominus, tuus Filius idem suis discipulis dixerat: Nolite timere! In Golgothae nocte hoc verbum rursus audivisti. Suis discipulis antequam traditus est Ipse dixerat: «

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disciples: do not be afraid! In your heart, you heard this word again during the night of Golgotha. Before the hour of his betrayal he had said to his disciples: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27). “Do not be afraid, Mary!” In that hour at Nazareth the angel had also said to you: “Of his kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:33). Could it have ended before it began? No, at the foot of the Cross, on the strength of Jesus's own word, you became the mother of believers. In this faith, which even in the darkness of Holy Saturday bore the certitude of hope, you made your way towards Easter morning. The joy of the Resurrection touched your heart and united you in a new way to the disciples, destined to become the family of Jesus through faith. In this way you were in the midst of the community of believers, who in the days following the Ascension prayed with one voice for the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) and then received that gift on the day of Pentecost. The “Kingdom” of Jesus was not as might have been imagined. It began in that hour, and of this “Kingdom” there will be no end. Thus you remain in the midst of the disciples as their Mother, as the Mother of hope. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you. Show us the way to his Kingdom! Star of the Sea, shine upon us and guide us on our way!

Confidite, ego vici mundum » (Io 16,33). « Non turbetur cor vestrum neque formidet » (Io 14,27). « Ne timeas, Maria! ». In Nazarethana illa hora tibi dixit quoque angelus: « Regni eius non erit finis » (Lc 1,33). Num finem habuit antequam inciperet? Nullo pacto, iuxta crucem, per ipsum Iesu verbum, tu credentium facta es mater. Hac in fide, quae Sabbati sancti etiam in tenebris spei erat certitudo, ad matutinum Paschae tempus occurristi. Resurrectionis gaudium tuum cor tetigit teque novum in modum cum discipulis coniunxit, ad Iesu familiam efficiendam per fidem destinatis. Sic intra credentium communitatem fuisti, qui diebus post Ascensionem Domini unanimiter pro Spiritus Sancti dono orabant (cfr Act 1,14), quod Pentecostes die receperunt. Iesu « Regnum » aliud erat atque homines finxerant. « Regnum » hoc illa hora initium cepit, numquam finem habiturum. Ita inter discipulos eorum veluti Mater manes, sicut spei Mater. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Mater nostra, credere, sperare diligereque nos tecum doce. Eius ad regnum nobis demonstra viam! Maris stella, illumina nos nosque itinerantes dirige.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 30 November, the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, in the year 2007, the third of my Pontificate.

Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum, die XXX mensis Novembris, festo die S. Andreae Apostoli, anno MMVII, Pontificatus Nostri tertio.

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