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Men and women from all corners of the earth nourish the hope that, after a day
of darkness, an azure-blue morning will dawn to last as much as
possible. God does not despise the expectation of anybody, believer or
non-believers, holy and sinful persons. All men and women, in different
forms and various circumstances of life, seek signs of new dawns, wait
for sellers of hope, nurses of deep pains in the souls, traffickers of
sense, justice and freedom. “In the bowels of the earth, joyful at times
and sorrowful at other times, there is a radical need of encountering
the other, of sense, of surrogating-free divine and idolatry. This is
why the witnesses become crucial” 1.
The Christian sense of testimony
It is
not easy to catch the deep sense of the expression commonly called
testimony; it is all about an experience difficult to be enclosed in a
formula, since it speaks of the person’s mysterious intimacy. “Testimony
belongs to the mystery of freedom. Being it human, this freedom is
undoubtedly frail and always threatened. God alone can give an absolute
guarantee to His Word, because of his eternal and absolute identity with
itself. The human experience, instead, shows the multiplicity of errors,
involuntary even in the most authentic persons. However, despite these
risks, testimony belongs to the greatness and dignity of man. It is
something that makes him partaker of God’s very autonomy and freedom.”
2, He who reflects on testimony without removing the daily history
(history of oppressed peoples and stories of empty richness), should be
aware of some risks.
Now, as
many phantasms and menaces move around us (secularisation, various kinds
of fundamentalism, dangers of further divisions in the Church), perhaps
we recur to a superficial simplification of deep and complex realities
like this. It suffices to have a look at the newspapers or pay a little
attention to some programmes of the media: the Christian testimony seems
to be reduced to small of big virtuous actions to the benefit of
somebody or something.
Often
stars or fashion top models appear with a beneficence calendar in hand
for the poor in some part of the earth! They are somehow relevant
initiatives (even of publicity, of course), moving experiences, which,
however, obscure stories and concepts of different importance, in the
mind of people. The best recognition of beautiful things is that of
calling them by their own name; we cannot have the same definition for a
philanthropic gesture and the choice of one who decides to give the life
for one’s own friends (See: John 15, 13). This is typical of him who
desires to witness his radical rooting in the Paschal mystery, the
assimilation in Christ.
The
term testimony is strictly correlated with the term martyrdom; we could
speak of a certain linguistic equivalence between the two. In reality,
the Greek term martyria means “to give testimony”. This term is
theologically considered as the highest form of testimony, though the
same term màrtys, witness, has had the same development. In fact,
initially it did not indicate testimony in the effusion of blood, though
quite soon the Christians underwent violent persecutions like Christ
(See: Acts of the Apostles). The Semantic interpretation of the term
arose problems on its understanding. It is, therefore necessary to keep
in view the basic references when we use the term: the centrality of
faith with its related confession, the non-violence, the hope and
strength of the weak, as well as the spirituality and following of
Christ up to the assimilation in him.
Besides
the specifications of Semantic character, whenever we refer to
martyrdom-testimony we need to reflect on the theological realities
leading back to the theological virtues (life in faith, hope and
charity). Therefore, the martyr (witness) is not only he who undergoes a
violent death because of odium fidei, but also (or above all) he who
disposes himself to the radical values of the Gospel. This requires to
keep our eyes on Jesus and be convinced that we cannot serve
simultaneously two masters, God and mammon (See: Luke, 16, 13).
In this
perspective, the text Lumen Gentium, 42, becomes clear and interesting.
This text underlines how on one side martyrdom is the highest testimony
of Christian charity in which the disciple is made similar to his
Master, on the other side it does not speak explicitly of profession of
faith nor of odium fidei (surely they are understood, but the texts
prefers to speak of martyrdom as sign of love, which opens to the extent
of becoming self-offering.
Starting from this interpretative horizon, we understand why recent
theology, though using texts from the Magisterium, throws the light on
the centrality of love, the total assimilation in Christ as credible
sign. 4 Martyrs have not been missing in our times and John Paul II has
insisted a lot on a recognition in the ecumenical field: a challenge of
universal communion, since in reality the invitation to give up life for
our brothers is what makes Christian life serious and luminous
The exercise of testimony
«Yahweh
regretted having made human beings on earth and was grieved at heart”
(Gen. 6,6). What does the Genesis mean by “Yahweh was grieved at
heart”? We see that soon after Yahweh says, “Never again will I curse
the earth because of human beings, as I have done” (Gen 8,21).
Commenting this passage, the Rabbinic tradition presents God who stands
up from His throne of justice and seat on that of mercy. The passage
from one throne to the other, this changing of mind is mercy, the
unheard capacity of God (so to say), of the Biblical God, to change
always in favour of man.
If we
read attentively the encyclical letter, Deus caritas est, by Benedict
XVI, we find it clear that the Pontiff does not intend to individuate or
indicate a type-category of persons to imitate in a servile way, as the
unique true witnesses of the Gospel. We do not find any specific chapter
of this theme in Deus Caritas Est, but is indicated that, “The encounter
with the visible manifestations of God’s love is a constantly journeying
process. Love is never over and complete; we transmit it along the
course of life; it matures and just for this it remains faithful to
itself.” (DC 17).
The
fact that for the first time a pontifical document faces the question of
love in recto, namely in a direct and explicit form, is not of secondary
importance. 6 The tones are clear and insistent even in the first part,
where the preoccupation of the Pope seems to be of a technical kind.
Whenever we bring to light a consequence in the praxis, starting from
the parable of the Good Samaritan (love here and now, we underline how
vital the dimension of the universal proximity is. It is not the matter
of a generic and abstract love, not demanding in itself, but the
practical commitment (See: DC 15). It outlines the physiognomy of
testimony: it is the specific character of the lived experience on
behalf of every believer, not an accessory aspect that embellishes and
completes the look, which we can do without.
This
idea is insisted upon also about the charitable ecclesial structures,
according to Benedict XVI, by an invisible binomial: the transparency of
work and faithfulness to the duty of witnessing love (See: DC 30). This
underlining brings us to the intuition that the Pope proposes a concept
of testimony inherited from Vatican II, which is deeply innovative if
compared to Vatican I. “Vatican I proposed a Church as a sign to the
nations; Vatican II, instead, wants to personalise and interiorize the
sign of the Church and speaks of Christian testimony. According to
Vatican II, to witness means to make the Gospel credible, with truth and
salvation of man, with a life attuned to it. This testimony must have an
individual and simultaneously communitarian form.7.
Benedict XVI often goes back t this double aspect of Christian
testimony. The model image remains the Good Samaritan, because of its
singular persons and the important associations. We witness charity when
we pay attention to the immediate needs, hunger and nakedness, where man
is deprived of his dignity. We exercise charity when we see with our
heart and do not withdraw, but become active quickly and competently
(though competences alone are not enough, the Pope says), with an ardent
desire of making the world more humane. It is a dynamic exchange: the
communitarian testimony supports and integrates the activity of the
single persons. Benedict XVI says, “Obviously, when the activity is
assumed by the Church as a communitarian initiative, planning,
providence, collaboration with similar institutions must be added to the
spontaneity of the single individual” (DC 31).
Thus,
the charismatic enthusiasm of the single persons find strength and
rooting in the communitarian action, which rationalises, prevents and
puts our human resources at the service of the least ones, free of cost
and with good sense (knowing when to speak and when to be silent: DC
31). In the encyclical letter we discover something like an identikit of
the credible witness: a man or a woman who, through attention, care,
free dedication, has acquired a sort of spiritual wisdom, does not
ignore the cosmic wounds, therefore, does not make any distinction
between offending God and offending man. He distinguishes himself from
his discreet gestures and the awareness of accepting his limits. (See:
Luke: 17,10).
In this
context, we have suggestive passages, important statements apt to
interrogate today’s men and women, apparently conquered only by the
trend, by appearances, excessively attracted by every kind of kermises.
The encyclical letter invites us to make important distinctions on the
mentality of expressing the theological life: patience in obscurity,
renunciation of our own deliria of omnipotence (humility), the trustful
conviction that God accompanies faithfully the human history. An
invitation to adopt such a life-style as it may manifest the presence of
God in the world.
The men and women of dance and fire
The
Deus caritas est invites each believer, without distinction of
belonging, to reflect on the authenticity of our own existence, on the
urgency that the silent witnesses of the love of Christ may not be
identified with the testimonial dressed as animator in the big square
manifestations. We are aware that, in the present historical moment it
is ever more urgent that the Gospel may be at work as a value of
attraction, more than with booming proclamations or, even worse, as a
selenium, that silences the daily anxieties and challenges. “Unluckily
there is a inflation of the so called testimonies –E. Bianchi says”-
they emphasise the presence of charismatic men and women. Encourage
their self-exhibiting by inviting them to speak about their history, of
the glaring aspects of their events, to the detriment of reflection, of
paying attention to daily Christian life, neglecting the laborious
fatigue of the reasonableness of faith”
It is
not the matter of an improvised style, but of at a sometimes fatigued
course, which does not involve only ourselves. Benedict XVI refers
explicitly to prayer and its importance, as an intimate bond and contact
with Christ, a source from where we can fetch along the street and in
the existential deserts. It follows that the witness of Christian
charity is he who knows that he must go beyond, not to rely only on the
efficacy of one’s own action, and approaches the pietas, creating a bond
with God, source of every loving gesture Just as Mother Theresa of
Calcutta did, Benedict XVI says, who in her silent work of universal
care towards the drop-out of history, always insisted on the centrality
of prayer, as experiences of encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, to
open horizons of a caritas-agape surmounts the frontiers of the Church
(See: DC 25).
The
Deus caritas est reminds us that man is to the image of God and that,
though signed by his frailty, he keeps the desire of saying that love is
possible and we can practise an implicit invitation to man, not to
follow the witnesses of misadventure who insist (even in the ecclesial
field) on the exile of hope, branding man only with the infamy of being
the author of works for the Gehenna. Man cannot yet offer free love. The
words of the Pope open new horizons. Love is made visible (therefore
witnessed) above all when we do not use it instrumentally, not even for
the zeal of making proselytes. Love is the best testimony of Christ only
if it is free. (DC 31).
Tonino
Bello also stated this with courage in commenting the parable of the
Good Samaritan. “We must get rid of the equivocal thought that charity
is the fruit of our good heart, of our bounty, the elaboration of our
virtue, a merit to boast of before God. Charity is not something for
which God must thank us, but something we must thank God for. We must
avoid the Pelagianism of charity” 9
We live
times of apodictic proclamations, of conflicts in action and other
announced ones. What surprises most is that many remain in the
conviction that our own reality, culture, ideas and religion remain
always one step higher than that of others. Deus Caritas Est reminds us
that the contempt of love is the contempt of God and of man and that the
best defence of God and of man consists in love: this is the way to
become credible witnesses of Christ. Now, if the programme is that of
the Good Samarian, (Benedict XVI underlines it several times), we
spontaneously think that the sterile stillness of the conservative does
not belong to the authentic witness.. Reading afresh the parable, we
observe that the principal verbs express first of all a dynamic
attention, lucidity and care in meeting the needs of others. Like the
Samaritan, we must reach at the right time, activate mechanism of
acquaintances with the human situations (let us remember George La Pira
or Bruno Hussar), This, of course, does not necessarily mean to make
just a “horizonism”.
Perhaps
we are not born or improvised witnesses. We need to have clear ideas and
question ourselves in the light of the Word of God. If we seriously
believe in the mystery of Incarnation, we cannot expempt us from the
obligation of discernment: this is a healthy habit well rooted in
tradition, even if this aspect does not seem fully developed in the
Encyclical. An identification of the paths to be covered in witnessing
to the Gospel implies a serious analysis of the cultural
transformations. The preparatory document of the Verona Congress says,
“The Christian testimony shoulders the indispensable historical
mediation of the believing conscience. ( … ) The dialogical and critical
attention paid to the cultural and anthropological transformations
appears, today, as an inalienable exigency of the Christian faith, the
vitality of the ecclesial communities and of Christian love itself”
10
We need
men and women of fire to be witnesses, ready to look beyond and to catch
the power of the signs. We need men and women of the great dance, who
may help the community to practise the art of listening, the attitude to
welcome the diversity, without seeking anything that might be similar to
them. The dream of peace and conviviality of differences needs silent
men and women, who try to create in the daily life the conditions in
which aggressive attitudes may no longer be the habitual and unique way
of relating with the diversity ( will there be Annalena Tonelli among
the future blessed persons?).
The
newspapers and notice-boards tell us of the enormous fatigue to find the
ways out of these historical urgencies, ways in which intelligence,
reason, the fatigue of thinking and the pleasure of investigating can
never be looked down on and be considered as intellectual tricks,
useless for our faith. 11
Conclusion
After
reading a text (an essay, a romance or a poem), the ideal situation is
to suspend the judgement and silence, to interiorise, to catch the sense
and understand. It is clear that this is valid also for the Encyclical
of the Pope. Like all other texts, the encyclical follows editorial
rules and cannot say everything, especially if it is about such deep
themes as that of lived and witnessed charity However, we can make
straightaway a consideration soon after reading the Deus Caritas Est.
The reader feels strongly the invitation to cultivate our hope. In the
depth of our conscience, we feel the appeal of not becoming and easy
prey of indifference towards evil and every human uneasiness. True, the
cosmic scenario is like a video where only injustice, sorrow and
incomprehensible conflicts are projected.
However, history is inhabited also by men and women of the great dance,
of laughter, of fire, capable of recognising the ambassadors of God in
the least ones, “the ambassadors of God” (Dorothy Day) and of serving
them with faithfulness. They are Men and women at the service of the
person in all fields of society, in the school, in the associations, in
religious life. Some of them are recognised by the Church as models with
which we can measure ourselves, others perhaps are excluded for good
from the lis of virtuous people. They are men and women who have marked
a path, “Bearers of light in history”, as the Pope defines them (DC
40).
It is a
way that waits for being populated; it is the pat of the witnesses, as
well as the path of the masters, the intellectuals or spiritual,
illiterate or learned, contemplative or immersed in the mud of history.
They are people who mysteriously and in freedom have sopped before the
paradox, before folly, before the weakness of the cross, naturally, of
the flourished cross, painted with the colours of the rainbow and
radiated by the dawn of Resurrection.
12
Antonietta Augruso
Via Eurialo, 91/16A –
00181 Rome
e-mail: antogruso@libero.it
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