I once wrote a reflection on the
over-use of the word ‘epic.’ When I apply this term to the life and teaching of
John Paul the Great, however, I do so in absolute confidence. There is really
no other way to describe the hope of a smiling actor from impoverished Poland
when he rose up against such towering forces of evil. Amidst the burning death
of the holocaust, Karol Wojtyla wrote plays that burned with a brighter hope
that outlasted the fires of Auschwitz. It was
that same hope that brought color to his priesthood during the dreary years of
Stalinist Poland. When he became Pope John Paul II, its luminosity acted as his
spotlight on the world-stage. And though they've never been televised or
presented from pulpit or balcony, these encyclicals of JP II bring the drama of
this hope to the largest audience, to generations yet unborn. That the unborn
found one of their greatest advocates in the great Pope, no one would doubt.
The fact of the matter is that he acknowledged their plight and considered it
part and parcel of the scourge of contemporary culture: what JP II called the
'culture of death.' To fight this death, he constantly exhorted us to ‘be not
afraid!,” "For the mission of the Church is always oriented and directed with unfailing hope towards the future." (Salvorum Apostoli, 31)
His use of such dramatic
language shows that he had none of the blind optimism of the students and
idealists: he was too much the professor. He had none of the platforms or
campaign promises of the politicians: he was too pious a priest. Finally, and
most powerfully, his warnings contain none of the dire pessimism of (false)
prophets and preachers: he was too secure in sanctity to give up on humanity.
"There is no justification then for despair or pessimism or
inertia...(individual responsibility) is what is demanded by the present moment
and above all by the very dignity of the human person, the indestructible image
of God the Creator, which is identical in each one of us." (Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis, 47) This hope stands like light against a shadow precisely
because JP II realized just how dark is the shadow that remains over our world.
"In general, taking into account the various factors, one cannot deny that
the present situation of the world, from the point of view of development,
offers a rather negative impression...There are many millions who are deprived
of hope due to the fact that, in many parts of the world, their situation has
noticeably worsened. Before these tragedies of total indigence and need, in
which so many of our brothers and sisters are living, it is the Lord Jesus
himself who comes to question us (cf. Mt 25:31-46).” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,
13)
I said last
time that JP II seems caught up in the drama of the relationship between God
and man. It is in the midst of this drama that he finds our source for hope.
Any realistic look at the "wages of sin" reveals, not simply fallen
creatures, but a frustrated creation and a sorrowful Creator. "The Sacred
Book speaks to us of a Father who feels compassion for man, as though sharing
his pain. In a word, this inscrutable and indescribable fatherly
"pain" will bring about above all the wonderful economy of redemptive
love in Jesus Christ, so that through the mysterium pietatis love can
reveal itself in the history of man as stronger than sin. So that the
"gift" may prevail!" (Dominum et Vivificatem, 39) In other
words, redemption is at the service of gift. Hope is at the service of love!
His
own life had taught JP II that is was not enough that Hitler be defeated, that
abortion be repealed, that the poor be fed and that sins be repented of. The
greatness of all of these epic and edifying goals can only be measured in
relation to our conversion toward God. Often we may think of hope and love as
autonomous actions (I converted to Christ, so now I can love my family), but JP
II saw conversion and love as part of the same movement. "Conversion is
the most concrete expression of the working of love and of the presence of
mercy in the human world. The true and proper meaning of mercy does not consist
only in looking, however penetratingly and compassionately, at moral, physical
or material evil: mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it
restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing
in the world and in man." (Dives in Misericordia, 6) It is this
"restoration of value" that JP II saw as the true goal of
Christianity. Don't become confused by the ethical connotation of the word
'value': JP II is not talking about a 'return to family values' or a spread of
'Christian values.' He means that human beings should find life as valuable and
fulfilling, love as strong and solid as silver or gold, and a God with an
infinite value and meaning.
When life fails
to attain to this value, contemporary man finds himself adrift in a world of
selfishness and cut off from his fellow creatures (i.e. separated from other
humans, the environment, the community, the angels and saints, etc.) Yet, even
here, in the midst of all the distractions of our noisy, overpaid and oversexed
culture, JP II saw the glimmerings of hope. "From the depth of anguish,
fear and escapist phenomena like drugs, typical of the contemporary world, the
idea is slowly emerging that the good to which we are all called and the
happiness to which we aspire cannot be obtained without an effort and
commitment on the part of all, nobody excluded, and the consequent renouncing
of personal selfishness." (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 26) Emerging from
these depths of pain and loneliness, man is given the opportunity to probe even
greater depths. "Faced with the mystery of sin, we have to search 'the
depths of God' to their very depth. It is not enough to search the human
conscience, the intimate mystery of man, but we have to penetrate the inner
mystery of God, those 'depths of God' that are summarized thus: to the
Father-in the Son- through the Holy Spirit." (Dominum et Vivificatem, 32)
According to JP II, this is "the deep that calls to deep, in the roar of
many waters" from Psalm 42. In the very depths of God is where the sufferings
of humanity crosses over from shame to joy in the almost-instantaneous embrace
of conversion. In JP II's thought, this conversion results in a "Mature
humanity" that has “full use of the gift of freedom received from the
Creator when he called to existence the man made 'in his image, after his
likeness.' This gift finds its full realization in the unreserved giving of the
whole of one's human person, in a spirit of the love of a spouse, to
Christ." (Redemptor Hominis, 21) Thus, hope finds its fulfillment in more
than just 'religious love' or 'spiritual love' but in a real human love, a
‘spousal love,’ which has been transformed into a Divine love. Further
exploration of JP II's use of this spousal mystery is so broad a topic that I
must leave it until my next reflection.
