puritas cordis

Monastic writers have a phrase that they use to describe what is necessary to enter into contemplation or communion with God. They call this "puritas cordis" or "an undivided heart." I picked the name 'cause I'm a sucker for a cool Latin phrase...but primarily because aiming for an undivided heart seems like the best way to spend your life. I can't promise all the posts here will lead to the lofty heights of contemplation, but I hope they will at least provide food for the journey

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Go read the homily

If you haven't yet read the Holy Father's homily, scroll down a couple of posts and do so. Do not cheat yourself of the experience. I mean it. I just re-read it again twice, and it gets more amazing with each read. If you watched the Mass and heard it being translated live, I highly suggest you read the actual text now. The translator I heard did an okay job, but he did mistranslate a few key words that changed the meaning of what the Pope said in a few places. The text below is the official English translation released by the Vatican, so you can get the full meaning from reading through it.

After hearing him preach a few times now, I would say that Pope Benedict has a very different style than JPII -- more focused. JP was a philosopher, after all, and we're not known for our brevity and economy of expression. :-) Pope Benedict has a serious background in Scripture and Patristics, and it shows. His homilies read very much like some of the sermons of the early Church Fathers to me.

1 Comments:

Blogger Jen Ambrose said...

Here I want to add something: both the image of the shepherd and that of the fisherman issue an explicit call to unity. "I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must lead them too, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16); these are the words of Jesus at the end of his discourse on the Good Shepherd. And the account of the 153 large fish ends with the joyful statement: "although there were so many, the net was not torn" (John 21:11). Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has been torn! But no we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of your promise, which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path toward the unity you have promised. Let us remember it in our prayer to the Lord, as we plead with him: yes, Lord, remember your promise. Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd! Do not allow your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity!

4:39 PM  

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