There is a bumper crop of stories and tributes in the Italian media today on the occasion of the Holy Father's 82nd birthday - and Lella has done her usual efficient round-up which saves me the time and effort of hunting down individual stories.
But before translating a few of the best birthday tributes, I wish to translate Sandro Magister's post today, since his regular translator appears to be one post late. I gratefully acknowledge Magister's unfailing effort to highlight the Magisterium of Benedict XVI. This is something other Vaticanistas have not done as faithfully and as thoroughly as he has done and continues to do.
That Easter event on which
the Church stands or falls
About the resurrection of Christ, the intellectuals of Athens told St. Paul,
"Let's leave that topic for another time" - and went away.
Benedict XVI is mindful that no one should miss it and has launched
the Easter message again Urbi et Orbi - twice in four days last week.
ROME, April 16, 2009 – On Easter Sunday, in his message to teh world from the central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, and then the following Wednesday, at his General Audience in St. Peter's Square, Benedict XVI placed the event of the resurrection of Christ at the center of his preaching.
He did it in accordance with the liturgical calendar, of course. But also with his declared objectives as Pope: to revive the faith where it is in danger of being extinguished, and to open a way to God for the men and women of today - "not to any God, but to the God who spoke on Sinai; to the God whose face we recognize in the love unto death manifested by Jesus Christ who was crucified and rose from the dead."
The two papal discourses of Easter Sunday and Wednesday constitute a profoundly unitary diptych which expresses more than ever the sense of this pontificate.
We know that Papa Ratzinger is writing the second volume of his book JESUS OF NAZARETH, principally dedicated to the Gospel accounts of the passion and resurrection of Jesus - it appears his draft is now well advanced.
In any case, anyone who wants a preview may find it in the two texts cited, reproduced here in full.
[Full translations of both texts were posted earlier on this thread in a timely manner.]
Benedict has always insisted that the resurrection of Jesus "is not a theory but a historical reality; not a myth nor a dream; not a vision nor a utopia; not a fable, but a unique and unrepeatable event".
"We affirm it forcefully because, even in our time, there is no lack of those who seek to deny its historicity, who would reduce the evangelical account to a myth, to a 'vision' of the Apostles, rehashing and presenting old and exhausted theories as new and scientific", he stressed.
Already in the first volume of JESUS OF NAZARETH, Papa Ratzinger made clear the intention of his book: to say the entire truth about Jesus, true God and true man.
Without the entire truth of Jesus crucified and resurrected, the Pope said in his Easter Sunday message, there is no light to illumine "the dark zones of the world in which we live" and "there is no way out for man".
In his catechesis on Wednesday 'in albis'
[Magister uses a traditional designation for the weekdays after Easter including the first Sunday after Easter, Whitsunday, which were denominated 'in albis' referring to the white garments worn by Christians newly-baptized at the Easter Vigil], Benedict went a step farther.
He illustrated the meaning of the Resurrection using the words in the Apostles Creed, the 'symbol' of Christian faith which the faithful around the world recite in every Mass.
He did this by going back to a passage in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians which is the source of the central articles of the Credo. In particular, the Pope underscored the sense of the formulation in both St. Paul and the Creed that accompanies the proclamation of the resurrection: 'according to the Scriptures'.
This formulation, he said, shows that the event of the death and resurrection of the Son of God "carries within itself a logos, a logic" - the only one that can explain the significance of man's entire history and that of the world.
But not a word more here. The thing is to read in full those two extraordinary texts by Benedict XVI.
In many ways, this is a perfect companion piece to Roberto Lorenzoni's article two posts above about Benedict XVI as 'the Pope of the simple folk'. Papa Ratzinger is truly unparalleled when explaining the essentials of the faith in language that is clear and accessible to everyone.
There is a second article similar to Magister's - an editorial - in the 4/16/09 issue of Avvenire, which I will post here upon translation.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/04/2009 14:59]