Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini S.J.
(b. Feb. 15, 1927 – d. Aug. 31, 2012)
A Cardinal Unencumbered
by the `Right’ Answers
by the `Right’ Answers
September 16, 2012, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First reading from James
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord
Glory to you, Lord
Peter’s great answer
Jesus and his disciples
set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way He asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They answered, “Some say that you
are John the Baptist, others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you
are one of the prophets.”
He asked them, “But you - who do you
say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus
ordered them not to tell anyone about Him.
Jesus’ great scolding
Then He began to teach his disciples: “The Son
of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests,
and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.“
He made
this very clear to them. So Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But Jesus turned
around, looked at his disciples, and
rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan,” He said. “Your thoughts are men’s
thoughts, not God’s!”
Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever
wishes to come with me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the
gospel will save it.”
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
The
Fall Equinox
Autumn begins on Saturday
September 22. That day is called the `Fall Equinox,’ because night and day have approximately
equal length. From now on, the light of day will begin to diminish and the darkness
of night will begin to increase. From now on, we will begin to enter that
gloomy time of the year, which will be momentarily brightened by the
celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Peter’s `right’ answer
On the way to the
villages of Caesarea Philippi Jesus asked the apostles “Who do the people say that I am,” He wasn’t looking for
a `right’ answer. He
was, however, simply looking for real answers from real people. And he received
three real answers: “Some say that you are John the
Baptist, others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of
the prophets.” Then Jesus asked the disciples, “But you – who do you says that I am?” Peter
answered, “You are the Messiah.” That, indeed, was the `right’ answer.
But immediately
after Peter’s `right’ answer, Jesus tells his disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly, and be rejected by the
elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to
death, and after three days he will rise to life.” (Mk 8:31) At that, Peter
takes Jesus off to the side and rebukes Him for suggesting that He was going to
have to suffer and die. (Mk 8:33) Peter, the first Pope, had the `right’ answer
about Jesus (“You are the Messiah”) but he didn’t know
what it meant!
Nicaea’s `more right’ answer
Three
hundred years later in the Council of Nicaea (325), the Church came up with an
even `more right’ answer to the question “Who is Jesus of Nazareth?” He is “Deum verum de Deo vero”
(true God from true God). He is “Lumen de Lumine” (Light from
Light). He is “genitum non factum”
(begotten not made). He is “consubstantialem Patri” (consubstantial with
the Father). You can’t get any more `right’ than that. But whether we sing it
in Latin or recite it in English, at the end of the day, we really don’t know
what that `right’ answer means. At most we simply suspect it claims an
extraordinary uniqueness for the Son born of Mary. Mischief lurks in the one `right’ answer.
Heretics – people who don’t
give the `right’ answer
In the 15th
century St. Joan of Arc did not give the `right’
answers to the questions which the Inquisitional authorities were asking her.
Upon questioning Joan, they found what they were looking for: heresy! On May
30, 1431 they burned the 19 year young maiden at the stake in Rouen for not having the
`right’ answers to their tricky questions.
Almost five centuries later the Church, realizing it had made a big mistake,
beatified Joan in 1909 and canonized
her in 1920.
In the 16th
century Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, proposed the idea that Earth orbits the sun, and that contradicted the
Church’s `right’ answer that the sun orbits the Earth. Galileo was tried by the
Roman Inquisition, was found `suspect of heresy’ (found suspect of not having
the `right’ answer), and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Both
Joan and Galileo were heretics – people who didn’t give the `right ‘answer.
Beware of
`right’ answers! They burned Joan of Arc at the stake and put Galileo under
house arrest for the rest of his life. Beware of `right’ answers! They put Cardinal
Martini’s Church "200 years behind the times." Beware of `right’ answers!
They keep us conveniently locked up in `prisons of certainty.’ Beware of
`right’ answers! They conveniently free us from the need of metanoia – from the
need to change our minds.
A Cardinal unencumbered by the `right’ answers
Jesuit Cardinal Carlo
Maria Martini S. J., former archbishop of Milan, bewared the `right’ answers of his Church. On Friday, August 31- 2012 he died in a Jesuit retreat near
Milan of Parkinson’s disease at the age of
85. He was one of the Church’s most
influential progressive thinkers. Despite his
liberal views in a college of cardinals that grew increasingly conservative
under Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Martini was considered a
possible contender in the 2005 conclave that elected German Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.
Martini was an
ecumenical figure. The
president of the Jewish community in Milan, Walker Meghnagi, said: “For us, he
was a friend and a point of reference we could count on. He was a protagonist
of interreligious dialogue in our city and a man of peace in the Middle East.”
Meghnagi called on the city to name a park located across from the main Milan
synagogue in Martini’s honor. Besides being an ecumenical figure, the Cardinal
was a respected expert on Scripture and the early Church.
But above all, Martini was a man unencumbered by the `right’ answers. That is to say, he
didn’t have a heap of `right’ answers which he felt he had to staunchly defend.
In fact, he
frequently
voiced an openness to divisive issues within the Church. He
diplomatically espoused liberal views on a range of controversial subjects,
such as priestly celibacy, Communion for remarried Catholics, homosexuality, the right to die, condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS, and even the
ordination of women as deacons. Such openness often put him at
odds with his Church. In his final interview
before his death on August 31-2012, Martini said “our churches are big and empty, our rites and our customs are pompous” and our Church is
"200 years behind the
times."
Conclusion
Unencumbered
by the `right’ answers
Cardinal
Martini forged an exceptional bond with the
city of Milan and its people. More than 150,000 people filed past his coffin.
Despite the rain, thousands watched the funeral on giant screens set up outside
the cathedral. Among those who packed into the cathedral to pay their last
respects were a radical and gay former communist governor and also the leader
of Italy's conservative Christian Democrats. In the Milan Duomo were also
representatives from the Islamic and Judaic communities, as well as
representatives from Orthodox, Protestant and Coptic Christianity. It was precisely because Cardinal Carlos
Maria Martini was
unencumbered by the `right’ answers
that his funeral could summon such a motley and marvelous crowd.
