{"id":25583,"date":"2010-05-16T08:54:21","date_gmt":"2010-05-16T12:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/05\/st-peter-is-the-absolute-and-r\/"},"modified":"2010-05-16T08:54:21","modified_gmt":"2010-05-16T12:54:21","slug":"st-peter-is-the-absolute-and-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/05\/st-peter-is-the-absolute-and-r\/","title":{"rendered":"St Peter is the “absolute and reliable rock,” Fr Giussani told us"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"together<\/a><\/p>\n

Today in Rome members of the various Catholic lay ecclesial movements
\nlike Focolare, Sant’Egidio, Catholic Action and Communion and Liberation are
\ngathering in Rome as a sign of prayerful solidarity at the Regina Coeli address
\nof the Pope in Saint Peter’s Square. Indeed, in a sign of friendship and
\nobedience to the Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Benedict XVI. And as a sign of
\nthis worldwide communion with the Pope, members of Communion and Liberation are
\ngathering in cities around the world in prayer for the Pope and the Church.<\/i><\/p>\n

According to news about the event, about 150,000 people flooded Saint Peter’s Square. The Pope said that he was comforted by the “beautiful and spontaneous show of faith and solidarity.”<\/i><\/p>\n

Here in New York, for example, CL is attending the Mass at Saint Patrick’s
\nCathedral with Archbishop Timothy Dolan and will pray the rosary together.<\/i><\/p>\n

To
\nunderstand these pious and fraternal gestures of CL, here are some thoughts of
\nMonsignor Luigi Giussani that may give a fuller appreciation of the
\ncompanionship of faith and brotherhood we all share.<\/i><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n

\"father<\/a><\/p>\n

Christianity is an
\nirreducible event, an objective presence that desires to reach man; until the
\nvery end, it means to be a provocation to him, and to offer a judgment of him.
\nJesus said to the Apostles after his Resurrection, “Behold, I am with you always,
\neven to the end of the world” (Mt 28:20).<\/p>\n

Christianity will have a dramatic and
\ndecisive bearing on man’s life only if it is understood in accordance with its
\noriginality and its factual density, which, two thousand years ago, had the
\nform of a single man. Yet even when He was still living, he also had the face
\nof people whom he had brought together, and then sent out two by two, to do
\nwhat He had been doing, and what he had told them to do; they came back
\ntogether and returned to him. Later, united as one, this people went out to the
\nentire known world to present that Fact. The face of that single man today is
\nthe unity of believers, who are the sign of him in the world, or as Saint Paul
\nsays, who are his Body, his mysterious Body – also called “the people of God” –
\nguided and guaranteed by a living person, the Bishop of Rome.<\/p>\n

If the Christian
\nfact is not recognized and grasped in its proper originality, it becomes
\nnothing more than a ponderous occasion for all sorts of interpretations and
\nopinions, or perhaps even for works; but then it lies alongside of or more
\noften subordinate to all of life’s other promptings.<\/p>\n

(Religious Awareness in
\nModern Man, Communio<\/i>, vol. XXV, n.1, Spring 1998, pp. 134-135)<\/p>\n

The supreme
\nauthority is the one in which we find the meaning of all our experience. Jesus
\nChrist is this supreme authority, and it is His Spirit who makes us understand
\nthis, opens us up to faith in Him and His person. “Just as the Father has sent
\nme so do I send you.” (See John 20:21) The apostles and their successors (the
\nPope and the bishops) constitute, in history, the living continuation of the
\nauthority who is Christ. In their dynamic succession in history and their
\nmultiplication throughout the world, Christ’s mystery is proposed ceaselessly,
\nclarified without errors, defended without compromise. Therefore, they
\nconstitute the place, like a reliable and effervescent spring, where humanity
\ncan draw on the true meaning of its own existence, probing ever deeper. \u2028What
\ngenius is to the cry of human need, what prophecy is to our cry of expectancy,
\nso the apostles and their successors are to announcing the response. But just
\nas the true answer is always perfectly specific and concrete with respect to
\nthe expectancy which is inevitably vague and subject to illusions – so are
\nthey, like an absolute and reliable rock, infallible: “You are Peter and on
\nthis rock I shall build my Church.” (Matthew 16:17ff.)<\/p>\n

\"B16<\/a><\/p>\n

Their authority not only
\nconstitutes the sure criterion for that vision of the universe and history that
\nalone explains their (i.e., the universe’s and history’s) meaning; it is also
\nvital – it steadfastly stimulates a true culture and persistently points to a
\ntotal vision. It inexorably condemns any exaltation of the particular and
\nidealization of the contingent; that is, it condemns all error and idolatry.
\nThe authority of the Pope and bishops, therefore, is the ultimate guide on the
\npilgrimage towards a genuine sharing of our lives [convivenza], towards a true
\ncivilization.<\/p>\n

Where that authority is not vital and vigilant, or where it is
\nunder attack, the human pathway becomes complicated, ambiguous, and unstable;
\nit veers towards disaster, even when on the exterior it seems powerful,
\nflourishing, and astute, as is the case today. Where that authority is active
\nand respected, the historic pilgrimage is confidently renewed with serenity; it
\nis deep, genuinely human, even when the expressive methods and dynamics of
\nsharing lives are roughshod and difficult.<\/p>\n

Still today it is the gift of the
\nSpirit that allows us to discover the profound meaning of Ecclesiastical
\nAuthority as a supreme directive on the human path. Here is the origin of that
\nultimate abandonment and of that conscious obedience to it – this is why it is
\nnot the locus of the Law but of Love. One cannot understand the experience of
\nthat definitive devotion that binds the “faithful” to Authority without taking
\ninto consideration the influence of the Spirit, and that devotion often affirms
\nitself on the Cross of a mortification of the drive of our own genius or our
\nplans for life.<\/p>\n

(The Journey to Truth Is an Experience<\/i>, Montreal:
\nMcGill-Queen’s University Press 2006, pp. 73-75)<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today in Rome members of the various Catholic lay ecclesial movements like Focolare, Sant’Egidio, Catholic Action and Communion and Liberation are gathering in Rome as a sign of prayerful solidarity at the Regina Coeli address of the Pope in Saint Peter’s Square. Indeed, in a sign of friendship and obedience to the Successor of Saint … Continue reading St Peter is the “absolute and reliable rock,” Fr Giussani told us<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,20,49],"tags":[1715,1907,32097,32081],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}