Benedict on the Woman and the Dragon

The family and I are in Spokane, Washington, this week visiting friends, and we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is just a few minutes from where we are staying. It is a beautiful cathedral; I am told that in recent years it has been restored to some of its original beauty, which I gather means it had suffered through some "renovations" in the 1970s. The liturgy was very reverent and the music quite good, that is, it actually sounded like sacred music, accompanied predominately by organ. Bishop William Skystad presided and gave a short homily that nicely touched on some of the connections between the readings and the Feast Day, focusing especially on the reading from the Book of Revelation, which he appears to have a certain affection for—which warmed my heart, since it seems that some homilists are put off by the Book of Revelation and want to either make excuses for it or ignore it altogether. Which brings me to some of the remarks made by Pope Benedict in his homily on the feast day, as reported by Asian News:

The Pope took inspiration from the apocalyptic image of the “red dragon, the symbol of absolute selfishness, terror and violence” to describe the story of the world as an ongoing “struggle between love and selfishness;” and not only in the age of the Roman Empire or in 1900, but today as well.

“We saw the power of the red dragon realised in the great dictatorships of the last century,” Benedict XVI said. "The dictatorships of Nazism and Stalinism had a power that penetrated every corner. On the long run it seemed impossible that faith could survive such a powerful dragon who sought to devour God who had become a child, and the woman, the Church. But in this case in fact love proved stronger than hatred.”

For the Pontiff today’s dragon is found “in the materialist ideologies that say: It is absurd to think about God. It is absurd to observe God’s Commandments. It is something from a bygone era . . . . Only consumerism, selfishness and fun are worth something. That’s life.”

“Again it seems absurd, impossible to oppose this dominant mentality with all its media and propaganda power. It seems impossible to think about a God who created man, who became a child, the real would-be ruler of the world,” he said.

Benedict XVI finally spoke what Our Lady means, a woman “dressed in the sun, that is to say God.” It is indeed Mary who “overcoming death told us: Courage, love wins in the end! My life means that I am God’s handmaid; my life means giving myself to God and my fellow man as a gift. Have trust, have courage to live thus against all the dragon’s threats. Mary,” he said, “is the sign that love, goodness and God shall win.”

Our Lady also means a “woman who suffers, who must flee, giving birth in crying pain, i.e. the Church, the pilgrim Church of all ages. In all generations the Church must give birth to Christ, bring him into the world in great pain and suffering. Throughout the ages the Church has been persecuted by the dragon.”

“But,” the Pope said, “throughout the ages the Church was nourished by God, nourished with the same bread that is the Holy Eucharist. And thus in all its tribulations, in all the various situations the Church found itself throughout time in the different parts of the world, the Church wins by suffering.”

“And thus the feast day of the Immaculate,” Benedict XVI explained, “is an invitation to trust God and an invitation to imitate Mary,” who said “I am the handmaid of the Lord, I am at the disposal of the Lord.”

Hence the Pope urged us “to give our life rather than take any, setting off on the path of love, which means losing ourselves, a path which alone can let us truly find ourselves as well as find true life.”

In concluding he said: “Let us look upon Mary, the Assunta, and be encouraged in our faith and in the feast of joy: God wins. Faith, which appeared weak, is the real power of the world. Love is stronger than hatred.”

Comments

[joanne]

The text speaks for itself, beautifully. It is a great consolation to know that when everything seems to be going wrong in the world, all is moving closer to the triumph of Love, as Revelations shows us.

[Dan]

Wow, no one says it like this Pope. He is such a great gift.

[Patricia Gonzalez]

I really love the way the Holy Father teaches -- very clear, jargon-free, and no condescension, no treating his audiences like morons. I with I could have sat in on one of his classes (even though I don't understand German very well). It would be great if he could hole some kind of seminar on preaching for priests, since most homilies I've heard in my parish leave me either terribly bored (God forgive me!) or scratching my head wondering what it all meant. May God continue to bless our Holy Father.

[Robert Miller]

Agree entirely with the three previous posts.

But we all can study under Benedict/Ratzinger through Ignatius Press. His opus is readily accessible. We ought to ask our pastors to enable us to form "Ratzinger study clubs" in our parishes. This is a moment of enormous outpouring of grace for us, but even relatively observant (even "traditional" Catholics) don't seem to have a clue.

Benedict has been writing "theology of history" for more than fifty years. It is very profitable to read his "The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure" in conjunction with Josef Pieper's "The End of Time" (and, of course, an annual re-read of Guardini's "End of the Modern World"). In these roughly contemporaneous works, the layman can peer into the heart of Benedict's vision of history and of the contemporary situation of the Church and the world.

[LJ]

"On the long run it seemed impossible that faith could survive such a powerful dragon who sought to devour God who had become a child, and the woman, the Church."

"Our Lady also means a “woman who suffers, who must flee, giving birth in crying pain, i.e. the Church, the pilgrim Church of all ages."

Some are taking these two quotes to mean that the Holy Father is rejecting the one level of interpretation that the woman is indeed Mary, and that would, of course, have ramifications in the realm of Catholic apologetics.

Personally, I think he is just emphasizing another aspect of meaning of the woman and the dragon in this homily. It is not a rejection of any other meaning.

[Robert Miller]

Anyone who follows Ratzinger knows LJ is right (cf., "Daughter Zion" and "Mary, the Church at the Source").

Ratzinger's Mariology is profoundly apocalyptic. For him, Mariology is at the very heart and of the very essence of Christology. Mary is the Mother of the Church, the Mother of the Body of Christ. Mary says "Yes" for Israel -- and, as the new Eve, for all men -- to the Word. And so, she is the Woman of the Apocalypse, as is the Church herself -- for there is no Church without the Mother of God.

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[joanne]

LJ,
since 'Church' is also, in some contexts, synonymous with 'Mary' (as is 'Ark') I didn't even notice the possible non-Marian meanings in the text. I always hear and consider certain Marian words in terms of The Blessed Mother, and...