Cardinal Ratzinger's Final Homily
Cardinal Ratzinger's last homily before becoming Pope Benedict XVI was given to the College of Cardinals before they went into the conclave that ended with his election. Although I hasten to say that the analogies of campaign speeches and campaign platforms are not applicable to the election of a Vicar of Christ, it is safe to say that the statements in the homily were received and understood by the Cardinals as the beliefs of the man that they then elected Pope. Here is the key passage:
"[W]e should speak of the 'measure of the fullness of Christ,' to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers: it means 'tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery' (Eph 4, 14). This description is very relevant today! How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. . . . The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves--thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an 'Adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith."
The passage I've highlighted marks the point of departure from the elites of the West who have been nurtured on the ideologies of relativism. Those elites are truly "children of the 1960s," because the height of their belief system is the lament of every teenager to every parent: "What gives you the right to tell me what I can do?" But adults know better.
"[W]e should speak of the 'measure of the fullness of Christ,' to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers: it means 'tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery' (Eph 4, 14). This description is very relevant today! How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. . . . The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves--thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an 'Adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith."
The passage I've highlighted marks the point of departure from the elites of the West who have been nurtured on the ideologies of relativism. Those elites are truly "children of the 1960s," because the height of their belief system is the lament of every teenager to every parent: "What gives you the right to tell me what I can do?" But adults know better.
posted by PDB at 7:21 AM
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