Conversi ad Dominum
Pope Benedict’s “Easter Vigil Homily” concludes with words that we might well carry within us throughout the Forty Days … and beyond:
In the early Church there was a custom whereby the Bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: “Conversi ad Dominum” – turn now towards the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn towards the East, towards the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning, whom we go to meet when we celebrate the Eucharist. Where this was not possible, for some reason, they would at least turn towards the image of Christ in the apse, or towards the Cross, so as to orient themselves inwardly towards the Lord. Fundamentally, this involved an interior event; conversion, the turning of our soul towards Jesus Christ and thus towards the living God, towards the true light. Linked with this, then, was the other exclamation that still today, before the Eucharistic Prayer, is addressed to the community of the faithful: “Sursum corda” – “Lift up your hearts”, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – “Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!” In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: Conversi ad Dominum – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of his word and of the holy Sacraments, he points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards. Let us pray to him in these words: Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of your love. Amen.
“Un”alba come mai fu vista.”
A dawn like none ever seen. Today in New York the weather cooperated with the magnitude of the event. A brilliant sun in a magnificent dawn. Seen more clearly through the eyes of faith. Buttressed by faith. Sealed by love. Christ, the Lord is risen today.
It poured — POURED — rain in Rome this morning, but apparently Mass went on in St. Peter’s Square anyway.
I was at St. Peter’s last night for the Vigil and, apart from a few glitches (we thought they might not get the candles on the high altar lit — it was well into the Epistle before they managed to get them all lighted), it was a great occasion. The Pope spoke beautifully on the meaning of Baptism and of our ongoing conversion to Christ. Of course, some have reduced these remarks to a move in some liturgical chess game they imagine the Pope is playing, but it seemed clear to me that he was speaking primarily of turning our love toward God so that we might be lifted up with the risen Christ.
Happy Easter.
Lucky F.C.!!
Some with liturgical interests may highlight that, but I don’t think it’s a reduction. For I do think that the Pope sees it all as a whole – that the “facing toward the Lord” is a profound expression of this reality to which we are called. He truly does feel that the elimination of ad orientem was a disaster and incorrect, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t have that dimension woven through it. The trouble is with people’s perceptions of this pope that they try to separate spirituality, theology and liturgy, when in fact, he doesn’t.
“Conversi ad Dominum” means “turned toward the Lord” not “turn toward the Lord”. Perhaps “convertite ad Dominum” would do.
Today’s Washington Post online reports that the Pope baptized on Easter a very prominent Muslim. A recent NCR carried the transcript of a conversation between Cardinal Koenig, retired Archbishop of Munich (I think) and a leading light at Vatican II, and Fr. Jacques Dupuis, S. J., the Jesuit who has been criticized for his views about what evangelization in Asia these days should proceed. These are tricky matters. I trust that we are beyond trumpeting “trophy” conversions. I have no evidence that the Pope was doing that, Nonetheless, we all ought be careful about how we talk about conversions.
Happy Easter to all from cool and dreary New Mexico -more like Rome than NYC.
This morning’s Santa Fe paper headlined BXVI’s happiness with conversions. Bernard makes a valuable point about interreligious relationships and the care to be given, especially in these times.
His citation of the NCR article is on point,(Interestingly, our same newspaper had a picture of an adult immersion baptism (in full color) juxtaposed later to a headline that infant baptisms are declining.
Where are we headed and what does this mean?
I noted a recent thread on the Editorial on the Pew Report.
Part of the real issue is the hope Catholoics feel ion their church,
BXVI will be here in a few weeks and John Allen in NCR this wek emphasizes he’s bringing (at least to the world) a message of peace and hope. At Mass today, that theme of peace redounded in his homily, according to reports.
But when he praises the UN, as Allen predicts, at his vuisist there, wil lhis words be so well received by the John Bolton rightists??
Allen predicts a positive message for Catholics here as well. With a strong sense of “catholic identity.”
Here it’s also the problem for many Catholic adrifters, a disconnect between BXVI’s message of love and the seeming lack of tolerance and sense of division among his faithful.
Even in Easter joy, the problem of evangelization persists: many beleive the most effective way is not to wear their beliefs in loud colors on their sleeves, but in the behavior of their lives first of all.
If we’re trumpeting conversions, it’s another smal thing (or perhaps bigger than we think0 that just doesn’t sit well.
I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t read, nor usually care about, what the Pope says or writes. He represents to me the ever-burgeoning repressive atmosphere of frightened and frightening institutional Catholicism and, as such, I don’t place much faith in what he says, even though, in and of themselves, his words might ring true.