 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Epilogue Dom David Knowles, brilliant Benedictine historian, commented during Vatican II, that the real work of the Church was being done by the prayers, sufferings and faith of countless obscure people who were the “unseen pillars of the Church”. These are the anonymous, unknown saints scattered throughout the world. As a priest I have had the inspiration of meeting such “pillars of the Church”. In Fiji I witnessed them hidden in remote villages. When I entered the Jesuit Order in 1942, there was a very old, most ascetic Indian called Gabriel who retired to the seminary after working as a cook in Jesuit houses for about 60 years. He saved every penny he could and ultimately, over many years, had paid for the education of EIGHT Jesuit priests. He spent many hours a day in the chapel, radiated sanctity – what an inspiration to us novices! Here in Sydney, I have met women with four or five children, adopted several more – and worked almost seven days a week to maintain them. Such heroic dedication gets no publicity – but sex scandals do! Often our idols of yesterday become our criminals today. Napoleon often said – echoing Voltaire – “from the sublime to the ridiculous is only one step”. And ironically he did it himself – from the triumphant glories of Europe to the humiliation and ignominy of St Helena. When launching the first edition of this book in 1994, the most eminent barrister, Mr Tom Hughes, QC, commented: “Recognition of sainthood used to be less formal than it is today. It depended on local custom, tradition, or both. I am almost certain that St Paul was never formally canonised. I say this because the first historically attested process of canonisation occurred in 993 when Pope John XV proclaimed Ulrich of Augsburg. By that time St Paul was well and truly embedded in the traditions of the Church as one of its greatest saints… I doubt whether St Yves of Brittany was ever formally canonised. He is the patron saint of advocates. He was of that profession but a cleric as well. Of him it was said: “an advocate but not a thief My profession has worn this stigma ever since”. That must be our constant guide and criterion. SAINTS OF THE FUTURE The old maxim: “ecclesia semper reformanda” – the Church must be constantly updated – is often ignored. In doing so we stagnate in the past, not attuned to the twenty-first century and can present an image of obsolescence. More than ever, communication – brief and clear, is most important, as Vatican II expressed it: The Church has always had the duty of scrutinising the signs of the
times and of interpreting them in the light of the gospel. Thus, in
language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial
questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come,
and the relationship of the one to the other. Many feel that the Church is NOT communicating to the modern world – hence the massive decline in vocations and mass attendance. The early Christians were obsessed not by a theological system – but the PERSON of Christ. Their persecutors asked them not will you deny the Christian Church – but “will you deny the CHRIST?” We must communicate Christ and his grace to THIS generation so that our age is obsessed with the PERSON of Christ and the primacy of love, determined to help the needy, spiritually and materially, forever challenged by Our Lord’s words: “whatsoever you did to one of these my least brethren, you did to ME”. I conclude with three vital criteria for spiritual growth: 1. Primacy of the person of Christ and the Eucharist.
|
|
