On October 11, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. John XXIII, who was the 261st Pope, 260th successor of St. Peter.
What comes to mind about Pope John or Papa Giovanni,
as he was affectionately called, making the universal Church more open to the
world in the sense of aggiornamento. It means that the Church is renewed
and empowered by the Holy Spirit to stay compatible to the modern world. But, aggiornamento
does not mean that the Church adopts herself to the norm of the modern and the post-modern
world. Rather, the Church stands in the modern world and the post-modern world
to shepherd the sheep of Christ, namely, the faithful Christians, to the
Kingdom of God, from and through this world, for salus animarum
(salvation of souls), as it is the suprema lex (supreme law) of the
Church (Canon 1752).
In his address to convene the Vatican II Council on
October 11, 1962, Pope John said of aggiornamente of the Church for salus
animarum.
Illuminated by the light of this Council,
the Church—we confidently trust—will become greater in spiritual riches and,
gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future
without fear. In fact, by bringing herself up to date where required, and by
the wise organization of mutual cooperation, the Church will make men,
families, and peoples really turn their minds to heavenly things.
And thus the holding of the Council
becomes a motive for wholehearted thanksgiving to the Giver of every good gift,
in order to celebrate with joyous canticles the glory of Christ our Lord, the
glorious and immortal King of ages and of peoples.
It is clear that aggiornamento of the Church is
not to make the Church conformed to the world of modernism and post-modernism,
for it is contrary to St. Paul’s teaching:
Do not conform yourselves to this age but
be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the
will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect
(Romans 12:2).
Some “progressive” teacher and even clergies, give
misleading impression of aggiornamento as if the Church in the modern
and post-modern world are to adopt herself to secular norms and thoughts to be “up-to-date”
and “adjusted to” the world. Unfortunately, this has resulted in scattering of
Christ’s sheep from the Church, just as false shepherds had scattered God’s
sheep (i.e. Ezekiel 34:1-10).
Upon expelling all these bad shepherds, who betrayed
Him, God Himself claims to shepherd His sheep, redeeming lost and scattered ones,
to keep all of them as one heard (i.e. Ezekiel 34:11-16, First Reading). So, He
sent and gave His begotten Son (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). And the Son, the
Christ, appointed St. Peter to carry on the shepherding service for his sheep
(John 21:15-17, Gospel Reading), as the first Pope, in light of what is
reflected in the Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6) for the sheep.
Pope John is, indeed, the 260th successor of St. Peter, to continue
this shepherding service as the 261st Pope.
To make sure Christ’s sheep will not get lost in the world
of modernism and post-modernism, Pope John’s vision of the aggiornamento
of the Church is based on the principle of ad fontes, being in touch
with the founding doctrine and teaching of the Church:
So Pope John said in his opening address of the
Vatican II Council:
The greatest concern of the Ecumenical
Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be
guarded and taught more efficaciously. That doctrine embraces the whole of man,
composed as he is of body and soul. And, since he is a pilgrim on this earth,
it commands him to tend always toward heaven.
This demonstrates how our mortal life is
to be ordered in such a way as to fulfill our duties as citizens of earth and
of heaven, and thus to attain the aim of life as established by God. That is,
all men, whether taken singly or as united in society, today have the duty of
tending ceaselessly during their lifetime toward the attainment of heavenly
things and to use, for this purpose only, the earthly goods, the employment of
which must not prejudice their eternal happiness.
The Lord has said: "Seek first the
kingdom of God and his justice" (Mt. 6:33). The word "first"
expresses the direction in which our thoughts and energies must move. We must
not, however, neglect the other words of this exhortation of our Lord, namely:
"And all these things shall be given you besides" (Ibid.). In
reality, there always have been in the Church, and there are still today, those
who, while seeking the practice of evangelical perfection with all their might,
do not fail to make themselves useful to society. Indeed, it is from their
constant example of life and their charitable undertakings that all that is
highest and noblest in human society takes its strength and growth.
In order, however, that this doctrine may
influence the numerous fields of human activity, with reference to individuals,
to families, and to social life, it is necessary first of all that the Church
should never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the
Fathers. But at the same time she must ever look to the present, to the new
conditions and new forms of life introduced into the modern world which have
opened new avenues to the Catholic apostolate.
Namely, in Pope John’s pastoral vision, aggiornamento
is to advance and defend the doctrine and magisterium of the Church, which have
been passed on by Christ, through the Apostles and further elaborated by the
Church Fathers, as well as Doctors of the Church, more efficaciously in the
modern and post-modern world. Therefore, aggiornamento is with ad
fontes.
As a compassionate shepherd, Pope John’s pastoral vision of the Church is to make mends to the damages brought by false shepherds, heretical teachers, just as God the Shepherd does (Ezekiel 34:11-16). So, Pope John said in his opening address to Vatican II Counsil:
In the daily exercise of our pastoral
office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons
who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of
discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but
prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is
getting worse, and they behave as though they had learned nothing from history,
which is, none the less, the teacher of life. They behave as though at the time
of former Councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian idea and
life and for proper religious liberty.
We feel we must disagree with those
prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of
the world were at hand.
In the present order of things, Divine
Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men's own
efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed toward the
fulfillment of God's superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even
human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church.
Pope John wants to make sure that none of Christ’s
sheep is mislead by heretical modernism and post-modernism of the world, in confusion
and left in fratricidal conflicts. He wanted to bring back lost sheep in the
world to the way to the Kingdom through the Church. Otherwise, the unity of the
Church, which is the unity of all Christ’s sheep, cannot be attained. It is,
indeed, Christ’s desire, expressed in these words during the night before his
death:
As you sent me into the world, so I sent
them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be
consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will
believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father,
are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe
that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may
be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to
perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved
them even as you loved me (John 17:18-23).
“Them” in the above words of Christ means the
Apostles, namely, who represent one holy catholic (universal) Apostolic Church,
shepherded by Pope, who is Vicar of Christ, Christ-appointed Shepherd.
Pope John must have taken these words of Christ, the
Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14), to his heart.
Overall, in Pope John’s pastoral vision, the Church
overcomes various problems caused by false shepherds and teachers in the past,
through the “medicine of mercy” and the “torch of religious truth, as he
convened the Vatican II Council on October 11, 1962, So, he said:
The Church has always opposed these
errors. Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity. Nowadays,
however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy
rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the
present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by
condemnations. Not, certainly, that there is a lack of fallacious teaching,
opinions, and dangerous concepts to be guarded against and dissipated. But
these are so obviously in contrast with the right norm of honesty, and have
produced such lethal fruits, that by now it would seem that men of themselves
are inclined to condemn them, particularly those ways of life which despise God
and His law or place excessive confidence in technical progress and a
well-being based exclusively on the comforts of life. They are ever more deeply
convinced of the paramount dignity of the human person and of his perfections,
as well as of the duties which that implies. Even more important, experience
has taught men that violence inflicted on others, the might of arms, and
political domination, are of no help at all in finding a happy solution to the
grave problems which afflict them.
That being so, the Catholic Church,
raising the torch of religious truth by means of this Ecumenical Council,
desires to show herself to be the loving mother of all, benign, patient, full
of mercy and goodness toward the brethren who are separated from her.
Now, it has been more than 60 years since St. John
XXIII shepherded the Church with the “medicine of mercy “ and the “torch of religious
truth” to heal damages from errors in the past and to bring her to the unity on
her way to the Kingdom. We must ask how we have been doing as the Church in
staying on the right course, set by him, in convening the Vatican II Council.
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