Excerpt from
XXXVIII - 8(05)
“Watchman,
what of the night?”
"The hour has come, the hour is
striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!" Eze. 7:6
(Moffatt)
"The Centrality of Sunday
for Christians of Today"
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Catholics and Evangelicals
Page 6
"We Are Brothers"
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Editor's
Preface
The
Documentation of the teaching on the Doctrine of the Incarnation as taught by
the Adventist Church continues in this issue of WWN (pp. 2-4). However, the
emphasis takes second place to what John Paul II said prior to his death
regarding Sunday, and what emphasis Benedict XVI will give to the same
question, as well as his ecumenical intents. Just as we were concluding this
draft of WWN, the June issue of L'Osservatore Romano came to the desk with a
center spread featuring the 'Homily" which Benedict XVI gave at the Mass
in Bari, Italy, closing the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress.The strong affirmation of his ecumenical intent —
"working with all my might" to achieve - and parallel events demand
close attention, but must await another issue of WWN.
There are
three factors which surface in the current emphasis of Sunday by Rome: 1) The
day — "Making holy the Lord's day! (L'Osservatore Romano. 1 June 2005,
p.1): 2) The Sunday Mass. the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday, the
worship of a presumed "creation' by man. Instead of the worship of the
Creator on His day — the Sabbath: And 3) the use of the Eucharist to achieve
the "unity" of Christendom under Rome.
"The Christ whom we meet in the Sacrament is the same here in Bari (Italy) as he is in Rome. ... He is the same Christ who is present in the Eucharistic Bread in every place on earth. This means that we can encounter him only together with all others. We can only receive him in unity."
Benedict XVI - May 29, 2005 — Bari, Italy
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"The Centrality of Sunday
for Christians of Today"
Two and one half months before his
death, John Paul II addressed the Pontifical Commission for Latin America
I am pleased that in this year dedicated to the Eucharist you have chosen to reflect on the various initiatives in order to "experience Sunday as the day of the Lord and day of the Church" (apostolic letter Mane Nobiscum Domine, #23). It was not the Church who chose this day but the Risen Christ himself, and this is why the faithful should welcome it with gratitude, making Sunday the sign of their fidelity to the Lord and an indispensable element of Christian life.
I already wrote in my apostolic letter Dies Domini: "It is crucially important that all the faithful should be convinced that they cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday Eucharistic Assembly." Taking part in Sunday Mass is not only an important obligation, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out clearly, but first and foremost a profound need of every member of the faithful. It is impossible to live faith without taking part regularly in Sunday Mass, the sacrifice of the Redemption, the common Banquet of the Word of God and of the Eucharist Bread, center of Christian life.
The importance of the topic demands of us, pastors of the Church, a new effort to make people discover the central place of Sunday in the ecclesial and social life of today's men and women. For all bishops and priests it is a challenge to summon the faithful to constant participation in Sunday Mass, an encounter with a living Christ (The Pope Speaks, Vol. 50, #3, pp. 161-162).
This last quoted paragraph from
the pope's address needs careful reflection. Two categories of people are
noted, "the faithful" (the members of the
Roman Church) and "today's men and women" (the non-Catholic). Observe
that the pope called for a "new effort to make people discover the central
place of Sunday" in their lives. It should also be observed that the
emphasis is on the "Sunday Mass."
In the June issue of WWN (p. 7) we
noted that the last prayer intent of Pope John Paul II for April was that
"Christians may live Sundays more fully as the Day of the Lord." We
asked what might be ahead under Benedict XVI? Now an
answer can be given.
On Trinity Sunday (May 22)
Benedict XVI, in a reflection before leading the prayer of the Angelus with the
faithful gathered in St Peter's Square made, the following observations:"
We are contemplating the mystery of the love of God shared in a sublime way in the Most Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, the representation of his redeeming Sacrifice.
For this I am glad to address today, the Feast of the Most
Holy Trinity, my greeting to the participants of the Eucharistic Congress of
the Church in Italy which opened yesterday in Bari. In the heart of this year
dedicated to the Eucharist, the Christian people converge around Christ present
in the Most Holy Sacrament, the source and summit of their life and mission.
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In particular, each parish is called to rediscover the beauty of Sunday, the Lord's day, in which the disciples of Christ renew, in the Eucharist, communion with the One who gives meaning to the joys and hardships of each day.
"Without Sunday we cannot live:" thus professed the first Christians, even at the cost of their lives, and this is what we are called to repeat today (L'Osservatore Romano, 25 May, 2005, p. 1; emphasis his).
Not only
does Benedict XVI emphasize the need for Sunday, but Sunday connected with the
Eucharist. Further, he intends to promote "visible unity" of the body
of Christ. "In an address read in Latin to cardinals in the Vatican's
Sistine Chapel, after his 19 April election, the Pope said his 'primary task'
would be 'that of working - sparing no energies- to reconstitute the full and
visible unity of all Christ's followers.' "He said he was 'aware that
showing good sentiments is not enough for this. Concrete acts that enter souls
and move consciences are needed."'
"Benedict
said he was 'fully determined to cultivate any initiative that might seem
appropriate to promote contacts and understanding with representatives of different
churches and ecclesial communities.' And he pledged to 'continue weaving open
and sincere dialogue' with people of other faiths or those simply looking for
an answer to life's fundamental questions" (ENI, 25 May 2005, p. 2).
Earlier,
Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was President of the Pontifical Council for
promoting Christian Unity under the reign of John Paul II, and who was a fellow
theological professor with Ratzinger in Munster, Germany in the 1960s told the
television network CNN that the election of Ratzinger was a "good
sign" for the ecumenical movement. Kaspar quoted Ratzinger as telling him
in a "short" meeting that he had with him after his election -
"Well, now we will work together, walk together, on paths to the unity of
the churches" (ibid.). In his
inaugural mass during which he was invested with the papal ring, Benedict
"seized the opportunity by challenging the Christian church of his desire
for unity. His first prayer as pope was significant - 'Grant that we may be one
flock and one shepherd."' Representatives from half of the world's nations
together with 350,000 pilgrims witnessed the solemn ceremony.
On his
first trip outside of Rome following his installation as Pope, he conducted an
outdoor mass at the Italian city of Bari which was attended by an estimated
200,000 people. Still pledging to make Christian unity a priority of his papal
reign, he "called for the rediscovery of the religious meaning of Sunday
as an antidote to the 'rampant consumerism and religious indifference' that was
making the modern world a spiritual desert."
Catholics and Evangelicals
In the
June issue of Christianity Today, (CT),
there is an article by Timothy George, dean of the Beeson Divinity School of
Samford University, and an executive editor of CT, which is a "must
reading" for all who are seeking to put together the meanings and factors
of events that are now unfolding as a result of the change in the Papal
pontificate. George asserts that "Evangelicals can be glad that the new
pope is not likely to be a mere caretaker;" and "I believe that his
pontificate will be one of great moment for the Christian church, not least for
evangelicals" p. 49).
He lists
five reasons why "evangelical Protestants, and orthodox believers of all
persuasions, should be pleased at the election of Pope Benedict XVI."
1) He takes truth seriously.
2) His theology is Bible focused.
3) His message is Christocentric.
4) He is Augustinian in perspective.
5) He champions the culture of life.
Then Dr.
George turned to the new Pope's concern for the unity of all Christians. He
revealed that in the turbulent '60s as a professor at Tubingen, Ratzinger
forged an alliance with Peter Beyerhaus and other evangelical leaders to stand
together against the forces of unchecked
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secularism
and unbelief. He quoted Ratzinger as saying:
We saw that the confessional controversies we had previously engaged in were small indeed in the face of the challenge we now confronted, which put us in a position of having, together, to bear to our common faith in the living God and in Christ, the incarnate Word.
Then, Dr.
George added - "Though the battlefronts have shifted, the same cooperation
between faithful evangelicals and believing Roman Catholics is no less urgent
today" (p. 52).
To this
pronouncement, George wrote two key sentences which focus on a deeper understanding
of the prophecy of Revelation 13. He stated: "Roman Catholicism is not a
cult, and the pope is not the Antichrist. Just so, evangelicals are not a sect,
and the gospel call for all people to repent and turn to Jesus is not
proselytism."
The
orthodox "Protest"-ism, that arose in the "sea" as the time
allotted to the beast that came "up out of the sea" drew to its close
(Rev. 13:1, 5), did proclaim that the Papacy was the "antichrist"
(See Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers,
Vol. II). Now we have a new "evangelical" protestantism
coming up in the "earth" which is denying the orthodox position, but
the prophecy designates it as the ""false prophet." (Rev.
13:14-15; 19:19-20). Yet it was with representatives of this "false
prophet" that Adventist leaders dialogued which altered some of the basic
teachings of the Church and set in operation the decades of conflict within the
ranks of Adventism itself, involving the areas of the Incarnation and the
Atonement.
"We Are Brothers"
In the
June issue of CT, two articles are referenced back and forth, the one by Dr.
Timothy George, which we have noted above, and another, an editorial commenting
on a meeting in 1981 between the late Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham,
founder of CT. The editorial observes:
Billy Graham had never met a pope until John Paul II invited him to Rome in 1981. Ushered into the papal apartments by the Vatican's famous Swiss Guard, Graham marvelled at the pomp. He and the pope chatted like long-lost friends for half an hour, swapping photos, gifts, and travel stories. Before Graham left, John Paul II reached over, clutched Graham's thumb, and told him, "We are brothers" (p. 28).
The
editorial closes with this observation:
With new found political influence, evangelicals have supplemented their meagre public ethic by learning from Catholic social teaching. So long as the Catholic Church adheres to John Paul II's firm orthodoxy, evangelicals will gain from this ecumenical effort (p. 29).
Footnote:
Just as
we concluded the above for this issue of WWN, we received the 1 June 2005 issue
of L'Osservatore Romano. Bannered
across the central part of page 1 were the words - "Making holy the Lord's
day! The next large type sentence reads - "The Pope stresses our indispensable
need for Jesus in the Eucharist. The core of this issue is the homily given by
Benedict XVI at a Mass in Bari, Italy, May 29. One sentence is excerpted and
set in a box in the center of the two pages which reads - "I would like to
reaffirm as a fundamental commitment working with all my might" to re-establish
the "full and visible unity of all Christ's followers." (More, next
issue of WWN.)
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ChristianityToday
Operators
Christianity Today (CT) was founded by Billy Graham,
and he remains Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors. The issue from
which we quoted extensively in this WWN, focused on "Christian College
Renaissance." The gist of these articles was showing how "scholars
and schools are thinking harder than ever about how to shape higher education
that is truly Christian."
The
Managing Editor, Mark Galli, in his editorial comments, stated that when it
comes to "Christian" higher education, "we know whereof we speak."
He stated that nearly "every person on the CT hallway has attended a
Christian institution of higher learning." He then lists the production
staff of CT, and where each received his graduate work.
He lists
himself as having obtained his "Christian higher education" from
Fuller Theological Seminary, and then noted that the editor, David Neff,
received his at "La Sierra University, Andrews University, and San
Francisco Theological Seminary," a Presbyterian school (p. 9).