The Signs of the Mystery
The Signs of the Mystery Christ as our Passover and Mary as the Immaculate Conception in the Experience of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński, the Founder of the Congregation of Marian Fathers Father Bogusław Gil, MIC
Copyright © 2024 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. All rights reserved. Copyright © PROMIC for the Polish edition entitled Znaki tajemnicy. English translation: Irena Bartczak Cover design: Gabriela Sylwestrowicz Composition of the book: Kathy Szpak ISBN 978-1-59614-611-2 Websites: PadriMariani.org Marian.org All the biblical passages, unless otherwise stated, from The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), Darton, Longman and Todd and Les Editions du Cerf, 1985 Imprimi potest Very Rev. Chris Alar, MIC Provincial Superior The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy Province Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God January 1, 2024 Printed and bound in Poland. MARIAN H E R I T A G E STOCKBRIDGE, MA, USA PROMIC
Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 1: Christ as our Passover — the Interpretative Key of the Mystery of Man and God .......................... 11 1. The Theology of the Paschal Mystery.......................................... 12 1.1 The Juridical Theology. ........................................................ 14 1.2 The Paschal Theology........................................................... 17 2. The Mystery of Man in Christ ......................................................18 2.1 Encounter with the Paschal Christ...................................... 20 2.2 Purification in the Ultimate Encounter with Christ........... 21 3. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit .........24 3.1 “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3).............. 26 3.2 Christ, the Son of God, “the Image of the Invisible God” (Col 1:15) ................................................. 30 3.3 The Spirit of the Father and the Son . ................................. 33 CHAPTER 2: Mary as the Immaculate Conception in Light of the Theology of the Paschal Mystery. ............. 37 1. The Need for Interpretation of the Dogma ................................38 1.1 The Immaculate Conception – the Paschal Identity of Mary ............................................................... 40 2. The Gift of the Fullness of the Spirit ...........................................41 3. The New Eve, “The Daughter of Her Son”..................................46 4. The Sign of the Perfection of God’s Creation.............................51 CHAPTER 3: Signs of the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception in the Life and Work of St. Stanislaus Papczyński ....................................... 57 1. Stanislaus “of Jesus and Mary”.......................................................58 1.1 From Jan to Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary .......................... 60 1.2 Stanislaus of Christ, the Crucified, and Mary, the Mother of Consolation ............................................. 66
2. Divina visio and Oblatio as a Gift and an Answer.....................73 2.1 Divina visio .......................................................................... 74 2.2 Oblatio . ................................................................................ 82 3. The Congregation of the Marian Fathers ....................................90 3.1 The Mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the Charism of the Marians ..... 92 3.2 Evangelization and Pastoral Work ................................... 100 3.3 Helping the Faithful Departed ......................................... 105 About the Author ...............................................................................113
7 INTRODUCTION Undoubtedly, the duty of general chapters and those who govern individual religious congregations, including our Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, is to strive to achieve coherence between the present reality of the community and the original intention of its founder, both at a theological and legal level. Preserving the identity of the religious family established by the founder is essential, despite the time that has passed since the founding. Nevertheless, well-crafted theological and legal regulations in constitutions will remain a mere formality if a congregation’s individual members are not inwardly drawn and motivated by the charism of their founder. They must hold a deep sense of responsibility towards it and firmly engrave it on their hearts. This occurred to our Father and Founder, St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński. Inspired by a divine vision,1 he was led to establish a new religious community. In this role, he is the most significant and necessary reference point for fulfilling the charism received through him for the good of the whole Church. This charism is to serve the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ and the Church. Therefore, the way St. Stanislaus discovered, embraced, and embodied this charism should always be an example for all members of his Congregation, though it remains unparalleled. It would be strange, even unreasonable, to imagine a life in accordance with the Franciscan charism without acknowledging the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi or to achieve the Jesuit ideal without taking inspiration from St. Ignatius of Loyola. Similarly, a Marian disregarding or remaining indifferent towards St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary would lack a relationship of spiritual sonship towards the Father Founder, significantly impacting his ability to embody the Marian identity. Studying the problem of a charism regarding the laws of religious congregations, an expert in this field noted that: Most often, its [charism’s] sense is narrowed only to the purpose of existence of an institute. Its expression in constitutions usually comes down to the most faithful description in the first 1 Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, The Foundation of the House of Recollection, No. 6, in Papczyński, Selected Writings (PROMIC, Warsaw-Stockbridge, MA: Marian Heritage, 2022), 903–904.
8 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY chapter of the constitutions, entitled, e.g. The Charism of the Institute, Spirituality of the Institute or The Nature of the Institute, etc. A charism penetrates the whole life of an institute and its every aspect. It is essential to incorporate this principle into every section of the constitutions, including those on governance, apostolate, detachment from worldly affairs, formation, and the management of material assets. It should not be limited only to the first chapter.2 Furthermore, it is imperative that a congregation’s charism is not only expressed in the constitutions but also evident in daily life of its members. This is particularly crucial at the beginning of their vocations but perhaps more imperative during the later stages of their spiritual growth, when every fully professed member should be clearly living out this charism. The question becomes, What is a charism? Relying on many experts on the subject and Church documents, the author cited above writes: Etymologically, the word “charism” comes from the Greek word charisma, which has its roots in the word charis, meaning “grace,” and the suffix ma, meaning an “act of grace,” “a gift of grace,” a “freely given gift.” St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about a charism as freely given grace (gratia gratis data) instead of sanctifying grace (gratia gratum faciens), whose granting requires some predispositions on the receiver’s part. In contrast, a freely given charism can be granted regardless of the receiver’s disposition because it is not endowed for their sanctification but for the good of the whole community of the Church. The task of the one gifted with charism is helping others in their striving to unite with God. But usually, charism also affects the spiritual growth of the receiver.3 In this aspect, considering St. Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński, there is no doubt that the charism given to him by God concerning the foundation of the Congregation of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary changed his whole life, by making him the Father and Founder of the Congregation, which still must mature 2 Bożena Szewczul, “Problematyka odzwierciedlenia charyzmatu instytutu zakonnego w jego prawie własnym,” [The problem of reflecting a charism of a religious institute in its own law] Prawo Kanoniczne 58, no. 3 (2015): p. 66. 3 Ibid., p. 66–67.
Introduction 9 to the Divina visio revealed to its Founder. This charism also required some predispositions to accept this gift. This, in fact, does not quite fit the definition of charism quoted above. The expression, definition of charism, contains an inherent contradiction. As a gift of grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit, it cannot be limited to a static definition. Always dynamic and freely given, its acceptance requires individuals to obtain new minds and new hearts that are continuously and unconditionally receptive to it. Charism is, therefore, to be discovered and accepted, not defined. The greatest obstacle in understanding and accepting the grace of the Congregation’s charism is the temptation to give it a technical definition, reducing it to a few smooth sentences to be included in the constitutions or norms of formation and thus fulfill our duty to it. However, the charism derived from the Holy Spirit requires an ongoing theological, not technical or mechanical, interpretation. This approach enables the Congregation to discern its priorities. By using the term “theological,” I am not referencing any specific methodology associated with academic theology. Theology is a scientific discipline, but, above all, it is a way to view things through God’s eyes. It is seeking to understand faith and an effort to explain and witness to our hope in Christ. No member of the faithful, or person professing faith in Christ, can be exempt from a theological perspective. We must daily endeavor to view our lives through the lens of Christ’s teachings rather than through a human perspective shaped by our social and cultural norms and current trends. To answer the challenges the Marians faced in the Jubilee of the 350th anniversary of the Congregation, I will share my path to a more complete understanding of St. Fr. Stanislaus in these short theological reflections. This path started for me many years ago, in 1993, when I entered the Congregation. However, it only became more distinct during my profound studies of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of the Lord, which began in 2008. My missionary work in Vietnam since 2015, where I promote the charism of the Marian Fathers and have observed the attraction St. Fr. Stanislaus’ lifestyle has for young Vietnamese Catholics, has also significantly influenced my understanding of the charism. The mystery of the personal relationship between Christ and his Mother, which is the Mystery of the Holy Spirit as the uncreated Divine Immaculate Conception, and God’s power of begetting the Son have assisted me to understand the person and vocation of St. Stanislaus
10 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY Papczyński, whom God’s Providence has given us as a witness and a sign of this mystery. The key, I believe, lies in the Father Founder’s reference to Jesus and Mary in his religious name. The name Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary expressed the vocation he would fulfill by founding our Congregation, at the time determined by God Himself. It does not mean that at the beginning Fr. Stanislaus knew and fully understood the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and God’s will for himself. God called him to be a witness, not an expert, on the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. By being faithful to God’s will, seeking it, and always putting it first, he bore witness to the depth — and simplicity — of this mystery. He also became a sign of the mystery, through his Oblatio. Through this act, which contains the essence of the mystery, the Immaculate Conception of Mary and St. Stanislaus’ life purpose were united forever. Although appearing unrelated, the three chapters of this book are linked by the figure of St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary. Because he is “of Jesus,” it was necessary for him to enter into the mystery of the identity of the Suffering Christ (Christus Patiens) and the Crucified Orator (Orator Crucifixus), Who is our Passover (cf. 1 Cor 5:7). Because he is simultaneously “of Mary,” Father Founder focuses us on the mystery of the relationship between Mary and her Son. This relationship originates in the Holy Spirit and determines the identity of the Virgin Mother, confirmed by herself in Lourdes when on March 25, 1858, she said: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” In the final part of these reflections, I theologically interpret Fr. Stanislaus’ life and work in light of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, whose signs he discovered and entrusted to his spiritual sons. Father Stanislaus continues to serve this mystery, through the Congregation he founded, which proclaims the Good News about salvation in Christ, to the living and the departed still in need of the Church’s motherly gift, a mission which the Marians are called to demonstrate.
11 CHAPTER 1 Christ as our Passover — the Interpretative Key of the Mystery of Man and God At the beginning of his epoch-making pontificate, which centered on preparing the Church and the world for a conscious entry into the third Christian millennium, St. John Paul II wrote that “Christ, the Redeemer of the world, is the one who penetrated in a unique, unrepeatable way into the mystery of man and entered his ‘heart.’” These words of the saintly pope become more profound in reference to the famous statement of the Second Vatican Council: The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a type of him who was to come, Christ the Lord. Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.4 The highest and most fundamental vocation of every man is to become authentically Christlike, a “son or daughter in the Son,” because the life of every person is a story of becoming. We carry the ingrained law of over time becoming who we already are, thanks to the gift of our vocation. During our lifetime, through everyday choices, decisions, and acts, we become either sons in the Son or children of disobedience. If we were sons by nature, we would not need time because we would have lived immediately in eternity. However there is only One Son. Those destined to become sons and daughters in Him need time to accept the Son and let Him be formed within them (cf. Gal 4:19). The life of every man seen from such a perspective is kairos, the time of salvation, the time of becoming the image of the One in Whom and for Whom everything was created (cf. Col 1:15–20). This transformation does not only involve abandoning “the old man” with his burden of sin but also lessening the distance between 4 St. John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, March 4, 1979, No. 8, in http://www.vatican. va/john-paul-II/encyclicals/documents.
12 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY the Creator and the creation. Of course, sins further increase this distance. Still, the time entrusted to man should not be considered only a struggle against sin but primarily as the grace of “adoption to sonship.” It is the time when the seed — ourselves — must die in order to grow and yield a rich harvest (cf. Jn 12:24–26). In this time the embryo conceived through Baptism (cf. Eph 4:15) and the call to holiness, becomes a man in the image of Christ. We can also see this path of growth and becoming — although on a different level, as there is no question of sin — in Jesus and Mary, the new Adam and Eve. Christ, though the Son by nature, “for us men and for our salvation,” became Man, and, as Man, he never ceased to be, and to become, the Father’s Only Begotten Son, opening for us a way to salvation. Becoming the Son relates to Christ’s human nature, which, although assumed in reality and once and for all through the Incarnation, remained human and, in a way, required constant acceptance throughout the Son of Man’s earthly life . Despite being God from God, Light from Light, the Son Whom the Father begot and is begetting in a moment, which is an infinite and dynamic eternity, each day Christ was becoming the Son also as Man. Saint John the Evangelist, whom the Eastern Church calls “the Theologian,” shows Christ’s becoming the Son in the sign of washing the disciples’ feet (cf. Jn 13:1–19). Saint Paul and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews speak about obedience, which Christ, being in the form of God and being the Son, learned through suffering and emptying Himself to death on a Cross (cf. Phil 2:6–11; Heb 5:8). There is nothing in Mary which would not be in Christ. Because she, by receiving “new life” from the One to whom she gave life in the order of nature,5 becomes truly the new Eve, the new creation in Christ, the Immaculate Conception, the Mother. 1. The Theology of the Paschal Mystery “Get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of dough, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). These words by St. Paul cannot be accepted indifferently by anyone who professes to be a Christian. They should especially touch those who entered a path of religious life and priestly ministry. These words are a clear call to a change of heart (metanoia), which we call 5 Cf. St. John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, March 25, 1987, No. 10.
Chapter 1 13 conversion, a radical rejection of sin — the “old yeast” of thinking and acting only in human ways which makes a man into an obstacle preventing himself and others from reaching the goal set for them by God. This change is, most of all, a return to the Source of Christian life, the Lord, Jesus Christ, sacrificed as “our Passover,” our passage from purely human life to life according to the Spirit. To Peter, who had not yet understood the mystery of God’s plan, and was thinking only in human terms of profit and success, Jesus spoke harshly and directly: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do” (Mt 16:23). Therefore, only the Crucified and Risen Christ, Who lives eternally in the mystery of His Passover, can truly serve as the driving and intentional force behind the transformation of life, which is known as conversion. This transformation involves transitioning from an existence resembling Adam to a genuine life resembling Christ. The successor of John Paul II in the See of Peter, the pope theologian Benedict XVI, expressed it in his own clear and precise way: Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, or a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John’s Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should ... have eternal life” (3:16).6 This encounter with the person of the Lord living in the Church is possible only because of the event of His Resurrection. Such a statement may seem obvious or banal today. However, to discover the central meaning of the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ, we needed the Second Vatican Council, so criticized recently by many pseudo-reformers of the Church. This council made Catholic theology and spirituality recognize the shining light of the truth of the Resurrection and consider not only the apological meaning of this most important redemptive event but also its soteriological dimension,7 which refers directly to our way of thinking and acting. 6 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, January 25, 2006, No. 1. 7 “It is important to emphasize at the outset that the discussion of the soteriological aspect of the Resurrection stems from recent developments in Catholic theology. Previously, when addressing the topic of redemption, the Resurrection was either overlooked entirely or given significantly less importance. Redemption was primarily associated with the event of Calvary, and the mysteries of Christ’s incarnation, His earthly life and death, were given greater emphasis
14 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY All the Catholic and apostolic truths of the faith are intertwined and mutually related (nexus mysteriorum) and concern man’s salvation in the Crucified and Risen Christ. However, the guarantee of their authenticity is precisely the Resurrection of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 15:12–20). As the Risen One, Jesus Christ is always present and accessible in His Church, which is His Body (1 Cor 12:12–13:27) and Bride (Eph 5:25–32). Therefore, every truly faithful person, remaining in communion with Christ and the Church, can and should experience salvation by entering into a personal relationship with the Trinitarian God, through meditating on the Word of God and participating in the Sacraments of the Church. Redemption and salvation are not simply historical events that occurred in the past, through the incarnation, birth, life, and crucifixion of the Man, Jesus of Nazareth in Jerusalem two millennia ago (as viewed from a positivistic and historical perspective). Instead, they represent the spiritual reality and parousial/eschatological presence of the Person of the Paschal Christ, Who truly lives in our present “here and now” through the Divine power of His Resurrection. Through faith, everyone is invited to enter into a redemptive relationship with Him and experience the salvation He won for us. 1.1 The Juridical Theology The category of relationship and communion, so crucial for proper understanding of the eschatological mystery of salvation in Christ, was never sufficiently present in the past. In fact, it was not considered at in terms of their salvific significance. The focus was on the nature of repair, atonement, and merit, and these considerations were deemed sufficient. The Resurrection was largely considered from an apologetic standpoint. The reasoning followed a pattern: the Resurrection proves the truth of Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings, validates His divinity through miracles, guarantees the authenticity of Christ’s teachings, and above all, confirms the truth of the statement ‘I AM,’ in which Jesus claims the Divine name and affirms his identity with the nature of God. (Jn 8:28, 8:24–58, Mt 26:63, Mt 14:62, Lk 22:70). Theology today places a greater emphasis on the soteriological dimension of the Resurrection. However, it is important to note that in order to fully understand the apologetic nature of the Resurrection, its soteriological value must also be explained. While the historical fact of the Resurrection serves as proof of the truthfulness of Jesus’ message and confirmation of His divinity, the ongoing gift of life to the Church and to Christians by the Risen Christ is equally significant. The soteriological aspect is strongly emphasized by St. Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (15:14, 17): ‘If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith. ... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins.’ Here, the effectiveness of this event for forgiveness of sins is emphasized. Salvation comes from the Risen Christ.” Czesław Rychlicki, “Związek między śmiercią Chrystusa i jego zmartwychwstaniem: wyjaśnienie teologiczne,” [The connection between the death of Christ and His Resurrection: theological explanation] Studia Płockie 2 (1974): p. 42–43).
Chapter 1 15 all in a certain method of thinking and speaking about God, which the outstanding representative of the theology of the Paschal mystery, François-Xavier Durrwell, used to call juridical theology.8 For centuries, the Latin Western tradition, both Catholic and Protestant, has predominantly employed a judicial approach to unveil the mysteries of God. This style persists even today, although more than 50 years have passed since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. As I noted previously in quoting Czesław Rychlicki, in the system of juridical theology, the Resurrection is not the center of the mystery of salvation. Instead, the emphasis is on its apologetic rather than soteriological dimension. Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross are often regarded as the ultimate objective, rather than viewed as His passage to the Father, the narrow gate, the path that the Son had to traverse to rejoice in the Father’s glory, which He had since before the creation of the world (see Jn 17:5). According to this theology, a man is not saved by the Person of Christ united with the Father and being in constant relationship with Him, but only through suffering of the Savior and His death on the Cross, as if it were just the matter of making reparation to God’s disrespected justice, understood from the human perspective as satisfaction or almost taking revenge. It also claims that people are not redeemed through communion with the Resurrected Lord, living in the mystery of His suffering and death, but through applying (a legal and judicial term is no coincidence here) His merits, objectified and detached from the Person of the Redeemer and as if virtually existing in a special “heavenly vault.”9 Through faith, this theological system claims, one does not enter into unity and communion with the Paschal Christ but merely uses the merits of His salvific death, regarded as an event from the past. This juridical theology promotes an image of God as a severe Judge, Who demands legal justice (satisfaction for the offence). He forgives only when the fault is remedied and expiated through the death of Christ, shown here not as the Paschal Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world by immersing it in the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 1:29–33, 8:46) but instead as the “scapegoat” (a substitute) from the Book of Leviticus (see Lev 16:7–22) on which the high priest symbolically placed the sin of the people before sending it 8 François-Xavier Durrwell, Christ Our Passover: The Indispensable Role of Resurrection in Our Salvation (Hampshire: Redemptorist Publications, 2004), p. 37–39. 9 See Giuseppe Forlai, L’irruzione della Grazia. Per una rilettura ecumenica del dogma dell’Immacolata (San Paolo: Cinisello Balsamo, 2010), p. 386.
16 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY out of the camp.10 God’s justice, although otherwise crucial for a proper understanding of God’s mystery, appears here more as a judicial right of the offended God Whose anger must be appeased by Jesus’ death11 and not as an authentic Mercy of the Father Who loves the world so much that “he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). It is difficult to reconcile this with the image of God shown by Jesus in the parables about the Merciful 10 In Durrwell’s understanding, the scapegoat is a symbol of the theory of substitution, according to which Jesus died abandoned and separated from the Father, crushed by the burden of the world’s sin and God’s justice, which fell on Him instead of sinful mankind. This theory held that salvation consisted of Jesus, the Innocent Lamb, becoming “the embodiment of sin,” upon which God’s righteous anger turned. Preachers in the post-reformation era competed to promote such theology, and during his famous Lenten sermons preached in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, one such preacher shouted, “God sees in him [Jesus] living sin ... His divine body becomes, instead of ours, a cursed object .... Before him, God’s justice forgets about a vulgar mob of people and sees only this weird and monstrous thing as his due satisfaction. Spare him, spare him, Lord, after all, it is your Son. — No, no, it is sin that has to be punished.” Bernard Sesboüé, Jésus-Christ l’unique Médiateur. Essai sur la rédemption et le salut (Paris: Desclée, 1988), p. 74–75. The proponents of this theory derived from juridical theology invoked two fragments from the New Testament in particular: 2 Cor 5:21 (“For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him”) and Gal 3:13 (“Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”). Supporters of the theory of substitution interpret these two lines literally without considering their context and the author’s message. Additionally, one can add the First Epistle of Peter to these verses: 1 Pet 2:22–24 (“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered he did not threaten; instead he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.”) It is important to remember that these texts do not suggest that Christ identifies himself with sin, but rather with sinners. God hates sin but loves sinners. Thus, Christ does not embody sin, but rather stands in solidarity with humanity, even though we are sinners. Through faith in Christ, we enter into communion with the Trinitarian God and are justified. Where God is present, sin cannot be. Christ is not the scapegoat of the Book of Leviticus (see Lev 16:20–22), upon whom the sins of the world were laid and which he carried on himself, separated from the Father. He is the Lamb of God of the Gospel of John (see Jn 1:29–31, 19:36) Who, through His death, enters into perfect communion with the Father. In His death and Resurrection, He is begotten by the Father and thus takes away the sins of every person who believes in Him. (see John 3:18). See also Durrwell, Christ Our Passover, p. 43–51, 69. 11 False images of God the Father are sometimes influenced by a much-coarsened version of St. Anselm of Canterbury’s theology of atonement. According to this idea, man’s sin offended God, and this offence is infinite because the offended is infinite. Rectifying the infinite offence requires an infinite expiation. Man — as a finite creature — is not capable of such an expiation. Therefore, God sends his Son to redeem man’s sin. The severe God can be propitiated by the sacrifice of His Son’s blood. Joseph Ratzinger points out that it cannot be denied that “the perfectly logical divine-cum-human legal system erected by Anselm distorts the perspectives and with its rigid logic can make the image of God appear in a sinister light.” Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity, trans. J. R. Foster (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), p. 102. “Indeed, the simplified theory of satisfaction makes us think of the severe Father whose anger may be placated only with suffering and death of the Son on the cross.” Dariusz Kowalczyk, “O Bogu Ojcu, który współcierpiał,” [About God the Father who co-suffered] accessed November 22, 2017, http://teologia.jezuici.pl/category/autorzy/dariusz-kowalczyk/.
Chapter 1 17 Father (see Lk 15:11–32) or the Good Shepherd searching for a lost sheep (see Lk 15:3–7). Therefore, one should not juxtapose God’s justice with His Mercy as both these realities reveal God’s fatherly heart. But the New Testament message is clear: “mercy triumphs over judgement” (Jas 2:13). This entails a genuine demonstration of mercy, modelled on that of God Himself. It does not imply a tolerance of evil or an affirmation of moral deviation, rather the act of forgiving a person’s sin when he or she genuinely acknowledges guilt, as illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son (see Lk 15:18–20). Erroneous understandings of mercy and a caricature of human justice attributed to God distort His image and prevent a man from discovering and loving the only true God Who revealed Himself in Christ. 1.2 The Paschal Theology The solution offered by the Paschal theology seems to be most proper and faithful to the authentic Apostolic Tradition of the New Testament and teachings of the Church Fathers. One of the most prominent representatives of this theological method is the previously mentioned French Redemptorist François-Xavier Durrwell and, in the Polish context, a theologian from Lublin, Fr. Wacław Hryniewicz, OMI. In Paschal theology, the key categories explaining the mystery of Triune God revealing Himself in the Paschal mystery of Christ are person, communion, relation, and gift. Redemption and salvation are made in the Person of Christ by His Filial relationship with the Father, when, through death and Resurrection, He becomes the Son of God as the Son of Man, through His obedience to the Father, as befits the Son of God, Whom Christ has always been as the eternal Logos. Christ’s human nature fully partakes in the mystery of the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father in the Holy Spirit through His incarnation. Through faith, every person enters into a personal relationship with Christ, the Son of God, and experiences salvation and communion with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the relationship uniting the Father and the Son. He is the Gift of the Father and the Son, realizing man’s salvation “here and now.” In Him, the Father is eternally giving life to the Son. In Him, the faithful, born again through the Spirit (cf. Jn 3:1–8), become children of God through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, Who is constantly present and accessible in the mystery of His Resurrection (cf. Jn 20:1–31). The Sacraments of the
18 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY Church, especially the Eucharist, manifest this presence and make it possible to truly experience salvation by accepting the Gift given freely by God Himself. The Christian faith is the acceptance of the Triune God revealing Himself in Christ and a response to His gift. Therefore, faith is not only an intellectual and voluntary acceptance of the truths revealed by God and presented for belief by the Church, but rather a lifestyle that goes beyond what is purely human. The Gospel can be neither understood nor accepted through human thinking. In contrast to all worldly philosophies and fashionable ideologies that feed themselves with human desires (such as “sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life” (1 Jn 2:16), the Gospel calls for simplicity and self-denying, prudent love. 2. The Mystery of Man in Christ Man will never understand himself without the Paschal Christ and certainly will not unravel the mystery of death that most fascinates and frightens him. As a mystery, death is also the key to explaining the meaning of life. As a key, it can either unlock or lock, depending on the direction it is turned. A theologian of the Paschal mystery notes that: the One who holds the keys of death (cf. Rev 1:18) has given the right direction to the rotation of the key. When Jesus died something happened to the death itself. It immediately changed its character. The ancient curse: “you are doomed to die” (Gen 2:17) changes into “We have come here to tell you the good news that the promise made to our ancestors has come about. God has fulfilled it … by raising Jesus from the dead” (Acts 13:32–33). “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54).12 Therefore, since this cosmic event of the death and Resurrection of Christ, Resurrection —not death — remains the last word concerning man. Man, whom according to nature is-destined for death, becomes a genuinely living creature destined for life, an authentic Adam in the Crucified and Risen Christ. However, this does not refer to life in terms of human nature, or the material dimension of human existence. True life in Christ is a life according to the Spirit in which the Father eternally begets 12 François-Xavier Durrwell, Chrystus, człowiek i śmierć, trans. W. Misztal (Kraków: Salwator 2017), p. 11. Originally published as Le Christ, l’homme et la mort, Médiaspaul, 1991.
Chapter 1 19 the Son, raising Him from death and declaring: “You are my son: this day I have begotten you.” (Acts 13:33). By believing in Christ and trusting Him, a man receives new eyes of faith, capable of seeing farther and more profoundly than his earthly eyes, which only observe the external and temporary. Faith in Christ also frees a man from the fear of death (cf. Heb 2:15), as it allows us to understand that death is not as it seems. It appears to be an end of life and existence, destruction. However in Christ, death becomes the opposite: the Passover, a passage to a new life with Christ in God, a beginning of eternal life by the Spirit. To understand death, one must arrive at Calvary, at the Cross of the Suffering Christ. Those who surrounded Him in the moment of His agony and looked at Him with bodily eyes alone saw only His humiliation, pain, suffering, and finally, death — the dead body of the Man called Jesus of Nazareth. However, the one who, through faith, had already become a participant in the Paschal Mystery saw in his Master’s death the revelation of God’s Glory and His exaltation. I am referring to John, the beloved disciple, who stood with Jesus’ mother at the foot of the Cross. (cf. Jn 19:25–27). Looking with eyes of faith at the dying Christ, the Paschal Lamb slain for our sins (cf. Is 53:5, Jn 19:36–37), the disciple could understand that in the One who had become our Passover, death and life did not contradict each other. He never forgot the Lord’s words: “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (Jn 11:25). Additionally, for St. Paul, the death of Jesus had become the most remarkable grace which allowed him to live in communion with the Master and be immersed, through Baptism, into His death: “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom 6:3). Thus, at the moment of our Baptism, we enter into the mystery of death and die to ourselves, an illustration of Christ’s mystery of a grain of wheat which must die to yield a harvest: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it; and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (Jn 12:24–25). Thus, the mystery of death in Christ gives meaning to the whole earthly life of man. It reveals the eschatological dimension of life and shows the path to living well in the time allotted to all in this world. It is the way of self-denial and acceptance of the cross, following the example of Jesus, Who guides and perfects our faith (cf. Heb 12:2). Faith is not merely a free assent of mind and will to the whole truth revealed by God
20 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY and proclaimed by the Church, but rather personally following Christ and living in the Church according to the Gospel interpreted by Church Tradition. Ultimately, it involves passing from death to life with Christ on the day of our definitive encounter with Him, which marks the end of our time in this world: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of man will come” (Lk 12:40). 2.1 Encounter with the Paschal Christ Jesus will come, as always, to meet us. The concept of a personal encounter with Christ is one of the most important categories of Paschal theology. He meets us as the Alpha and the Omega, Who was, Who is, and Who is to come (cf. Rev 1:8) in every moment of our Christian life. He is especially present in the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist and ultimately in the final moment of our life, which we call death. During a funeral Mass, we pray from the Preface for the Dead, “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed, not ended.” What seems to be the end without Christ, is the beginning in Christ, because He is the Beginning and the End of every life created in Him. Therefore, it was necessary that He also, as the Messiah, suffered and through death entered His glory (cf. Lk 24:26), that He might reign over the dead and the living (cf. Rom 14:9). In His first coming, His presence among the disciples was limited by the time and space of the earthly dimension of His human life. However, through death and Resurrection, parousial by nature, the presence of Christ becomes universal and concerns all people regardless of their religion, race, culture, or historical time. Christ died for everyone, and everyone can meet Him and accept Him through faith in the Church, which is catholic — that is open to every person who believes. The last chance to meet Christ is death. It is an inevitable necessity for all to meet Christ the Redeemer, in death, through which everyone must pass. Christ is the Savior and salvation of every man, because He, as the Risen Lord, lives forever in the mystery of His death (cf. Rev 1:18). As the Risen Lord, He comes to meet all those who die in Adam to be brought to life in Him, the Paschal Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15:22). The sin of Adam, which burdens unbelievers, causes a transition to life and a part of the fleeting nature of man and the world to be called death. On the other hand, blind fulfillment of sometimes the lowest desires and urges, which results in self-destruction and the breaking of relationships
Chapter 1 21 with God and others, is called real life. Even though Christ, the Paschal Lamb, Who takes away the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29), has removed this sin, for His Paschal victory over death, sin, and Satan to be effective in the life of a person, he or she must believe: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. (cf. Mk 16:16). To believe means to freely and personally accept Christ and His way of living and dying. Faith is not automatic or magic. It involves personal adherence and the voluntary surrender of oneself to God in Christ. Thus, men’s salvation or condemnation depends mainly on their free and personal choice. Without Christ, the Paschal Lamb, there is no salvation, because “there is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12). Here originates the missionary work regarding the evangelization of the world carried out by the Church, established to proclaim the good news of salvation: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). How is the Good News supposed to reach everyone living on earth when the Church’s impact is limited for many reasons, despite increasing possibilities of media communication? The answer is simple. The effectiveness of the work of evangelization does not depend on the quality and quantity of new media but on the power of faith of the Church in the real presence and salvific action of the Paschal Christ, Who comes to proclaim the Gospel even to the dead (cf. 1 Pet 4:6). 2.2 Purification in the Ultimate Encounter with Christ Faith in the redemptive presence of Christ, Who lives forever in the mystery of His death and Resurrection, is nourished and strengthened through active participation in the Sacraments of the Church (especially the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist).The ultimate purpose of faith is to guide individuals towards their final goal — the acceptance of Christ at the last encounter with Him in the hour of death. The truth that every human person meets Christ after death was testified by Christianity when the Church taught with great emphasis on “the particular judgment.” Raising Jesus, “God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead” (Acts 10:42). At the end of earthly life, every person meets the Judge who decides about an eternal reward or punishment. However, speaking in
22 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY this manner, one expresses in legal terms the ultimate grace, the grace of encounter with Christ who saves a man in his death.13 Thus, at the hour of death, Christ reveals Himself as Savior and salvation offered to all as the personal Good News. In their freedom, people can accept this gift and enter life or reject it and be annihilated in the mystery of their iniquity (mysterium iniquitatis). Each authentic meeting with the Savior during earthly life purifies us, releasing us from ourselves and our sins. It mainly occurs in the Sacrament of Penance, which is always an actualization of the grace of Baptism, immersing us in the death and Resurrection of our Lord. Although the salvific power of the Sacrament does not depend on man, its effectiveness is closely related to our faith. Always certain Christians have ardently believed and opened their hearts to the action of the Holy Spirit, abundantly granted by Christ, to the point that already during their earthly life, they attained close unity and communion with the Giver of the Spirit, the Paschal Lamb. They are able to joyfully accept the Christ-like way of dying in the flesh and living according to the Spirit (cf. Jn 12:25–26). We call them saints, as they did not love their lives and accepted death (cf. Rev 12:11). “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). Consciously accepting death and dying to themselves on earth for the sake of Christ gave them the fullness of life, called love. That is why when their moment of “passing from this world to the Father” arrived, they could freely and consciously say: “I long to depart this life and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23), or, like St. Francis of Assisi, they could praise the Lord “through Sister Death, from whom no one living can escape.” For saints, this moment of passage has always been dies natalis, a birthday into eternal life, where they will never hunger or thirst, where the Lamb will be their shepherd and wipe away all tears from their eyes (cf. Rev 7:16–17). But what happens to those who only believed partially? Unlike the poor widow Jesus observed at the Temple treasury (cf. Mk 12:38–44), they have not fully surrendered themselves to the Lord but instead succumbed to the temptation to serve two masters. (cf. Mt 6:24). The tradition of faith speaks here about the necessity of Purgatory, which according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “the final purification of the elect.”14 The final and 13 Ibid., p. 32. 14 The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2019), No. 1031.
Chapter 1 23 complete purification occurs when the people meet Christ as Savior and Redeemer. They can accept or reject Him according to their amount of freedom and love, but they cannot encounter Him with indifference. No person dies without Christ, Who is the Passover of every human person. “Passover” means his or her passage from temporal reality to eternity. Christ was proclaimed the universal mediator between God and every man, regardless of whether one accepts this truth or not. Thus, Christ does not meet any people already purified by their efforts and righteousness, because no such purification exists. Only God has prepared for us good and pious works, in order that we might perform them as a sign of our purification accomplished only by His grace (cf. Eph 2:10). Without God, our good actions are like the “blood of goats and bull calves,” which, although accomplished ritual purification, did not free the human conscience from the burden of sin, because only the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sins releases man from his dead works and makes him capable of entering God’s glory (cf. Heb 9:13–14). Meeting Christ and accepting Him (the ultimate “yes” spoken to God) purifies man, because no one can save himself nor pay God a price for his redemption (cf. Ps 49:8). It is the encounter with him that purifies man. “We are well aware that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.” (1 Jn 3:2). Christ is our Passover (cf. 1 Cor 5:7), the Mediator of the passage; he is our Purgatory: on earth and in death. He is such in his death and the power of the Spirit that carries him from this world to the Father. He purifies a man in his salvific death, in the work of the Spirit, who brings him to the Father. If we were to name “the fire of Purgatory,” it should be called the Holy Spirit. The gold of love is purified in love. A man is dynamized towards the Father by the Spirit of Divine filiation. Jesus is “the place” of cleansing, and the Spirit is his “fire.”15 Despite his partial love, a man who has been granted the grace of Purgatory has an ultimate opportunity to accept Christ after crossing the border between time and eternity. Prayer for the souls in Purgatory, which is cherished by Church tradition and the Congregation of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is not primarily a request to God to overlook the imperfections of the deceased and ignore their 15 Durrwell, Chrystus, człowiek i śmierć, p. 66–67.
24 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY actions. Instead, it is a humble plea from the faithful that God, Who is rich in mercy (dives in misericordia), come to the aid of those who could not approach Him during their temporal lives due the paralyzing effects of sin. This prayer, made in faith, trusts in the power of the Church to intercede on behalf of the departed. In this context, the gospel story of Jesus healing a paralytic brought to Him by four people (cf. Mk 2:1–12) assumes its fuller eschatological dimension. Seeing the faith of these four friends, Jesus told the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mk 2:5). In praying for the dead, the Church brings them to Jesus like those four good people who brought the paralytic to Jesus in the Gospel. Through faith in Christ, they did something extraordinary and different from everyday, “rational” behavior. They lifted a sick person onto a house roof and, by lowering him through a hole in the roof, placed him closer to the Lord than anyone else gathered around. They enabled the paralytic to experience a salvific encounter with the Savior. Praying for the dead has a similar purpose: to assist them to an ultimate and complete acceptance of the Crucified Christ, a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (cf. 1 Cor 1:23), made by God the Lord and Messiah, the only Mediator and Savior of every man (cf. Acts 4:12). 3. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit It is not a coincidence that when Christians profess their faith in Triune God, they make the Sign of the Cross on their body. Just as the Crucified and Risen Christ reveals the truth about humanity — a fact acknowledged even by Pontius Pilate’s words Ecce Homo, “behold the man” (Jn 19:5) — His death on the Cross and Resurrection from the dead ultimately reveal the Mystery of God, which is the Community of Persons. God, the only God and Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth and all things, does not exist alone.16 He is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8–10), and love as an interpersonal reality 16 The renowned biblical scholar, Fr. Waldemar Chrostowski, commented on the famous words from Genesis (Gen 1:26–27): “‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves,’ and asked rhetorically, ‘Ourselves? God is the Only One!’ He then proceeded to answer his own question by stating that there is a plural used in the self-presentation of God throughout the text. When God speaks about himself, there is a plural, “in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves,” but when the biblical author speaks about God, he uses the singular and says, “in the image of God, he created him.” This makes it clear that the text is not promoting polytheism. ... Well, yes, when God presents himself, he lets us know that he is the Only One, but he does not exist alone. God reveals to us, and all those who have read and passed down the text from generation to generation, the richness of his inner life. While there is no proclamation of faith in the Holy Trinity here, as there is no mention of the Father, the Son, and
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