Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (1927-2022) - Rest in Peace

I've met a few famous people during my 78 years, but the greatest, the humblest, surely the most intelligent was Joseph Ratzinger, better known to the world as Pope Benedict XVI. This wonderful, faithful servant of God died this morning in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens at the age of 95. My personal belief is that Pope Benedict XVI was among the greatest of the modern popes, not only for what he accomplished during his papacy, but also for all he did during his many years as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith where he served the Church as the leading theological advisor to Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI (2005)

This morning, as I sat here in my messy den considering this remarkable man, I happened to glance at one of my bookcases in which several shelves are filled entirely with books by and about him. I suppose that's one thing I have in common with Pope Saint John Paul II: we both listened to Jospeh Ratzinger on all things theological.

I actually met then-Cardinal Ratzinger years ago on February 26, 2000. The Church had set aside a week of that Holy Year expressly for deacons, so Diane and I joined a few thousand other permanent deacons and their wives from around the world and made the pilgrimage to Italy, where we visited Florence, Assisi, Venice, Orvieto, and, of course, Rome and the Vatican.

When we arrived in Rome, we intended to call a friend, Fr. Adam Domanski, a Polish priest who had served in our parish on Cape Cod for a few summers. Fr. Adam was studying in Rome, earning his doctorate in Sacred Scripture. Afterwards, he would return to his native Poland and teach in one of the seminaries. Anyway, on our first morning in Rome, before we had an opportunity to call Fr. Adam, we ran into him on a small street as we searched for a particular vestment shop. If I believed in coincidences, which I don't, it would have been a remarkable one. We asked Fr. Adam if we could take him to lunch the following day, and he agreed.

The next day he met us at our hotel and then led us to a lovely, little restaurant on Borgo Pio, a pedestrian-only street just a block from St. Peter's Square. As we made our way to a table, Fr. Adam laughed and said, "A lot of bishops and cardinals eat lunch here, so we'll have to be on our best behavior." And he was right, I noticed several bishops sitting at nearby tables.

Afterwards, as we made the short walk back to the Vatican, Fr. Adam turned to me and said, "Well, well, there's a very important man in the Church." I looked up and saw Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger walking toward us. He was accompanied by a young, tall priest who I believe was George Gänswein, a member of his staff and his future personal secretary.

If you know me, you'll guess that I didn't hesitate, but instead went right up to the cardinal and introduced myself as one of the American deacons on our Holy Year pilgrimage. He asked about my bishop, Sean O'Malley, then Bishop of Fall River, and I then expressed my thanks for teaching me so much through the many books he had written. He was extremely kind, soft-spoken, and very interested in Diane's work as a teacher in a Catholic elementary school. I asked if we could take a picture and Fr. Adam volunteered to handle my new digital camera. I've included the photo below. I believe I was instructing Fr. Adam on how to use the camera, when he snapped the photo.

Our brief meeting had a pleasant epilogue. Weeks later, our local diocesan newspaper wrote a front-page story about this meeting between me and Cardinal Ratzinger and included the photo. I had expected only a brief mention in a longer article about the deacons' Holy Year pilgrimage, but the writer, another deacon, had other ideas. When the issue appeared, I sent a copy to Cardinal Ratzinger, along with a letter thanking him for taking the time to chat with us on the streets of Rome. Surprisingly, he responded with a beautiful, personal letter, now among my most cherished possessions.

Pope Benedict may well have been the most brilliant theologian who ever served the Church as pope. I certainly think so. He was a man who had no desire to be pope, a man with no personal ambition, a saintly man who wanted only to serve his Lord by helping the Church stay true to the deposit of faith with which it is entrusted.

A little over a year ago, commenting on the death of a close friend, the Pope Emeritus wrote, “Now he has arrived on the other side, where surely many friends already await him. I hope that I can join their company soon.” Today this hope is fulfilled.

Rest in peace, Holy Father. Today may we come together as Church and sing our Song of Farewell:

May the choir of angels, come to greet you.

May they speed you to paradise.

May the Lord enfold you in His mercy.

May you find eternal life.

Homily: Feast of St. Bernard - Monday, 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Today's homily includes some of the comments I made in an earlier blog posting. But I felt called by the Spirit to address the current news about the Church in a homily. 
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Readings: Ez 24:15-23 • Dt 32:18-21 • Mt 19:16-22
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In recent days more than a few parishioners have come to me, looking for direction and hope in the face of the headlines and all they see happening in the Church. Why they came to me, I can't imagine, for I am the least qualified, the least able...How often do I find myself praying those words of St. Peter:

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man" [Lk 5:8]. 

"Depart from me, Lord..."

And then God humbles me, and I realize it's not me, the man, people come to; it's the deacon, God's servant. Calling on the Holy Spirit, I respond as best I can. Sometimes it takes a while to hear the Spirit, and it was actually through today's readings that I gradually came to realize the fulness of what He was telling me.

Turning first to Ezekiel, we find the prophet faced with a personal loss, the sudden, unexpected death of his wife, whom God lovingly refers to as "the delight of your eyes" [Ez 24:16]. Aren't those beautiful words? - "the delight of your eyes" - words that offer a glimpse into the love that must have bound these two. 

I suspect Ezekiel ultimately came to accept his wife's death as a blessing that would spare her from the calamities about to befall God's People. For God tells Ezekiel not to mourn her death openly, that much more sadness is coming, and he must be the example:

"You shall be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord" [Ez 24:27].

Babylon's long siege of Jerusalem will end, the enemy will overrun its walls, God's sanctuary, the Temple, will be desecrated and destroyed, and many of God's children will be slaughtered, the rest carried off into exile.

Jerusalem and the Temple Destroyed

God gave Ezekiel the task of leading the people as they faced these tragedies. "What does this mean for us?" they ask him.

They're reminded that sin has entered the Temple, just as today sin has desecrated the Church from within. Innocents have suffered and shepherds have turned away. In Ezekiel's Jerusalem priests and kings had turned from God, had forgotten His Law, just as today far too many in God's Church have done the same.

Blessed Pope Paul VI

In 1972, Blessed Pope Paul VI stated prophetically that, "Through some fissure, the smoke of Satan entered into the Temple of God." With this we're reminded of Moses' words in our responsorial.

"You have forgotten God who gave you birth" [Dt 32:18].

Yes, too many have forgotten God; and we are overwhelmed with sadness and moved by righteous anger. It must always be a righteous, not a vengeful, anger. It must be the kind of righteous anger that cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem. And so we, too, turn to our God and ask, "What does this mean for us? What shall we do?"

We must do what the faithful have always done, which is really little different from what Ezekiel told God's People: Continue to turn prayerfully to our merciful God and ask for the strength to begin over again. That's right! We must begin again as the Church has many times over two millennia.

Francis, Repair My House...

St. Bernard, whose memorial we celebrate today, was called to heal the Church in a time of disunity and schism almost 1,000 years ago. Yes, it was a time to begin again.

Our Lord later commanded St. Francis: "Go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin." It too was a time to begin again.

Yes, the Church has faced ruin before, but Jesus promised: 

"I am with you always, until the end of the age" [Mt 28:20].

Today we are led by another Francis, a man who must carry on with the task of rebirth. We must pray that God gives him and his bishops the will and the strength to cleanse the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Sadly, some in the Church will not accept this. They will turn from Christ's Church, forgetting that the Church remains holy despite the sinfulness of its members. In their sadness and their anger, they will turn away even from the Eucharist - "the source and summit of the Christian life" - and reach after so much that offers so very little. Like the rich young man who came to Jesus in our passage from Matthew, they will turn away in sadness, unable to accept the Gospel without compromise.

50 years ago, when Pope Benedict XVI was a young Father Joseph Ratzinger, he too made some prophetic comments in a radio broadcast:

"From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge - a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.

"But in all of the changes at which one might guess, the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world.

"The Church will be a more spiritual Church... It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek."

Fr. Ratzinger Speaking About the Church's Future

 [Note: To read the entirety of then Fr. Ratzinger's broadcast, get a copy of his book, Faith and the Future. His remarks on the future of the Church can be found in the last chapter.]

Brothers and sisters, we must become the Church of the meek, a Church of the humble that approaches God in repentance. This is what we are called to do. We, the faithful, are called to "start afresh...from the beginning," and do so in faith, in humility, and in love. We must not, we cannot, accept sin by calling it by another name, and yet we must also forgive the sinner and embrace and console the innocents.

About 20 years ago, as a fairly new deacon, I was asked to speak to a group of seminarians. During the course of my remarks, I told them: 

"The holiest people you will ever encounter are not seated in the sanctuary; they are in the pews of your parish church. They will look to you for truth, for direction, and example, but if you don't provide it, they will rightly turn to God. They will find Him in prayer, in the Sacraments, in Sacred Scripture, and in Sacred Tradition. They will find Him in each other, in the Church, and it is through them that God will keep the Church holy."

That's right, brothers and sisters; through you, God will keep the Church holy.

“Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy” [Lv 19:2].

Pray for our faithful priests and bishops.