"The Ultimate Meaning of Our Human Existence": On the Fundamental Question of the Modern Age

"The Ultimate Meaning of Our Human Existence": On the Fundamental Question of the Modern Age | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | Ignatius Insight | October 7, 2010

"All of us, in our different ways, are personally engaged in a journey that grants an answer to the most important question of all—the question concerning the ultimate meaning of our human existence." -- Pope Benedict XVI, "Meeting with Representatives of Other Religions", September 22, 2010 [1]

I.

The visit of Benedict XVI to Great Britain was an occasion that we can long ponder. Preparations for the visit seemed to indicate that there would be much opposition from many sources, most of which failed to materialize. Instead, the journey to England culminating in the Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman was a dignified and indeed happy occasion. Pundits misjudged both the English and the Pope. The Holy Father spoke or preached in many different places, in churches, in universities, in Westminster Hall, in parks in Glasgow, London, and Birmingham, and even in castles. The Queen was there. Bless her, and the Prime Minister.

Baroness Hayman, the Speaker of the House of Lords, after listening to the Holy Father's address in historic Westminster Hall said touchingly: "But for me, perhaps the most important and long-standing thing that I will take from what you said was the need for an ethical foundation as each and every one of us approaches the complexities and the difficult issues facing us as individuals, as communities, and facing the world today."

The amount of teaching and instruction in this visit was enormous. The pope never lost an opportunity to speak to the young about their lives, about prayer and vocation. In Westminster Cathedral, at a blessing of young people at the font of the Cathedral, Benedict said: "Every day we have to choose to love, and this requires help, the help that comes from Christ, from prayer and from the wisdom found in his word, and from the grace which he bestows on us in the sacraments of the Church." Benedict quietly teaches us how to take care of our souls. "Deep within our heart," he told these young folks, "he (Christ) is calling you to spend time with him in prayer. But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day." Such advice is right out of A'Kempis or John Paul II, St. Bernard and St Benedict, in whose shadow, as the Archbishop of Canterbury remarked, all of England stands in buildings stemming from the Benedictine tradition.

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Comments

[Manuel G. Daugherty Razetto]

Fr. Schall gives us a piercing study of BXVI's addresses given throughout the historical visit to Great Britain and how much more is there to consider from its legacy.

How fortunate we are to live during the reign of an enormously gifted man which during his relatively short tenure has shown how highly distinguishes himself from others.

Ten centuries ago, Gregory (VII) the Great renewed/reformed the Papacy by correcting Simony, securing celibacy among the priesthood and empowering the Holy See (Dictatus Papae). Moreover the sense of papal responsibility is palpable in his words to William the Conqueror:"If then, on that day of terrible judgement it is I who must represent you before the just judge whom no lies deceive and who is the creator of all creatures, your wisdom will itself watch over your salvation, and how you, in turn, because of your salvation and that you may come to the land of the living, must and ought to obey me without delay." History of the Church II (1935) 224-8 by Philip Hughes.

We may compare the zeal with which Pope Ratzinger addresses the following, in the words of Fr. Schall:
But my final words to be cited from the trip are those of Benedict to the Anglican Primate:
"Fidelity to the word of God, precisely because it is true word, demands of us an obedience which leads us together to a deeper understanding of the Lord's will. An obedience which must be free of intellectual conformism or facile accommodation to the spirit of the age. This is the word of encouragement which I wish to leave with you this evening, and I do so in fidelity to my ministry as the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of St. Peter, charged with a particular care of the unity of Christ's flock."

Thus, Benedict XVI surmounts boundaries of customary polity to exercise his duty -directly from the divine fiat 'Tu es Petrus'- in a rare encounter and challenge with History.