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21 “Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’
24 “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;
25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;
27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Those who wage war against the truth are powerless to win; rather they wound themselves, like those who kick against spikes.

– St John Chrysostom

In Christ, according to Christian belief, God himself has entered into history; in him the last things have already begun, the end time is already at hand, and the pilgrimage of the nations to Mount Zion has become God’s pilgrimage to the nations.  Universalism is no longer just a vision of something that is to come, but must, in the now of the end time, be transformed by faith into concrete facts. 

The Church Fathers understood the Christ-event as a mystery of union.  Sin, on the other hand, was disunion - a division into the egoism of each separate individual; it was a “Babylon” of idolatry.  Faith, on the contrary, means tidings of a unity that transcends all boundaries:  “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:5). 

It is not difficult to comprehend the fascination that was aroused by such tidings, the hope that was awakened…The preaching of Jesus was not, at first, a preaching of the Church of the nations, but a proclamation of the Kingdom of God.  Theologians have long accorded too little recognition to the astounding fact that Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom, which experienced its first setback in his Crucifixion, but was revitalized after his Resurrection, was definitely rejected by Israel, and that from that time on his message can exist only in the form of a mission to the nations.  This mission to the nations we call Church…She arose as the new form of the covenant, which at bottom can claim to be no different from Israel’s holy mission” to be a light for the nations by her witness to the Passion and her service of love.

From: Kirche in der ausserchristlicher Welt, pp. 26ff.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit.
18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.

When the devil cannot turn a soul away from the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in order that it may thus become exhausted and loose vigor indespensible to its spiritual progress. Sadly great numbers of devout people have fallen into this snare.

— St. Jerome

Typhoon FRANK (International Codename: Fengsen) caused vast damage to life, property and livelihood of our follow countrymen over the weekend. As of the latest report, the number of casualties has been increasing. Damage was greatly felt in some regions where the actual path of the typhoon crossed. Almost the entire province of Iloilo is submerged in water. People are still stranded on top of the roofs of their houses for two days now in some towns of Iloilo. Other areas of the Visayas are also calling for aid.

*DONATION MECHANISM*
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You may directly bring your donations of goods - ready-to-eat food, clothing, water - to Room 102, Cervini Residence Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

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Or channel to:

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Ex: REG 1234/Getino/ Liwanag/Ferdinan d/766 Metrica St. Sampaloc Manila and send to 2882

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BRO. ISMAEL JOSE CHAN-GONZAGA, S.J.
Executive Director
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan

MR. ADEL BRIONES
Associate Director, CCS
Ateneo School of GovernmentConvenor,

ADMU DREAM (Disaster Response and Management) TEAM

In the magnificent Romanesque cathedral of the little Apulian town of Troy, my interest was attracted, above all, by a somewhat enigmatic relief of the year 1158 that adorned the chancel.  This relief shows three animals in whose hostile relationship the artist clearly intended to depict the condition of the Church of his time.  At the bottom of the group is a lamb that has been pounced upon by a greedy lion who holds it fast with his powerful claws and teeth.  The lamb’s body has already been mangled.  The bones are plainly visible and one sees the parts of the body have already been devoured.  Only the infinitely sad expression on the animal’s face tells the viewer that the half-consumed lamb is still lalive. 

In contrast to the powerlessness of the lamb, the lion is the expression of a brutal power to which the lamb has nothing to oppose but its helpless fear.  It is clear that the lamb symbolizes the Church, or better, the faith of and in the Church.  What we see in this sculpture is a kind of “Report on the State of the Faith” that seems to be deeply pessimistic.  The true Church, the Church of faith, seems to have been already half-devoured by the powerful lion in whose claws she is held captive.  She has no choice but to suffer her fate in defenseless woe. 

But this sculpture, which depicts with fitting realism the, humanly speaking, hopelessness of the Church’s plight, is likewise the expression of a hope that is convinced of the invincibility of the Faith.  This hope is reflected in a remarkable way.  A third animal, a small white dog, leaps upon the lion.  Its strength seems totally disproportionate to that of the lion; nevertheless it attacks the lion with teeth and paws.  It may itself still fall victim to the lion, but its intervention causes the lion to lose its grip on the lamb.  While the symbolism of the lamb is relatively clear, this is not so of the other two animals. 

What does the lion symbolize?  What does the little white dog symbolize?  I have not been able to consult a history of art to find an answer to this question, nor do I know it.  But another question must also be answered.  What does the dramatic struggle of these three animals have to do with theology?  The more I think of it, the more it seems to me that the sculpture is not making a theological statement, but is rather a challende, an examination of conscience, a deliberately open question. 

Only the lamb is clearly defined.  But the other two animals, the lion and the dog-do they not stand for the two divergent orientations of theology, for its contradictory goals?  The lion-does it not embody the historical attemp of theology to dominate faith?  Does it not embody that violentia rationis -that despotic and brutal reason that Bonaventure would castigate a century later as a distortion of theological thinking?  And the courageous little dog-surely it smbolizes the opposite way, a theology that knows it is at the service of the Faith and is therefore prepared to make itself laughable by criticizing the want of moferation and authoritarianism of reason alone.  But if this is so, what a pointed question the relief in the chancel of Troy poses to the preacher and the theologian of all ages!  It holds a mirror up to those who speak and to those who hear.  It is an examination of conscience for pastors and for theologians alike, for either of these can prey upon the Church or be a shepherd to her.  it follows, then, that this sculpture, as a never-to-be-answered question, can apply to all of us.

From: Internationale katholische Zeitschrift Communio 15 (1986), pp 532-33

 

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son.
58 And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechari’ah after his father,
60 but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.”
61 And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.”
62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all marveled.
64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea;
66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

This is the difference between us and those who do not know God: they, in adversity, complain and grumble; we , on the other hand, are not drawn away from virtue by the things that go against us but are strengthened in it, for we know even the hairs of our head are numbered.

– St Cyprian

“You will see greater things than these” (Jn 1:50), Jesus said to Nathanael.  To become one who sees is, then, the meaning of coming to Jesus.  Coming to Jesus means entering into the state of being seen by him and sharing his ability to see.  Above where he dwells, the heavens open, the hidden realm of God (Jn 1:51).  There we stand in God’s holiness. 

“Come and you will see”- the words are reminiscent of the Communion Psalm of the Church: “O taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (Ps 33:8).  It is coming, then, and only coming, that leads to seeing.  Tasting opens the eyes.  Just as once in paradise the eyes of Adam and Eve were so fatefully opened by their eating of the forbidden fruit, so the opposite is true here - the tasting of truth opens the eyes so that we see how good God is.  Only in coming, only in Jesus’ abode, are we able to see. 

Without the risk of coming, there can be no seeing.  John comments: “It was the tenth hour” (1:39), that is, it was a very late hour in which one does not expect to accomplish anything more, yet in it something crucial and decisive is taking place.  According to some apocalyptic theories, this was thought to be the hour of the end of time.  Whoever comes to Jesus enters into what is final, into the end of time; he encounters the parousia, the ever-present reality of the Ressurection and the Kingdom of God.  It is in coming, then, that we see…Certainly we have all begun our journey with the Church’s full acknowledgment of the Son of God, but this kind of coming “at your word”, this kind of going to his abode is, nevertheless, for us too a prerequisite of our own seeing.  And it is only those who are themselves able to see, who are no longer secondhand believers, who can make disciples of others.  This coming, this venturing on his word, is today and always the unalterable precondition for such an apostolate.

From: Diener eurer Freude, pp.90-91

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