Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself." If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value which belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly - and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, and often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being - he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into Him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer," and if God "gave his only Son" in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life."
In reality, the name for that deep amazement at man's worth and dignity is the Gospel, that is to say: the Good News. It is also called Christianity. This amazement determines the Church's mission in the world and, perhaps even more so, "in the modern world." This amazement, which is also a conviction and a certitude - at its deepest root it is the certainty of faith, but in a hidden and mysterious way it vivifies every aspect of authentic humanism - is closely connected with Christ. It also fixes Christ's place - so to speak, His particular right of citizenship - in the history of man and mankind. Unceasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took place through the cross has definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the cross and death to resurrection.
The Church's fundamental function in every age and particularly in ours is to direct man's gaze, to point the awareness and experience of the whole of humanity towards the mystery of God, to help all men to be familiar with the profundity of the Redemption taking place in Christ Jesus. At the same time man's deepest sphere is involved - mean the sphere of human hearts, consciences, and events.
To begin with, the truth of this writing of JPII's strikes right to the heart: it simply "rings true."
ReplyDeleteI'll begin the commentary on the 2nd sentence: "He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it."
At first reading, I took this as reiteration and parallelism for emphasis, repetition of the idea that Man needs Love. But a second look seems to point to a sequence of ordered steps. Man must first have love "revealed to him." This is an "encounter with love," which demands a response: to "experience it and make it his own." The final step is further immersion: to "participate intimately in it," at which stage he is no longer passively acted upon, but (as is necessary in the communal and dialogical elements of love)he reciprocates the love.
This seems to me to be a simplified summation of both the spiritual life, the stages of healthy human psychology, and even the basics of human relationships (marital or otherwise).
And of course also of Salvation History. God reached out and even entered into the human experience and transformed it, the Creator Spirit is going about "recreating" us and stirring within us (crying out 'Abba' to the Father) to respond and join into that eternal communion. Pret-ty cool, if you ask me.
Wonderful exegesis, Basil. I love your careful notice of the progress of Love in an individual’s life. I wholeheartedly agree.
ReplyDeleteI am first of all struck by the profound insight, but also simplicity, in JPII’s words. Second, I am struck by the difference (and partial similarities) in style between JPII and Benedict. I am presently reading B16’s Introduction to Christianity. [I recommend this to anyone at any stage in his faith journey.] JPII’s writing tends more to the mystical; there is a logic, but less of a focus on the strict guidelines of syllogistic logic that B16 seems to exude. There’s a brilliant coherency to JPII’s theology – i.e. his theology of the body – but its categories, distinctions, and process are less easily grasped. At times, the flow seems circular – or it takes some leaps. B16 is immensely German in his approach. He definitely does not discourage mysticism (although at times he seems to be cautious of it), but there is little of it in his writing. Although I tend to latch onto and comprehend B16’s style and narrative, we need both – just as we need faith and reason, mysticism and theology, literature and philosophy.
Let me take another jewel: “The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly – and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, and often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being – he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ.” There are many things I love about this. First, it fits within many contemporary cultures and societies’ concern for “finding oneself.” However, it recognizes that most often this process is done only partially or superficially. I’ve read enough literature, and seen enough movies, that explore the “individual’s search for himself.” The endings of these stories are either entirely hollow, ringing of superficiality; or, more times than not, the search ends in vain. While the authorial intent may be to show the ineffectiveness of this kind of search, for there is no “inherent self” to man, no a priori identity, what these people miss is that the search cannot be undertaken in a vacuum, a void. As JPII reminds us, we must be moving toward Christ if we want to discover our identities. I’ve used this analogy before, but if an eagle was trying to discover who it really was, and it traveled the world in search of this, contemplating individually and discussing with others – if this eagle never discovered the use of its wings, its search would be partial and in vain. What the eagle would need would be someone to push it toward the brink of a cliff – toward a leap of faith.
What I also love about this passage is another connection to modern literature and philosophy: man’s preoccupation with unrest and uncertainty – I may add anxiety or angst. JPII recognizes this psychological truth of man’s position in the world, or at least in this particular point in time. Like before, JPII does not leave these ideas unconnected to deeper truths. Here, he connects this unrest and anxiety to weakness and sin, as they are undoubtedly a result of; but also, even as he affirms the existence of these psychological categories, he calls for us to bring them to Christ. The depression of the modern era’s search for meaning (even though we may be beyond this depression, and into a mode of apathy) is based in a reality; but the narrative doesn’t end in hopelessness – it ends in the person of Christ, in His Love, and in our recognition of our true selves.