Le notizie di stampa ci hanno mostrato negli ultimi
mesi come la ricca chiesa tedesca sia tra i principali “agitatori” dell’armagheddon
sinodale, passato e futuro.
Questa la contrappone alla povera economicamente, ma
ricca spiritualmente, Chiesa africana, dove i cattolici si trovano a vivere in
situazioni estremamente difficili, se non in contesti di vere e proprie
persecuzioni.
Al contrario, la Chiesa tedesca, ed in generale gran
parte delle chiese del Centro Europa come quelle svizzera ed austriaca, pur
essendo economicamente ricche e benestanti, vivono in un contesto agiato, che
ha fatto dimenticare i valori dello spirito e le semplici Verità evangeliche,
in nome di una mondana “misericordia”, che nulla ha a che fare con quella
divina. Ne avevamo già parlato (v. qui e qui).
Oggi, memoria di san Giuseppe da Copertino, l'umile Santo dei voli, rilancio
quest’articolo in inglese tratto da Rorate caeli.
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| Giuseppe Rapisardi, S. Giuseppe da Copertino in estasi, 1830, museo diocesano, Catania |
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| Ambito abruzzese, Levitazione di S. Giuseppe da Copertino, XVIII sec., museo diocesano, Pescara |
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| Ambito napoletano, S. Giuseppe da Copertino in estasi, XVIII-XIX sec., museo diocesano, Napoli |
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| Ludovico Mazzanti, S. Giuseppe si eleva in volo alla visione della Santa Casa di Loreto, XVIII sec., santuario S. Giuseppe, Osimo |
Deutschland—Church of the
Rich or Church of the Poor?
News reports have been showing us
for some time now that the rich German church is the main mover and shaker behind
the synodal armageddon, past and future.
As we know, there are two kinds
of poverty: material and spiritual. The African church, in many ways materially
poor (certainly as compared with Germany), is spiritually rich, with Catholics
striving, often in terribly difficult circumstances, to live what Pope John
Paul II called as “the Gospel of life.”
The German church, in contrast,
appears to be spiritually impoverished in proportion to its immense material
assets, once more establishing a law as old as divine revelation: “One is as it
were rich, when he hath nothing: and another is as it were poor, when he hath
great riches” (Proverbs 13:7). “Better is a little to the just, than the great
riches of the wicked” (Psalm 36:16). “And that which fell among thorns, are
they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches
and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” (Luke 8:14). The earthly riches
of the German church will be the millstone that drags it down to Gehenna—all
but the remnant that, despising these vain pomps, cleaves to the untarnished
Word of God.
In his magnificent little work On the Perfection of the Spiritual Life, St.
Thomas Aquinas reminds us about the dangers of material wealth and the urgent
need to abandon them for the sake of Christ:
When the young man who was inquiring about perfection heard the words of Christ, he went away sad. And “Behold,” says St. Jerome in his commentary on St. Matthew, “the cause of this sadness. He had many possessions, which, like thorns and briars, choked the seed of the Lord’s words.” … [I]t is clearly evident that he that possesses riches will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven only with difficulty. For as He says elsewhere (Matt. xiii. 22), “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the Word, and it becometh fruitless.” In truth, it is impossible for those to enter Heaven who love money inordinately. Far easier is it for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The latter feat would indeed be impossible without violating the laws of nature. But if a covetous man were admitted into Heaven it would be contrary to divine justice, which is more unfailing than any natural law.
The spiritual masters frequently
connect love of riches with the vice of pride, for the simple reason that he
who abounds in this world’s goods has, it seems, everyone at his beck and call,
and can “throw his weight around.” As indeed the rich German bishops—with the
exception of a very few virtuous shepherds among them—have been doing. And it
is characteristic of the proud to hold God’s commandments in contempt. Who is
the Lord (they seem to say) to tell us what we must
do or not do, who is He to place limitations on our liberty?
St. Robert Bellarmine speaks with
his usual wisdom on this point, in his commentary on Psalm 118:22-23:
The proud not only refuse to obey God, but they even despise and insult those who obey him; but such insolence ultimately reverts on themselves, as David here predicts. . . He, therefore, says, “Remove from me reproach and contempt”; the time will come when you will remove both from me, and cast them back on the proud who disobey you; “because I have sought after thy testimonies,” which they despised looking after. In the next verse he assigns a reason for this; it is, “For princes sat and spoke against me; but thy servant was employed in thy justifications.” Proud princes, sitting on their thrones, presiding at their councils, or luxuriating in their riches and their power, “spoke against me”; reproached me with obeying God’s commands; “but thy servant was employed in thy justifications”; regardless of their threats or their reproaches, I was entirely wrapt up in the consideration, the announcement, and the carrying out of your justifications. (A Commentary on the Book of Psalms, Loreto ed., p. 314)
This is exactly what all faithful
clergy, religious, and laity must be doing today and every day: considering,
announcing, and carrying out God’s commandments in all their truth, integrity,
and holiness, without compromise, without attenuation, without betrayal—come
what may. We are not afraid of the proud princes presiding at councils and
luxuriating in their riches and power. The Lord is with the poor who tremble at
His Word.
The Book of Proverbs has said it
all: “It is better to be humbled with the meek, than to divide spoils with the
proud” (Prov 16:19). “Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity,
than a rich man that is perverse in his lips, and unwise” (Prov 19:1). “Better
is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways” (Prov
28:6).
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