“I have a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it”
In particular, the first volume of Benedict’s book Jesus of Nazareth drew extensively on the writing of Rabbi Jacob Neusner, who showed that Jesus’ statements in Matthew 12 were a radical Christological declaration. Although Orthodox Jews well may take issue with some of Neusner’s formulations, as Rabbi Meir Soloveichik observed, the Pope’s literary dialogue with the American rabbi evinced his commitment to uncovering the Hebrew sources of Christianity.
On a personal note: As a graduate student poring through Renaissance texts on music and mathematics, I encountered then Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings on music. Subsequently the first fruits of my research were published by the Vatican’s music journal Rivista Internazionale di Musica Sacra, and I sent a copy of the manuscript to the Cardinal, then head of the Sacred Congregation of the Faith in Rome. To my surprise I received a cordial letter from Ratzinger with a couple of helpful suggestions; the great man had not only taken the time to acknowledge an unsolicited paper from a graduate student, but had read it as well. I had the privilege to see his kindness and generosity first hand.
Years later I opened a copy of Der Spiegel at the Narita Airport transit lounge and read a summary of then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s just-published book Das Salz von der Erde, published in English as The Salt of the Earth. It contained this stunning assertion:
We might have to part with the notion of a popular Church. It is possible that we are on the verge of a new era in the history of the Church, under circumstances very different from those we have faced in the past, when Christianity will resemble the mustard seed [Matthew 13:31-32], that is, will continue only in the form of small and seemingly insignificant groups, which yet will oppose evil with all their strength and bring Good into this world.
The courage of this statement from a prince of the Church touched me. “I have a mustard seed and I’m not afraid to use it,” I summarized Ratzinger’s attitude towards the attrition of faith in the West just before his election in 2005. The West has lost a great spiritual leader. We will be hard put to find another like him.
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Images courtesy shutterstock / Natursports / Christian Jung
Related at PJ Media:
A great summary of the work of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedictus XVI.
Just a small remark: you write about “the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez”. Roger Arnaldez was an Islamologist, a specialist of Muslim religion, however he does not seem to have been a Muslim -at least I have not been able to find a reference to him having been one, much less an Islamist.
Do you have any information to the opposite? Or maybe you meant in fact “specialist of Islam”, in which case I would suggest to clarify “Islamist”?
uh?
Hmm The muslim world can’t be summed up with the Salafists, we’ve seen that in Timbuktu, where it was condamned by the local “savants”
poor Benedict, he is “dépassé” by the events !
Anyways, it’s a innovation to resign from such a position, before, the popes, even when they were senile had their grey eminences for carrying on the “message”. Since Italy is in turmoil, banks scandals, Berlusconi referring to Muslosni… it’s the capharnaum ! Anyway, there’s still a pope at the BCE !
That is a great story about your contact with Ratzinger.
Sad to see him leave. And his quote about parting with the notion of a popular church is awfully sad, too.
When I was a child in Irish Catholic Boston of he ’50s it certainly seemed as if the Church were solidly woven into the lives of the people. I can’t figure out quite what happened to make it go away so thoroughly.
His abdication is an act of incredible humility and grace. Godspeed, Benedict.
A lovely piece, Mr. Goldman. Although I am not a Catholic, I too will miss this Pope and the truths he worked to propagate.
The Holy Pope of Rome know the command from Jesus
Matthew 28:19
New International Version (NIV)
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
On my wall facing the west I have a watercolor I painted with the finish date 2/28/1994 of Obama and two pelicans that i look to as the 2 headed dragon then has been at that spot for 7 years. On the painting is a Roman Catholic Cross. Above is another painting by my daughter of a Lion and a grackle next to the Lion which always arrives here from the south the last week of Feb.Then on the bottom is my watercolor of two spring time mourning doves ready to have babies.
obama with Hagel Kerry and Brennan are in a better position to unite the world against Iran getting a nuke . The meeting in March with the Prime minster of Israel I pray will seal this decision and Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman on the fence will see the need to take action if the religious leaders in iran remain stubborn and seem to get frisky; They need to see the GLORY of ALLAH come down from heaven in form of a nuke to stop Satan the DEvil from his plan of nuking Israel Even if that is not what their intent is Satan know how to get the war started
In your paranoia you may believe the two headed dragon is from “sauron” . But we live in the modern world not the ancient with Jesus doing his business for the past 2000 years despite Christians being taken over by Satan the Devil as power corrupts the best brightest and even the CHOSEN ONES as Jesus say in Matthew 24 would happen
…..and if Saint Malachy is correct, we will now have Peter the Roman as the last pope and then game over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes
My faith hope and Love for the next Pope is he be the opposite of Pope Gregory the 10th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_X
Instead of male child be swallowed by the feet by the snake ,the snake swallow started with the head and a billion more Roman Catholics are added to the great church all speaking in the tongues of Angels . They may look like idiots to the brainy types but they given the power Like Saint Peter had to heal the blind and raise the dead. God willing
David – I believe that you have written that you are an associate of Rabbi M. Soloveichik? It would be interesting to read of an exchange of views between the two of you on a position which I believe you’ve cited before, that Judaism and Christianity are “complimentary (from Wyschogrod?)” in some theological sense? My sense was that “complimentary” implies that Judaism should view Christianity, as being an authentic relationship with the God of Israel, in a way which is closer than that of all other religions. I think this would be a step beyond where R. Soloveichik is willing to go.
I don’t know what “associate” means. I was Rabbi Soloveichik’s editor at First Things, and I am a member of the synagogue where he is Associate Rabbi. And I should add that I am a great admirer of his work, written as well as pastoral. He has written a great deal on Judaism and Christianity, including this:
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/09/torah-and-incarnation
“associate” – a term I use to describe a relationship for which I don’t know details. W/respect to R. Solovechik, if you have had the opportunity of more extensive conversations it would be have been interesting to hear a comparison of your POVs.
After reading many of your essays and following much of the conversation from the old Atol board I have read all of Joseph Ratzinger’s books and found them almost essential reading for a man who pursues knowledge of the living God. His resignation is both shocking and to a degree confusing. I do hope that the next Pope will be able to clarify the role of not only Catholicism but also of the role of the west in the next generation.
“Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul”
I hope his thought is more sophisticated than this suggests. I guess the Crusades were a mistake after all: Deus Vult!
Those of us who are willing to fight for freedom will remember those who chose not to fight. And when the time comes to divvy up the rights we have secured from tyrants and ideologies, cowards will be omitted from the convention. And should we lose I’m sure the Moslems and Communists will be as charitable as their natures allow towards Christian pacifists.
There are questions that need answers. What is Jerusalem to become in the future ,the throne of Babylon or the Throne of Holy?
Only Moses and Jesus that I know of could say these words standing in the Presence of God: Man must live not on bread alone but from every utterance from the mouth of the Lord. Man has a hard time with these words after a few days of hunger.
Will Jerusalem become the Throne of Babylon before it becomes the throne of holy?
What is God’s will for Jerusalem in our day? What do those in prayer to God see? Would Iran getting a nuclear weapon make Israel flee away from war and into the arms of THe Holy God or must Iran be humbled to set the Jews free to find their Holy God? Questions Questions Questions
Isaiah 2: 4
“He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
“Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul” … I’m sure the Moslems and Communists will be as charitable as their natures allow towards Christian pacifists.
Interpreting Benedict’s statement (from his Regensberg address) as an endorsement of pacifism is a pretty gross misunderstanding. If you read the whole speech – a worthwhile exercise – it’s pretty clear that he’s talking about violence as compulsion, specifically compulsion as it applies to religious belief. This is perfectly consistent with Catholic theology, the concept of free will. To Catholic teaching, the critical aspect of faith is precisely that it is freely chosen and represents the genuine turning of the individual towards God.
Also, Benedict would be the last person to accuse of the classic pacifism of the so-called ‘Christian Left’. He was the one who, as a Cardinal, directly denounced the Consistent Life Ethic/Seamless Garment argument (advanced by the contemptible Joseph Bernardin):
“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger”
While Benedict XVI might cite Emperor Manuel II Paleologos stating that Islam brought nothing but blood into the world, it is interesting that neither you nor any of your responders mentioned the wholesale destruction of native American religions and societies by the very same Catholic Church less than 100 years later. Just because you might have a problem with Islam, it does not mean you can white-wash history of the crimes committed by the institution that you currently laud.
This statement reminds me of the phrase attributed to Cardinal Francis George regarding the future of authentic Christianity in the United States…
a statement released by Cardinal George’s spokesperson: “I am (correctly) quoted as saying that I expected to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. What is omitted from the reports is a final phrase I added about the bishop who follows a possibly martyred bishop: ‘His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.’ What I said is not ‘prophetic’ but a way to force people to think outside of the usual categories that limit and sometimes poison both private and public discourse.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/tim-drake/the-myth-and-the-reality-of-ill-die-in-my-bed#ixzz2KopB6KkM
As Bishop of Rome Cardinal Ratzinger was also a friend of the Orthodox Christians, inviting Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev (God willing, the next Patriarch of Russia) to the Vatican, as well as Orthodox chorus groups. I also believe he encouraged the dialogue between the Serbian Patriarchate and the Croatian bishop/s.
http://site.catholicfavors.com/blog/3657/metropolitan-archbishop-hilarion-alfeyev-discusses-recent-visit-to-pope-benedict-xvi/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilarion_(Alfeyev)
On 5 October 2008, Alfeyev took part in the “Bible marathon” organized by the Italian state TV channel RAI-Uno. He read Chapter Two from the Book of Genesis, immediately following Pope Benedict XVI, who read Chapter One. Alfeyev was followed by 1246 readers from various countries.
In September 2009, at the invitation of Cardinal Walter Kasper, he visited Pope Benedict XVI and several officials of the Roman Curia who have key roles in Roman Catholic ecumenical dialogue.
And then there’s the little misunderstanding with the Jews! Nobody’s perfect. The difference is that the Chirch aplogized, even if tardily.
Neither the Catholic Church nor Spain during the conquest of the Americas destroyed any societies. I live in latin america, and in all of our countries there is a very noticeable presence of pre-columbian peoples. And some of its languages survive today. And even some of its religious practices (like the cult of the Pachamama in the southern Andean region). And the native peoples of the Americas were not shipped overseas to be sold as slaves, by a deliberate prohibition from the spanish King. The Jesuit fathers had their Reductions, where they taught the guarani indians in their own language, and where indians were preserved from capitalist exploitation and portuguese slave trade. Until the ideas from Iluminist Europe put an end to that.
Clearly the catholic spaniards (or the portuguese for that matter) did not commit anything close to the genocide the english and american protestants perpetrated in North America. Have the Queen or the US President already apologized for that genocide?.
The Inca might see the matter differently.
David,
the Inca Empire was conquered. As was Scotland by the english. But that is not genocide or wholesale societal destruction. It was brutal, but not more brutal that what christians did to each other in Europe. Certainly the conquest of the Americas was probably far less brutal than the Thirty Years War. There was no Magdeburg in the Spanish conquest of the Americas. My point is: it was brutal. But not particularly so because it was catholic. And very probably, catholicism made it softer that it could have been. Where is the english or american Father Bartolomé de Las Casas?.
As for the Crusades, its aim was never to forcefully convert muslims, but to free the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks. And before launching the Crusade, the Popes had patiently watched for 400 years, as the muslims conquered by force Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Libia, Tunisia, Numidia (Algeria), Morocco, Sicily, and Spain. And even tried their luck at France. All of them christian lands, mind you.
And, the terrible Crusades notwithstanding, in 1683, 600 years after the first Crusade, the Turks were still putting Vienna under siege.
@Spengler
What do you think of this article by Giulio Meotti? “The Pope was Not a Friend of the Jews”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12859#.URwuqc0Zz3E
Peter Leithart blog on the Holy Pope of Rome
”
Rupert Shortt offers some thoughts on the Pope’s resignation: “Even John Paul II, renowned for the doggedness with which he pursued his ministry in the face of chronic ill health, is said to have entrusted his private secretary with a resignation letter to be published if he reached a certain level of incapacity.”
John Paul toughed it out, but Shortt suggests that “the effect on the Church was very mixed. The barque of Peter was steered this way and that by competing Vatican officials, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger among them. The contrast between sclerosis at the top, and the vibrant grassroots of the Church in Latin America, Africa and Asia, looked stark.”
This is good the snake do his business so a billion Roman Catholic converts speak in tongues of the Angels heal the sick and raise rge dead to life , God willing
This sclerosis I may not know what it is but I know it sounds real bad and I want to avoid this like the plague and not make my peers jealous as my 61 year old flesh body look like I am now 20 and even my 4 month old limp is leaving from leaping with full force into the whirlwind of hurricane Sandy and I even sterted to run again something good to do before i LEAP but my daughter beat me in the race so this is not instant healing I see, yet.(enough about me )
Thank you Mr. Goldman for this fine piece on His Holiness. It is probably his influence and that of Blessed John Paul II that at Mass we often pray for the “peace and happiness of the Jewish people.” Benedict XVI will go down as the greatest writer among the modern-era popes. I have no doubt that at some point he will become a Doctor of the Church. I hope your testimony is cited as well. It is unfortunate that he is stepping down but he deserves the rest — a good and faithful servant in whom God and His people are well pleased. And like all good priests he answered the call of service especially if it meant sacrificing his own wishes. Yet he will be remembered as a great teacher for the reasons stated above. Again thank you.
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/02/pope-offers-final-view-of-council.html
We’ll never know all of what really happened.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279463/Was-Pope-pushed-An-abuse-scandal-corruption-dark-intrigue-Benedicts-shock-resignation.html
“And what really happened at the Friday meeting? Though held in secret, reports in the Italian press claim there was a heated argument between the men over the fraught question of how the Church should deal with clergy accused of sexual abuse.”
Details begin to creep out.
17. Javier
There is a bit of historical revisionism going on lately as to what happened to late roman empire.
Its generally known that the prosperous provinces of north Africa and Spain were conquered by the Moslems after 600 ad.
What modern archaeology is showing is that the coastal cities on the north shore of the Mediterranean along southern France and Italy were sacked and burned after about 640 AD.
Subsequently, castles were built inland from the coast suggesting the people were protecting themselves from sea raiders. Its thought that the raiders were likely the moslems.
Since the roman cities were intact before 640 and leveled afterwards–this is causing a rethink as to who was responsible for the death of the Roman empire in the west. That rather than being the Gauls — is was the moslems.
http://www.amazon.com/Mohammed-Charlemagne-Revisited-History-Controversy/product-reviews/0578094185
Extremely interesting point of view Charles. I’ll take a look at the book.
16. Javier
……….
The biggest killer of pre Colombian peoples was the diseases that Europeans brought with them. the people of the Americas simply had no resistance to them. They died in mass in both north and south America.
Cortez and his men were generally thought to have killed many of the Aztecs. what’s generally known is that they practiced human sacrifice. what’s less well known is that their priests were homosexuals. they would “act up” right in front of Cortez and his men. Cortez’s reaction was much the same as that of Joshua and Moses when they encountered Canaanites with similar practices.
A book entitled “Conquest of New Spain” by Cortez’s oldest lieutenant Bernal Diaz chronicles the events of that day. It was only translated into English in the 1980′s.
Charles,
you are right, but disease was not something the spaniards willfully used as a weapon. They were mostly in the dark about how germs worked, I think. Pedro de Mendoza, the first founder of my city -Buenos Aires- was a spanish veteran of the wars of Italy, who had contracted syphilis while campaigning there (well, not exactly while campaigning. You get the idea). He thought there was some sort of Fountain of Youth here that could cure his disease. That seems to have been the extent of their knowledge on infectious deseases.
You can read the book online for free here.
http://www.2shared.com/document/tVlD-7d_/the_true_history_of_the_conque.html
As an older person I felt the Pope was right to give up the office he could no longer fulfill for health reasons and spend what time remains to him in a monastery pursuing his spiritual life. I find that inspiring.
” It would be better that a millstone be tied around their necks and they be dropped in to the sea” Looks like I bumped into a whole nest of you!