Introduction to the Spring 2010 Communio

Spring 2010: The Paschal Mystery

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The Spring, 2010 issue of Communio continues our annual reflection on the mysteries of the life of Jesus with an issue dedicated to the paschal mystery. All of the various mysteries of the life of Jesus converge on his death and resurrection as the definitive event of God’s self-communication in history. In the crucifixion the entire existence of Jesus is offered as a gift of love to the Father and to mankind: “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to his Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit confirm this gift as the center of history and as an abiding source of life for creation as a whole. In the words of Maximus the Confessor, “the one who has been initiated in the ineffable and hidden force of the resurrection knows the purpose for which God created originally all things.”

José Granados, in “Risen Time: Easter as the Source of History,” situates the paschal mystery in relation to the faith of Israel and in relation to the human experience of time and matter. In the incarnation, “Jesus experienced his concrete presence in the body [and temporality] in light of his coming from the Father, that is, in light of the primordial gift that constituted his identity and enabled him to act.” In the resurrection the history of Jesus, which includes in itself the history of humanity, is totally included into the current of love that unites Father and Son: “Easter inaugurates the time of Jesus’ promise, which holds days, years, and centuries together.”

Jean-Pierre Batut, in “Believing in the Resurrection, or: The Logic of Love,” begins with the affirmation that Life itself made itself manifest in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (cf. 1 Jn 1:2). “The Good News of the paschal mystery tells us that he who is Life could not not rise. But it also tells us more: his death could not concern him alone; it was a gift for us and for the multitude. This very fact gives us a reason to give thanks for this death—which we do in the Eucharist—and to allow ourselves to be led along the paschal itinerary that makes of our life, in all its fallenness, the place of a gift that is similar to his own and that is promised, in its turn, an eternal fruit.”

In “Reconstructing Mariology,” Denis Farkasfalvy notes that “certain trends in Catholic theology that gained their decisive influence at the council . . . eventually influenced Mariology in a negative way.” The renewal of Mariology, Farkasfalvy suggests, calls for an awareness of the ample biblical foundations of Mariology interpreted with the help of patristic theology. The Church Fathers “developed their Mariology in close association not only with Christology, but also with a nascent theology of Christian perfection, consecrated virginity, and monasticism.” Mary’s virginal fiat and experience of parturition brings about “the fruit of her self-giving to God, and, for this reason, constitutes an archetype for the Church and the model for the state of consecrated life in the Church.”

Keith Lemna, in “Mythopoetic Thinking and the Truth of Christianity,” argues that “rational truth requires an appreciation of the rooting of philosophy in the mythopoetic orientation of man and his ritual centering.” Drawing on the work of Louis Bouyer and Joseph Ratzinger, Lemna develops a theme implicit in Augustine’s writings: “true sacrifice, which is true ritual worship, is expressed in an irreplaceable manner by the true narrative of Scripture and the doxology of the Eucharistic Anaphora. Together, logical worship and true mythic expression constitute the source and consummation of ‘natural’ theology or philosophical wisdom.”

Philippe Richard, in “Romans 8 in Under Satan’s Sun: Bernanos’ Vision of Man and the World,” argues that the chief goal of Bernanos’ work “is to usher the world out of despair by present ing the truth of God’s merciful grace, always ready to seek out the sinner and wear down his sin — as far removed as he may be, including, of course, in darkness (a darkness that is thus absolutely secondary with respect to God). In Bernanos, there is no theme but grace.”

Retrieving the Tradition presents an essay from Hans Urs von Balthasar on the theme of “Vocation.” Balthasar shows how the biblical understanding of vocation requires “first of all unconditional, unrestricted readiness for everything for which God could use and wishes to use the person called by him, and anywhere that he could and might wish to send him (Gn 12:1; 1 Sam 3:9; Is 6:8; Acts 9:6).” In terms of the mystery of Christ, vocation is always a matter of being expropriated and placed in service to God’s universal plan of salvation.

In Notes & Comments, Thomas Esposito returns to our opening theme of the paschal mystery and offers a meditative reading of the “Emmaus” narrative in Luke’s gospel. “If Christ is the center around which time turns, and the goal toward which history tends, we must constantly return to find him where he made his entrance in that history. Our faith is essentially bound to the joyful fact that Christ lived, died, and rose two thousand years ago in Israel.” Our remembrance of Christ is accomplished with the help of Scripture and Eucharist, which are explicitly joined together by Luke.

Finally, we conclude the issue with A Word From the Editor, in which David L. Schindler gives a brief comment “Regarding Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Unions.”

NJH

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