Page 16 - LOTN Spring Issue 52 2023

FAITH AND CULTURE

faith as she watched her son start his own ministry, perform weary.” Yet there’s something lacking there. Despite all these
miracles, as well as when he was rejected and scorned. With a good works, they’ve lost the love of the initial call.
call comes a promise that God chooses to work through us, and One of the most beautiful wedding toasts that I’ve heard
like Our Lady, this promise is what ought to sustain us when the ended with the maid of honour saying to the newlywed couple,
work becomes tedious, monotonous, or even difficult. “May you look on this day as the day you loved each other the
It can be good to remember the moment of our call. To least” That really struck me. Often when we think of weddings,
remember the love and fervour we had when we began. To ask we think of the couple so in love, of something very magical
ourselves if Jesus would say the same of us, as he did to the and romantic…and then eventually the real world comes! Yet
Church of Ephesus in the Book of the Apocalypse, “I have this the wedding day is only the beginning. Their love for each other
against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” ought to grow, and indeed if it doesn’t grow, the marriage itself
(Rev 2:4) Now the Church in Ephesus was pretty good: Jesus will not survive.
says of them, “I know your works, your toil and your patient
endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, In the next issue of the Light of the North Sr Francesca Thérèse
but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, will look at the "spiritual good of ministry" - Mary at the
and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently Visitation.
and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: faithful

and gentle teacher

BY KENNETH SADLER

n Saturday 31 December 2022, at the age of
ninety-five and following a short illness, the
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away in
Othe Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, his Vatican
residence. Benedict’s death marked the end of an era
for the Church and it was the catalyst for much media
commentary on his eventful life and, especially, his
time as pope.
Scottish Catholics remembered with affection the
heady days in September 2010 when the German pope
visited the UK and spent a day in Scotland, where he
met Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Holyrood House
and celebrated Mass with around 70,000 Catholics in
Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, before flying to London.
While there was essentially universal acknowledgement
of Benedict’s personal holiness and commitment to Christ,
his brilliant theological mind, and deep love of the Church,
some pointed to perceived missteps as pontiff which
surely contributed to his courageous and radical decision the continuity candidate, even if he lacked the powerful
to resign from the papacy in February 2013, rather than charisma of his predecessor.
attempt to bear its burdens as his physical and mental Yet after becoming pope in April 2005 and taking the
strength declined due to old age. name Benedict, a tribute to Pope Benedict XV and St
The terms ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’, taken from Benedict of Nursia, the inadequacy of describing the new
secular politics, can be an awkward fit when applied to the pontiff as simply a conservative Catholic became clear. Yes,
positions held by people within the Catholic Church; they Benedict adhered completely to the truths of the faith, and
may be useful up to a point, yet only as a crude shorthand he knew that Christ himself was the answer to the often
that overlooks shared Christian commitment and often confused and corrupted yearnings of modern humanity –
fails to give an accurate picture of the believer’s approach. to the whole human question. However, his manner was
Nevertheless, thanks in part to his reaction against certain kind and humble. Benedict’s certainty and the confidence it
experimental excesses that affected the Church in the wake instilled did not prevent him from engaging with the world
of Vatican II and, of course, his long service under Pope John as it is or from fostering fruitful dialogue with other Christian
Paul II as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of communities, other religions, and even unbelievers.
Faith (1981 to 2005), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was seen as The first encyclical of Benedict’s pontificate, Deus Caritas
a conservative choice to succeed the Polish pontiff. Indeed, Est: on Christian Love (2005), came as a surprise to those
given the closeness of their relationship, he was very much expecting a moralising letter denouncing the faults and
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