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Feb. 9, 2006
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Revelation in a muddy field |
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How cardinal came to understand a mystery of faith |
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PALLIUM SPEAKER — Cardinal Francis E. George addresses the audience at the Cousins Center during the first Pallium Lecture of 2006. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero) |
ST. FRANCIS — As he knelt in the muddy grass in Cologne, Germany last August, along with Pope Benedict and nearly a million youth before the Eucharist in adoration at World Youth Day, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago said he experienced a moment when a mystery of his faith came together.
Speaking to more than 600 people at the Cousins Center for the first of four lectures in the annual Pallium Lecture Series, Cardinal George described how in that moment he recognized the link between the Eucharist and the papacy.
“At the deepest level, I believe the office of Peter and the gift of the Eucharist belong together,” he said, during his presentation titled, “At the Holy Center: Pope Benedict XVI.” “For the church to be a sign and instrument of the presence of Christ, both of these great gifts of faith are necessary. Christ is present truly and substantially in the holy Eucharist. For Christ is present in his church, to teach, to guide and to sanctify through the successor of Peter.”
Noting that the Eucharist and the papacy are essentially linked, the cardinal said, “For all of us to be fully a member of the church means we have to be in communion in mind and heart with the Holy Father, bishop of Rome and successor of Peter.”
On that muddy, grassy hill in Germany, Cardinal George said he recognized that he and the others gathered were people who had met the Lord, listened to his successor, Peter, and then adored Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. He likened the experience to the Magi, who after meeting the Lord, adored him.
“There is, then, always for each of us those moments when it seems to all come together, when we begin to see what the mystery of faith really is, because of something that touches all of our senses, that enables us to bring who we are, body and soul, spirit and mind, everything together in such a way,” he said.
The cardinal described a similar experience he had months earlier in Rome as part of the conclave selecting the successor to Pope John Paul II. Cardinal George noted how an ugly, old but functional stove was brought into the Sistine Chapel so ballots could be burned to signal that a successor to Peter had been selected.
Standing on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, watching the people’s reaction to the name Joseph Ratzinger proclaimed as the 265th pope, was a moving experience, he said. Only days earlier, he had been in the same place mourning Pope John Paul II, a man, Cardinal George described as a person “bigger than life. It was a great privilege to be a bishop under John Paul II.”
“It was a sorrowful moment, but a very hopeful moment,” the cardinal said of that time. When the crowd heard the name, Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal George said they knew the keys were in good hands.
“After the great John Paul II, now you have a humble servant, whose job it is to see to it that what God has told his people is to be faithfully passed on until Christ returns in glory,” he said.
Being in Rome at that historic time left the cardinal with two lasting thoughts, he said. He gained a new appreciation for the mystery of the communion of saints, and he came to a deeper understanding for the power of the keys, or the power of the papal succession.
Describing Pope Benedict as one who seeks to be a peacemaker or a reconciler, Cardinal George said it should have come as no surprise that the topic of his first encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est” or “God Is Love,” was love.
“It comes back to his desire to be a man of peace in the world. There will be no peace unless we love one another as God loves us,” said Cardinal George.
Cardinal George said the church is still awaiting further signals to determine Pope Benedict’s governing style. He will probably do so quietly, but effectively, predicted the cardinal.
“The pope’s office is to preside in love and charity over all the persons,” he said. |
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