‘A Devotion to Holy Scripture”: Love what St. Jerome loved

 

Published October 30, 2020 on Aleteia.com 

7 things to understand about Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter on the importance of sacred Scripture.

On September 30, 2020, from the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, in liturgical memory of the priest and Doctor of the Church St. Jerome, and on the occasion commemorating the 1,600th anniversary of his death in Bethlehem, Pope Francis promulgated the Apostolic Letter SCRIPTURAE SACRAE AFFECTUS (A Devotion to Sacred Scripture). With this letter, the pope not only pays tribute to the life and work of this great human being and Christian, but he also reaffirms the doctrine of the Catholic Church on Sacred Scripture, the primary source for the faith and religion of all believers in Christ, Catholics, and, furthermore, for the experience and human endeavor of every man and woman of goodwill.

The life and work of St. Jerome, the pope says, includes “his tireless activity as a scholar, translator and exegete. Jerome’s profound knowledge of the Scriptures, his zeal for making their teaching known, his skill as an interpreter of texts, his ardent and at times impetuous defence of Christian truth, his asceticism and harsh eremitical discipline, his expertise as a generous and sensitive spiritual guide—all these make him, 16 centuries after his death, a figure of enduring relevance for us, the Christians of the 21st century.” That is why St. Jerome has bequeathed to us as a legacy “a devotion to sacred Scripture, a living and tender love” for the written word of God.

 

Read more:

How St. Jerome dealt with his excessive anger

To highlight the excellence opportunity and necessity of this pontifical document, I will underscore—at once—seven essential ideas that correspond to the seven sections into which this Apostolic Letter is divided.

First, observing and analyzing the portraits that important painters have made of St. Jerome, the pope finds in them the repetition of two features that define the saint’s profile as a man, primarily, absolutely consecrated to God (monk and penitent) and, secondly, as a scholar, absolutely and rigorously dedicated to the understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

 

Read more:

A prayer by St. Jerome, to invoke God’s mercy

Second, Francis highlights Jerome’s deep love for Sacred Scripture which, according to the pope’s understanding, is a passionate love similar to that experienced, lived and conveyed by the great prophets of the best Old Testament tradition for the Word of God.

Regarding the study and understanding of Sacred Scripture, and encouraging us all to do the same, the pope says of Jerome that, “In an integrated and skillful way he employed all the methodological resources available in his day – competence in the languages in which the word of God was handed down, careful analysis and examination of manuscripts, detailed archaeological research, as well as knowledge of the history of interpretation – in order to point to a correct understanding of the inspired Scriptures.”

BROTHERS AND SISTERS ALL: LET’S BUILD HOPE!

 

On October 3, 2020, on the eve of the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi and in the eighth year of his Pontificate, Pope Francis presented, to the Catholic faithful of the entire world and all men and women of good will, his third Encyclical Letter on FRATERNITY AND SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP, with the title “FRATELLI TUTTI” (Brothers and Sisters All), words so often spoken by the "Poverello" of Assisi.

With these two words, the title of the encyclical, Pope Francis, like Francis of Assisi, calls for a “fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.” (1)

Although this document logically draws from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and has as its primary audience the faithful of the Catholic Church, which is guided by it, it gains its importance, in the first place, from the worldly authority of this spiritual leader who is recognized by all and in all areas of humanity and, furthermore, from the universal coverage of all the issues that Pope Francis encounters and addresses. 

On that matter, he himself says: “Although I have written it from the Christian convictions that inspire and sustain me, I have sought to make this reflection an invitation to dialogue among all people of good will.” (6). And not forgetting the historical and global context of the pandemic through which we are suffering, Francis tells us that “As I was writing this letter, the Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly erupted, exposing our false securities. Aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident. For all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all….” (7)  

On the other hand, it is an Encyclical through which Francis makes his social thought and worldview completely clear and defined: a world—in which, according to the Good News that is Jesus Christ, we live in universal brotherhood, with signs of brotherly love, concrete and committed, to the very end, like the Good Samaritan of the Gospel, who is Jesus himself.

This Pontifical Document has engendered such interest that it is already beginning to be equated with Encyclical Letters as important to the concert of the Nations as the Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII or the Populorum Progressio of Paul VI. It is beginning to be ranked among the most important papal documents through which the Church—as Mother and teacher with her social doctrine and always inspired by the deeds and words of the Nazarene—looks to serve and enlighten our entire coexistence as humans, our social institutions, and our development as peoples and nations.

Regarding the purpose of the Encyclical, Francis himself says that its pages “do not claim to offer a complete teaching on fraternal love, but rather to consider its universal scope, its openness to every man and woman” (6). Because, the Pope says: “It is my desire that, in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity. Fraternity between all men and women. ‘Here we have a splendid secret that shows us how to dream and to turn our life into a wonderful adventure. No one can face life in isolation… We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together… By ourselves, we risk seeing mirages, things that are not there. Dreams, on the other hand, are built together.’” 

And, for this purpose, through eight chapters and 287 paragraphs, Francis questions us on the reality of every human being and on the local and worldwide reality that we experience today, living in the “DARK CLOUDS OVER A CLOSED WORLD” (Chapter One). That is, he analyzes “certain trends in our world that hinder the development of universal fraternity” (9), such as the dreams of progress and humanity that have been “shattered,” conflicts—especially bellicose conflicts—fears and pessimism about the future, the lack of “historical consciousness” and of a universal plan for everyone, the “throwaway world” that manifests itself especially in the impoverishment of large majorities, human rights violations, globalization and social progress that neither reach nor benefit all equally, pandemics and other great scourges, the tragedy of the migratory movements of great masses of people, the problems of telecommunications that dehumanize, isolate, and create loneliness, a lack of dialogue and personal connection to the truth and the “shameless aggression” of consumerism, etc. 

But, perhaps Francis’ most profound criticism in this Letter is made against the economic-political-social system of Neoliberal Capitalism and its market system about which he says: “The marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem … Whatever the challenge, this impoverished and repetitive school of thought always offers the same recipes. Neoliberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to the magic theories of “spillover” or “trickle”—without using the name—as the only solution to societal problems. There is little appreciation of the fact that the alleged “spillover” does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society.” 

But, the Pope says, that despite these dense shadows that should not be ignored, he wants to “take up and discuss many new paths of hope. For God continues to sow abundant seeds of goodness in our human family. The recent pandemic enabled us to recognize and appreciate once more all those around us who, in the midst of fear, responded by putting their lives on the line. We began to realize that our lives are interwoven with and sustained by ordinary people…” (54)

These are shadows that the Pope illuminates with the evangelical Parable of the “Good Samaritan,” which is about “A STRANGER ON THE ROAD” (Chapter Two). It is a parable that asks us to “THINK AND MANAGE AN OPEN WORLD” (Chapter Three), with “A HEART OPEN TO THE WHOLE WORLD” (Chapter Four) in which the work of “A BETTER KIND OF POLITICS” (Chapter Five), through the “DIALOGUE AND FRIENDSHIP IN SOCIETY” (Chapter Six), leads us through “PATHS OF RENEWED ENCOUNTER” (Chapter Seven), in which “RELIGIONS (put themselves) AT THE SERVICE OF FRATERNITY IN OUR WORLD.” (Chapter Eight).

And in the beautiful interweaving of the Encyclical, other recurring issues appear here and there in the Magisterium of Francis, such as: the gospel and its universal dynamism of love, which calls for the commitment of every man and woman of good will, the relationship between the local and the universal, the need for a “culture of encounter,” the common destiny of goods and human promotion through work, etc.

The Pope indeed paints a grim and dispiriting portrait of the historical and social experience of human beings in today’s world. In the end, however, we have hope. The greatest challenge facing humanity today is—according to the Pope and the teachings of the gospel of the carpenter of Nazareth—the construction of a fraternal world, one in which we move away from the individualism in our society that we see the highest political circles to the way we use social networks. It is an individualism that isolates, leaves millions alone, and forgets “the poor, the abandoned, the infirm and the outcast, the least” (2). We need to move toward the construction of an “us” in universal love, recognizing that we are brothers and sisters with a common destiny, where we share the same house and table and where we can truly call each other: “Fratelli tutti” (Brothers and Sisters, All).

Fratelli Tutti is, then and above all, an invitation to the commitment of all, individuals, peoples, governments and nations, to building the hope that “speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart, independently of our circumstances and historical conditioning. Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love… Hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile”.[52] Let us continue, then, to advance along the paths of hope.”

We welcome this Encyclical that is destined to become the roadmap of our times, of the entire family of nations and that calls for the commitment of all, if we want—as we yearn for it—a better world today and in the future, for the generations who will come after us. It is the Pope himself who invites us to dream: “Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.” (8). 

“We need to develop the awareness that nowadays we are either all saved together or no one is saved. Poverty, decadence and suffering in one part of the earth are a silent breeding ground for problems that will end up affecting the entire planet.” (137).

2020 Presidential Election - Your Vote is Your Voice

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Hoping for Better Times / Con Esperanza en Tiempos Mejores

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Praying for Prayer

 

In the sum of the dimensions that we are as human beings, there is one, the most important: that which elevates us above everyday life, which frees us from tangible, perishable and postmodern consumerist materiality, which makes us fly, which allows us to create ideals and goals, dream of utopias and no longer resign ourselves to the narrowness, precariousness, and limitations of our existence; this is the transcendent dimension of the life of every human being.

This human dimension brings man to divinity, yearning for fulfillment, perfection, infinity, and eternity, and it also explains why all human beings establish relationships with the Transcendent in our daily lives or during the special occasions of our existence.

We do this by attempting communication with the one which each of us believes and confesses as our God, our Transcendent being, our Creator. ... And, in general, this communication attempt is called—in most of humanity's religious systems—prayer.

To pray and try to enter into a dialogue with the divine, human beings use rites, devotions, recite hymns, chants, etc. In general, we use traditional formulas, socially and culturally learned, which—in Spanish and Catholic theology—we call REZAR (PRAYING), that is to say: reciting… And we dedicate the time and space of our existence to prayer.

But, PRAYING (reciting formulas, conversing with the Transcendent through rites, devotions, etc.) is an instrument that we have to open us up and push us to PRAYER, that is, to live life in harmony, in accordance and in coherence with our confessions of faith or religion, with what we believe and profess.

Thus, it is possible to pray a lot and live lives totally divorced from what we believe in and from the most fundamental human values ​​(such as love, peace, justice, truth, freedom, life) in the same way that it is possible to have little time and space to pray and, nevertheless, be protagonists and builders of better human relationships and societies that are more fraternal.

Prayers, therefore, are an instrument and accompaniment for a life of PRAYER. And while praying is a conscientious and momentary matter in daily life, prayer involves the religious believer's whole life.

Praying opens us to a life of prayer, to the deep will of God in man: to love and to serve. Praying is not, then, an instrument of myth and magic, a fetish, an act of magic to force the will of the divine so that everything happens according to our convenience, as we want it and according to our whims and interests, almost always petty.

Praying is at the service of prayer. In other words, ritual practices and religious devotions must be at the service of lives lived deeply and honestly in a human and humanizing way.

When we do not see prayers as instruments and manifestations of a whole life lived in prayer and prayer is not understood as a life that needs and manifests in moments of praying, individually or collectively, a scandalous divorce occurs between faith and life, between religious practices and our daily practices, between what we believe and what we live, between what we profess and what we practice.

The painful and challenging situation of the time in which humanity lives today undoubtedly urges us all to establish more and better relationships with the Transcendent, to seek more and better moments of prayer and worship. And, because of these same religious practices, may we feel more called upon to live a life of prayer, doing the will of God who—in all religions—asks us to love and serve one another to a greater extent.

The construction of a better world is delegated by God to the intelligence and freedom of man. It is false, a religious experience in which the human being, through rites and devotions, is not responsible for building a better world. A religious experience in which man asks God to do what is purely the responsibility of the human race is false and cynical.

May our religious life push us to build a better world as God's will in man. May we pray to live in prayer, to love one another and, living in prayer, loving and serving each other, we pray for each other, for all our best intentions and most profound needs and those of all humanity.

Vatican body calls for an ethical, moral transformation in the battle against COVID-19

FUNDAMENTALLY, every document produced by the Vatican is addressed to all of humanity, but in matters of faith, of course, Catholics are the prime audience.  A new set of reflections on the coronavirus, however, published by the Pontifical Academy for Life, targets explicitly all members of the global human family, the humana communitas.

In “Humana communitas in the age of pandemic: untimely meditations on life’s rebirth,” the Academy, which is dedicated to promoting the Catholic Church's consistent life ethic, calls for a radical reorientation in the fight against the pandemic. It calls attention to “our common responsibility for the human family,” a renewed appreciation of the gift of life, and an awareness of and concrete response to the fact that the most vulnerable members of society—specifically the elderly and the poor around the world, as well as “prisoners [and] the abandoned destined to oblivion in refugee camps from hell”—suffer the brunt of the pain inflicted by the pandemic.

Arguing for the fundamental dignity of every human being, the reflections are labeled “untimely,” explained Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Academy, “to indicate the urgency of finding a conception of community, which, apparently, is no longer fashionable.” The document calls on government leaders, social elites, and ordinary individuals in the wealthy developed world to not let selfishness and economic self-interest outweigh the care and concern due to those without means to protect themselves from the impact of the pandemic and other “diseases despite the availability of cures too expensive to afford.”

Hence the vaccine for the virus, once it comes on the market, should not be treated as merchandise promising profit, the document suggests, but, in solidarity with the poor and most vulnerable, be distributed to all who need it and those most at risk. It should not only be in wealthy nations, “where people can afford the requirements of safety.” 

In the end, moreover, says the document, “frail is what we all are, radically marked by the experience of finitude at the core of our existence,” even though the Western world manages to obscure its vulnerability by economic prowess. In wealthy nations, governments and individuals alike are driven by “an ethic of calculative rationality bent toward a distorted image of self-fulfillment, impervious to the responsibility of the common good on a global, and not only national scale.” 

“Human interdependence” as well as “common vulnerability,” the meditations continue, “calls for international cooperation as well, and the realization that a pandemic cannot be withstood without adequate medical infrastructure, accessible to everyone at the global level.” This requires the “sharing of information, the provision of help, the allocation of scarce resources, which all have to be addressed in a synergy of efforts.” Plus, for example, the US assisting Mexico in fighting the pandemic obviously benefits both nations.

The document calls for “a renewed appreciation of the existential reality of risk: all of us may succumb to the wounds of disease, the killing of wars, the overwhelming threats of disasters. In light of this, there emerge particular ethical and political responsibilities toward the vulnerability of individuals who are at greater risk for their health, their life, their dignity.” It’s a question of ethics: “To focus on the natural genesis of the pandemic, without heed to the economic, social, and political inequalities among countries in the world, is to miss the point about the conditions that make its spread faster and more difficult to address.”

That embrace of an “ethics of risk,” declares the document, means “we need to flesh out a concept of solidarity that extends beyond generic commitment to helping those who are suffering. A pandemic urge all of us to address and reshape structural dimensions of our global community that are oppressive and unjust, those that a faith understanding refers to as ‘structures of sin.’” In the end, “access to quality health care and essential medicines must be effectively recognized as a universal human right.”

“Ultimately, the moral, and not just strategic, meaning of solidarity is the real issue in the current predicament faced by the human family. Solidarity entails responsibility toward the other in need, itself grounded in the recognition that, as a human subject endowed with dignity, every person is an end in itself, not a mean. The articulation of solidarity as a principle of social ethics rests on the concrete reality of a personal presence in need, crying for recognition. Thus, the response required of us is not just a reaction based on sentimental notions of sympathy; it is the only adequate response to the dignity of the other summoning our attention, an ethical disposition premised on the rational apprehension of the intrinsic value of every human being.” Selfishness in all our affairs must make way for genuine altruism.

“If there is no awakening of consciousness,” said Archbishop Paglia, “we will just fix a few organizational problems, but everything will be like it used to be. Instead, we need to rethink our models of development and coexistence, so that they are increasingly worthy of the human community. And therefore, they must be appropriate for the vulnerable people, not beyond their limits, as if they did not exist; within those limits, in fact, there are men, women, and children who deserve better care. All of them, not just ours.”

The archbishop ended his remarks on an optimistic note: “from the ‘dry run’ of this pandemic, we expect a burst of pride from the humana communitas. It can make it if it wants to.”

To read the full text of the meditations, please click here.

A Single Race

These days, the people of the United States continue their march amidst the headlines, the tension, and the protests surrounding the murder by asphyxiation —as determined by the autopsy— of George Floyd, an African-American man, at the hands of four police officers led by Derek Chauvin. This tragedy has even overshadowed news of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already infected and killed thousands of people across this nation.

The life of one human being is invaluable, and the lives of many human beings, even more so. Therefore, why, suddenly, on the national scene, has the death of one person become more critical and more newsworthy than the death of thousands? It is because the passing of George Floyd painfully revives, in the hearts of the people of the United States, the atrocious ghost of racism: a plague and terrible pandemic that has accompanied— from its origins—the history of this country.

Yes. Sadly, painfully, throughout the trajectory of our national events, we have had to live with the social and moral plague of discrimination and racial inequality. It is true that the US Constitution abolished slavery. It is also true that, during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the so-called Civil Rights Act was signed and enacted, and that there are many gains and achievements that citizens of so-called minority groups have accomplished in this nation. And yet, living side by side with legal and constitutional formalities, it is no less true that George Floyd's death reveals to us our shortcomings, our hypocrisies, and the flaws in our social fabric. It also calls attention to the work we all have left to do in building and achieving a truly democratic society, that is, one that is truly equitable, just, compassionate, and humane.

We abolished slavery, but racism—its worst byproduct—lays simmering. Nearly six decades after Martin Luther King's famous speech in Washington, George Floyd's death reveals the hypocritical coexistence of two nations within one: the billionaires and those with nothing, those living in luxury and those in the ghettos, those who have everything and every opportunity; and the many who lack even minimal political and social opportunities to live with dignity.

The vast majority of African-Americans, like the vast majority of other people from "minority" groups, live in this nation lacking the quality and dignity of elements that are essential to human life. These include education, housing, employment, and health. They also live subjected to permanent legal and police abuses, amid the injustice and inequality in the application of rights and opportunities, an injustice and inequality that segregates, discriminates, marginalizes, discards, tramples, crushes, that fills prisons and eventually kills.

This moral and social plague of racism is, to our misfortune, an almost institutional, systemic, systematic, and endemic structural issue in our lives in the United States. That is to say: it is a matter rooted and injected into the core of this nation. Racism works and manifests itself, sometimes subtly, other times shamelessly and savagely, in our mental structures, in our daily interrelationships, in our educational system, in the configuration and landscape of our urban planning, in our legislation, etc.

In this most recent case, four police officers, who should represent government protection for citizens, became a vile and brutal instrument against the life of an African-American man, until he was assassinated; thus becoming a page in the bloody and shameful history of racism in this country.

Consequently, the United States has lived for two weeks through public protests—occurring throughout the entire country and legitimately protected by the Constitution—objecting the murder of George Floyd. And, shamefully, President Trump's role, in this difficult and dangerous situation, as has been repeatedly pointed out in this and other occasions, has not been to unite the people, but has instead divided them and tried to play down the just claims of these public protests, labeling the protesters—among other words—as terrorists.

All this is more serious, given that these events are happening in the country that represents an example of political, economic, and social achievement, and that serves as a model for democracy for the world community of nations on this earth.

There were those who, hidden and camouflaged within, and infiltrating these legitimate protests, veered from their primary purpose, to object the death of George Floyd and racism. These people dedicated themselves to all sorts of outrageous acts committed against private property and businesses in the cities where the demonstrations occurred. These acts have two main implications and consequences: the abuse of a minority and vulnerable population, e.g., the majority of those protesting, which resulted, in a matter of hours, in the loss of property and businesses of many poor men and women which took many years of work, effort, and sacrifices to build. And, on the other hand, with these abusive behaviors, the miscreants are validating and justifying the discourse of racists in our society.

George Floyd's murder reminds us that we have failed, and we are failing as a society and that despite our accomplishments as a nation, we need to strive for something much bigger. At the same time, it shows us that we all must move forward together to create a country that is truly egalitarian, free, diverse, plural, just, united, reconciled, equitable, and democratic. Racial equality cannot be reduced to a "dream," to a paragraph in the Constitution, or to frustration or rage that sporadically manifests itself publicly. Racial equality must be a daily goal for everyone and must manifest itself in all our behaviors, attitudes, and relationships.

At the same time, it is encouraging that it is the young population that overwhelmingly took to the streets to protest. We can expect a better future from those who are taking charge of our national destiny. The resolution of all the demands given voice in the recent protests surrounding the death of Mr. Gregory Floyd will very much impact on the nation's immediate future, its progress, its inner well-being, and its role as the political leader of humanity.

Enough! Let Mr. Floyd's death not be in vain.  I invite you to continue dreaming with Martin Luther King that days will arrive when "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood" and live in a country where no one is judged "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" and that henceforth and forever, we only talk about a single race: the human race!