Father of Believers, Mozart of Theology
This is how Benedict XVI said goodbye to his compatriots for the last time, in the autumn of 2011 in Freiburg im Breisgau, and he says goodbye to us now: "There is nothing more beautiful than to know Christ and to share friendship with Him with others. From this experience is finally born the certainty: "Where God is, there is a future". Where God is present, there is hope, and there new and often unexpected perspectives open up that go beyond the present and beyond the impermanent causes".
The work of Benedict XVI is of the same scale and depth as the works of three holy theologians: Augustine, Thomas, John Paul II. We were dealing with the Mozart of theology.
His work is a true summa Theologica of the turn of the millennium, a combination of features that rarely occur together and even less often want to cooperate with each other: the power of the intellect, analytical competence, erudition on an unprecedented scale, essentiality of thinking, phenomenological and visionary abilities, a deep, capable of delight lyrical note, lively spirituality and spiritual warmth, humble piety, precise and sharp language, incredible insight.
His thought derives from the great heritage of Bavarian theology (the ecclesial context of theology, interest in mysticism and social philosophy, systematics rooted in history, etc.), German (sense of historicity, understanding and practicing the creative and teaching role of the theologian), European (the position occupied by truth and freedom). But – what is important – without visible flaws of these traditions (e.g., without the tendency to relativism typical of large areas of German theology and the frequent tendency to "force" theology with philosophy; not to mention the complete lack of the so-called "Teutonic anti-Romanism") and – above all – with an extremely original, creative reworking of them
The most important thing in his theology is the thesis that primacy in individual and social life belongs to God. He wrote: "The most important thing is God! If He is not in your life, everything else will not work. It is like fastening the first button wrong, then all the others are also badly fastened, and you have to start again from the top. If the basic relationship – the relationship to God – is not right, all the other relationships that make up and build our lives cannot be right."
He prayed: "'Insere pectoribus nostris amorem tui nominis' – Pour love into our hearts for Your Name. Lovers willingly pronounce in silence the name of the loved one, which is much more than just a word for them. Words of love require discretion. They cannot be placed in a large market square. By doing so, we deprive them of their dignity, and they will become kitschy."
Perhaps that is why he has been silent for almost 10 years. And he will be silent now. His work will speak, of the same scale and depth as the works of three holy theologians: Augustine, Thomas, John Paul II.
Benedict XVI: What does it mean to be in Heaven?
A happy childhood is a foretaste of paradise Conversation of the Pope with one of the participants at the Meeting of Families, Milan, June 2, 2012
“You ask about my family memories: there are so many! I just want to say a few things. Sunday has always been a key issue for our family. Sunday began on Saturday afternoon. Father read us the Sunday liturgical texts from a book that was very popular in Germany at that time, where they were also explained. We lived close to Salzburg, so there was a lot of music — Mozart, Schubert, Haydn — and when the Kyrie began, it was as if the heaven was opening.
And then at home, of course, a big dinner together was important. We also sang a lot together. My brother is a great musician. And already as a boy he composed various songs for us, so the whole family sang. My dad played the zither and sang. These are unforgettable moments. We also often walked together. We lived close to the forest and the walks in the forest were very beautiful: adventures, games, etc.
In a word, we were united by one heart and one thought, many common experiences, even in very difficult times, because it was a period of war, previously dictatorship, and later poverty. There has always been this mutual love between us, a joy in simple things as well, and therefore we were able to endure and overcome those things as well. (...)
And, to tell the truth, when I try to imagine a little bit what it will be like in paradise, I think of the period of my youth, my childhood, when we were so happy together. And I think heaven should be like it was in my youth. In this sense, I hope that by going to "the other world" I will go "home".”
What does it mean to be in Heaven in the Theology of Benedict XVI?
“All of us today are well aware that by the term "Heaven" we are not referring to somewhere in the universe, to a star or such like; no. We mean something far greater and far more difficult to define with our limited human conceptions. With this term "Heaven" we wish to say that God, the God who made himself close to us, does not abandon us in or after death but keeps a place for us and gives us eternity. We mean that in God there is room for us. To understand this reality a little better let us look at our own lives. We all experience that when people die, they continue to exist, in a certain way, in the memory and heart of those who knew and loved them. We might say that a part of the person lives on in them, but it resembles a "shadow" because this survival in the heart of their loved ones is destined to end. God, on the contrary, never passes away and we all exist by virtue of his love. We exist because he loves us, because he conceived of us and called us to life. We exist in God's thoughts and in God's love. We exist in the whole of our reality, not only in our "shadow". Our serenity, our hope and our peace are based precisely on this: in God, in his thoughts and in his love, it is not merely a "shadow" of ourselves that survives but rather we are preserved and ushered into eternity with the whole of our being in him, in his creator love. It is his Love that triumphs over death and gives us eternity and it is this love that we call "Heaven": God is so great that he also makes room for us. And Jesus the man, who at the same time is God, is the guarantee for us that the being-man and the being-God can exist and live, the one within the other, for eternity.
This means that not only a part of each one of us will continue to exist, as it were pulled to safety, while other parts fall into ruin; on the contrary it means that God knows and loves the whole of the human being, what we are. And God welcomes into his eternity what is developing and becoming now, in our life made up of suffering and love, of hope, joy and sorrow. The whole of man, the whole of his life, is taken by God and purified in him, receives eternity.
Dear Friends! I think this is a truth that should fill us with deep joy. Christianity does not proclaim merely some salvation of the soul in a vague afterlife in which all that is precious and dear to us in this world would be eliminated, but promises eternal life, "the life of the world to come". Nothing that is precious and dear to us will fall into ruin; rather, it will find fullness in God. Every hair of our head is counted, Jesus said one day (cf. Mt 10: 30). The definitive world will also be the fulfilment of this earth, as St Paul says: "Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom 8: 21). Then we understand that Christianity imparts a strong hope in a bright future and paves the way to the realization of this future. We are called, precisely as Christians, to build this new world, to work so that, one day, it may become the "world of God", a world that will surpass all that we ourselves have been able to build. In Mary taken up into Heaven, who fully shares in the Resurrection of the Son, we contemplate the fulfilment of the human creature in accordance with "God's world". (Homily at Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Parish Church of Castel Gandolfo, August 15, 2010)
Apparently, in recent years, he often sat down at the piano again and played Mozart.Benedict XVI died repeating: Jesus, I love You. And now he plays Mozart for Jesus.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george