S T . B E R N A R D ' S M A G A Z I N E
THE PARADOX OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP: POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT AS A CATHOLIC
THE GENESIS OF SECULARISM: ITS EFFECTS ON CULTURE AND RELIGION IN THE WEST
CONSECRATING CREATION: THE EUCHARIST AND SUFFERING’S TRANSFORMATION INTO LOVE
Administration,
Stephen Loughlin, Ph.D. | President
Matthew Kuhner, Ph.D. | Vice President & Academic Dean
Marco Stango, Ph D | Associate Professor of Philosophy
Lisa Lickona, S.T.L. | Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology
Bernadette Bobrowski | Director of Marketing & Communications, Editor
Matt Brown, M P A | Director of Admissions & Student Services
Deacon Edward Knauf | Director of Finance & Human Resources
Shannon Toot | Bookkeeper & Financial Aid Coordinator
Kevin Fitzpatrick | Operations Assistant Maria Mruzek | Events Assistant
Anne
Letter from the President
A Year in Review Faculty and Staff Updates
Commencement 2024
One Free Summer Audit
Transformation into Love www
Message from the Chair of the Board
Your Generosity Remembered
The Paradox of Christian Citizenship: Political Engagement as a Catholic
The Genesis of Secularism: Its Effects on Culture and Religion in the West Consecrating Creation: The Eucharist and Suffering’s
One temptation that afflicts many Christians is the desire to withdraw from a world that is increasingly antithetical to our Faith and to gather those of like dedication into intentional communities, “circling the wagons” so to speak, and thereby protecting both the Faith and those who wish to live it. This is assuredly a temptation, one that we must get behind us as we are inspired by our Lord’s declaration that we are the light of the world, called to shine before all peoples that they might see not only our good deeds, but also give glory to God.
This duty falls especially upon educational institutions like St. Bernard’s, as we are called to understand and teach the truths of our Faith, and to ex-
hibit these clearly in the lives that we live In this we resonate in a particular way with the charge made of deacons at their Rite of Ordination to believe what they read, teach what they believe, and practice what they teach. We seek, then, not simply information (as if we were but minds), but thirst with our whole persons both individually and communally to be formed radically by the Word of God so that in our lives we might become examples of what is truly good and beautiful, pointing not to ourselves, but to the source of all Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
In this issue of the St. Bernard’s Magazine, we take a moment to consider how we might live our faith in the communities that we serve and the societies of which we are members, ever seeking to understand and embrace the social dimensions of the Gospel. May the salt of our lives renew the world’s taste for eternal things and draw all people to pursue not the fleeting insubstantial food that this world has on offer, but rather the Bread of Life.
Sincerely,
President
Over the past year, we witnessed an outpouring of God’s blessings:
46 students graduated from our degree and certificate programs
4 graduates from our Master of Arts in Catholic Philosophy were ordained to the priesthood
St Bernard’s hosted the 19th Annual Gathering of the Ministerium for the Diocese of Rochester, NY. Fr. Ignacio Llorente was our speaker, who presented on The Great Commission: The What and Why of the New Evangelization
The School engaged the services of Mrs. Alison Finstad, principal and founder of Benezet Advisors, a group of fundraising consultants that partner with nonprofits to achieve financial sustainability and Board development
We held our 1st Life Issues Event, which opened the Fr. Hewes’ Sanctity of Life Collection in our library and inaugurated the Sanctity of Life Graduate Certificate
Updates were completed to the School’s library and its collection, readying it to become a public theological lending library
We welcomed 498 auditors from around the world to our One Free Summer Audit initiative (sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, Finger Lakes Chapter)
Our 49th annual Otto A. Shults Lecture was held with Dr Anthony Lilles presenting on "Mystical Wisdom: Divine Power for Difficult Times”
The yearly conference of the American Maritain Association took place at St Bernard’s commemorating the 750th Anniversary of Saints Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas and celebrating Maritain’s political philosophy
St Bernard’s hosted an academic conference upon the 30th anniversary of Veritatis Splendor
We continued to offer St. Bernard’s On the Road to parish communities throughout upstate New York
Professor Lisa Lickona resumed St. Bernard’s summer retreat courses at the Abbey of the Genesee, as well as inaugurated monthly half-day retreats on the lives of the Saints
Join with us in giving thanks to God for all that He has entrusted to us May we be found worthy stewards of these great gifts!
We’ve seen many changes at St. Bernard’s since our last update!
chael Ceragioli has stepped down as Program Director for the n Evangelization. We stand in great appreciation for his efforts m all joy and success in the future! His shoes have been filled rine and David Otto, both of whom are among the first of the from the Certificate in Evangelization program. We welcome xpress our gratitude for their desire to accompany current and future students in this program!
Dr. Daniel Drain has left St. Bernard’s for a new position with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as Director of the Office for Life and Family Moreover, Professor Drain just recently defended his doctoral thesis successfully. We send our hearty congratulations to Dr. Drain upon this great accomplishment and his new position and wish the Drains all the best in the future.
Anne Kraft has returned to St. Bernard’s to take up the position of Academics and Library Assistant! She takes over from Julia Sengenberger who has begun her freshman year at John Paul the Great Catholic University We thank Julia for all her work, which included completing Anne’s project of getting our library into shape and incorporating a substantial number of books. We wish Julia well and all God’s blessings in her new endeavor
The St. Bernard’s community has grown by two! Dr. Kuhner and his wife, Michelle, have been blessed with their fourth child, Bridget Therese, and Bernadette Bobrowski and her husband, Mike, with their first, John Paul Alexzander! We rejoice at the bountiful nature of God’s gifts to them and wish both families all the best.
Drs. Matthew Kuhner and Marco Stango were promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, an advancement that was richly deserved in light of the excellence of their teaching, service to the institution, and their academic publications. We are blessed to have such faculty in our community, and we extend our congratulations to them both!
Finally, we are honored and most pleased to include among our faculty teaching for us this Fall: John Meinert, Ph D , Matthew Ramage, Ph D , Siobhan Latar, S T D , Jessica Cole, D Min , Jean Baric Parker, D.Be, and Frs. Anthony Barratt, S.T.L., Ph.D., David Tedesche, S.T.L, and Peter Van Lieshout, S.T.L. Through our collaborative programming, we are able to enjoy the great depth and breadth of learning that these faculty bring to our community
St Bernard’s annual Commencement Ceremony is one of the most significant and beautiful events held by the School, as it honors our students who have sacrificed much and dedicated themselves so diligently to the formation of their minds and hearts through rigorous study May 3rd, 2024 marked St Bernard’s 43rd Commencement Ceremony honoring forty-six graduates – one of our largest graduating classes in recent memory!
The day began at St Bernard’s campus with a pre-commencement gathering of students, their friends and family members, as well as St Bernard’s faculty and staff who joined together in prayer
firstly through the sacrifice of the Mass, followed by fellowship and toasts made by faculty to the graduating students. Following this, the Commencement Ceremony itself was celebrated at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester, NY and was presided over by the Most Rev Bishop Salvatore Matano, Bishop of Rochester Our Commencement speaker was Dr. Jean Baric-Parker, Director of the Graduate Certificate in Catholic Bioethics at St Bernard’s
Dr. Baric-Parker beautifully acknowledged the discernment and sacrifice required when pursuing an academic degree, noting that,
“Your being here today is NOT an accident! It began with a divine whisper –a gentle pull on a thread of your heart, leading you through the physical and virtual classrooms of St Bernard’s, and ultimately to this moment of proud accomplishment Each of you felt, and then responded to, God’s nudge to make a career change, or to immerse yourself more deeply in the path you were already on. ”
this new life and walk with Christ Dr Baric-Parker ended her speech by saying as much:
“In closing, soon, you will step forward to receive not just a diploma but a divine charge With this, you will be equipped and blessed sent forth to apply your knowledge courageously in the world Let this be your mission: to carry forward the truths you ’ ve learned, acting as stewards of faith and beacons of leadership in a world that sorely needs it.”
While our students come from all walks of life, each is bound together by the common pursuit of Christ who is Truth Himself Thus, Commencement at St Bernard’s is just as much about ending academic studies as it is about beginning
We are grateful for the witness of each of our graduates and thank God for their time at St Bernard’s Congratulations, Class of 2024!
Scan the QR code to be the first to know when our One Free Summer Audit goes live next summer in 2025!
Another series of our One Free Summer Audit initiative has passed us by, and once again, it was a tremendous blessing and success! Our community of learners keeps growing, as we welcomed another large class of auditors from all over the world. This summer we had just under 500 auditors join classes such as The Art of Education: Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Lord Teach Us to Pray: An Introduction to Prayer and Discernment, Image of the Maker: The Theological Poetics of George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien, among many others! Our faculty led excellent theological and philosophical discussions, benefiting so many people around the world!
Our School is incredibly thankful to the Knights of Columbus, Finger Lakes Chapter (Rochester, NY), for their continued generosity in sponsoring this initiative. Though our Master’s and graduate certificate programs are very important to us and central to our mission, so too is the building up of Christians around the globe through intellectual and spiritual formation by way of our free summer audit courses. This year, we had auditors join us from countries such as Malaysia, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Mexico, Grenada, and so many others!
St Bernard’s is already looking forward to next summer’s One Free Summer Audit Thank you to all of those who are engaged with us because of this program: we are exceedingly overjoyed by your continued commitment to St Bernard’s and hope to see you again in our classrooms next summer in 2025!
Christine Zabel | Belmont, NC
This spring, I had been thinking about going back to school for a Master’s in theology, when a priest friend who is an adjunct professor at St Bernards told me about the One Free Summer Audit initiative I thought it would be a great way to audit a class for free and experience what a graduate theology class would be like So I applied for the initiative, and the class that I decided to audit was “Lord Teach Us to Pray: An Introduction to Prayer and Discernment ” The class wonderfully surpassed my expectations: the professor was great, it was so enriching to participate and share in discussion with the other students, and I loved the way that the experience of prayer and the spiritual life were woven so intrinsically in with theology It really strengthened and deepened my own prayer life in the process! The whole experience was so wonderful, and I feel that God used this One Free Summer Audit experience to speak to me and
lead me to take a leap of faith and decide to begin a Master of Arts in Theological Studies at St. Bernard’s!
Thomas Salerno | Glen Cove, NY
So far, I've taken two free summer audit courses with St. Bernard's, most recently "The Theological Poetics of George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien." As a devoted Tolkien enthusiast, it was a joy to grow further in my knowledge and appreciation of his work. It was also a delight to be introduced to the fantasies of George MacDonald, which had such a profound influence on the imaginations of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The class discussions were invigorating and always left me with a desire to learn more I would recommend St Bernard's free summer audit program to anyone looking to deepen their faith All you need is an internet connection and a curious mind!
50 years is a long time, but it sure goes by fast
I spent the past weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at my 50th high school reunion, an experience that evokes any number of thoughts and emotions: nostalgia, memories of simpler times (though they certainly didn’t seem so then!), reminders of the inexorable passage of time, the pain at thinking of those who have passed away, and happily and importantly how so many institutions are good at navigating the passage of time and indeed embracing change
To survive over a long period, an institution, be it a school, a business, an organization, or some other construct, needs to make good decisions over an extended period of time The record of decisionmaking need not be perfect, but it needs to be good enough, and made by an ever-changing cast of leaders.
And so it is with St Bernard’s The forebear to our institution, a seminary, began in 1893, and the forerunner to our current structure was formed in 1981. Yes, we have been around for long periods of time. Yes, we have had a vast cast of leaders over those time periods
And, yes, we have made a lot of good, indeed very good, decisions over time.
Our School is very different than what we became in 1981, different than what I joined as a Trustee some 20+ years ago, and different even from what we were five years ago just before Covid hit our country
We are no longer just Albany and Rochester Diocesecentric We serve multiple Roman Catholic dioceses We serve students and auditors in 45 states and 26 countries And, as of this writing, more than half of our students are purely lay personnel and not part of any ministerial training program. Our online presence and profile, a point of strategic emphasis begun some years back and, accelerated by the Covid pandemic, has undergone a remarkable transformation, much to the benefit of our School And, indeed, much to the benefit of our students themselves
We have been blessed with good leaders over extended periods of time who have made sound decisions leading to St Bernard’s continued successes I commend Dr Loughlin and the team of faculty and staff for being so adept at embracing new ways to allow our School to excel, and yet remain faithful to our core mission and values
I hope and pray that when I and ultimately my successors return to St Bernard’s to celebrate longevity milestones, they, too, will be struck by how our institution has been able to make good decisions in helping our students truly live out their faith in society at large.
Our 2023–2024 Annual Donor Report recognizes those who made financial or in-kind contributions to St. Bernard’s between June 1st, 2023 and May 31st, 2024. We reached almost $147,000 in total donations this year! We are deeply grateful to our friends listed here. Through your prayerful support, you ’ re able to continue to provide outstanding resources and facilities to prepare our graduates for a lifetime of ministry. Thank you for your generosity!
$10,000+
Mrs Jean Baric Parker
Mrs. Carol Crossed
Mrs. Elizabeth Gilges
$9,999 – $5,000
Mr. Charles Brandt
Dr. and Mrs. Richard & Muriel DeMartino
Mr and Mrs Jerald & Anne LeBlanc
Ms Kathleen Piehler
$4,999 – $1,000
Knights of Columbus, Finger Lakes Chapter
Mr. Edward W. Kay, Jr.
Mr. James Weisbeck
Mr Thomas Greiner
Rev Thomas Mull
Deacon Patrick DiLaura
Mr Oscar Masters
Mrs. Teanna Tomko
Mr. Daniel Hodges
Deacon Martin Dinan
Rev William Laird
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Mr John Rovaldi
Mr and Mrs Paul & Margaret Churnestski
Rev. Charles Curran
Very Rev. Paul Tomasso
Rev Thomas Erdle
Diocese of Rochester Office of Life Issues
Catholic Seminary Alumni Association,
Diocese of Buffalo
Rev Dr Richard Lesser
$999 – $500
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Deacon Roger Loucks
Mr Eric Schantz
Mr and Mrs George & Anna Heisel
Mr and Mrs Edward & Kathy Lynd
Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey & Janet Rosenberger
Mr. and Mrs. John and Suzanne Goetz
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Anonymous
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Mr William Shafer
Abbot Gerard D’Souza, OCSO
Mr. Cutberto Garza
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UP TO $499
Deacon Paul Virgilio
Ms Liesl Moheimani
Rev Roy Kiggins
Mr William Schott
Liana Eisenman-Wolford
Ms. Patricia Amador
Mr. David DiNardo
Deacon Edward Knauf
Msgr Robert Weiss
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Dr and Mrs Thomas & Alicia Carroll
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Christine Bouchard
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Deacon and Mrs. George & Paula Welch
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Mr James Robinson
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Deacon William Coffey
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Professor Robert Patterson
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Mr and Mrs Elizabeth Milken & James Williams
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Deacon Robert Lyons
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Sr Dr Nancy Hawkins, IHM
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Fertility Care of Rochester
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Rochester
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Mr Wilbur Votraw
The Mulligan Giving Fund
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This presidential election season has been uniquely dramatic according to any measure, and the worsening polarization of our communities according to the current political binary continues to isolate us and erode interpersonal relationships. Given this situation of tension and uncertainty, and given the importance of political action on behalf of the dignity of the human person, justice, and peace in Catholic social teaching, it seemed important to offer a venue for discussion and community in order to discern how Catholics can and should engage in political action We are honored to join 40 Catholics from around the country in our graduate course – Political Engagement as a Catholic: Principles, Sources, and Historical Engagements – as we read widely, think deeply, and contemplate humbly concerning the teachings of Christ and his Church about political community. The course provides no political action plan, and we will never tell students which candidate to vote for –precisely because the Church does not do this. How each person acts in the fullness of their conscience, how each person votes (whether they vote for a major party, a third-party, a write-in, or whether they vote at all), how each person considers the unique circumstances of their country, their state, their particular situation – all of this is deeply personal; no one can stand in your place and act for you Nevertheless, what the Church (and God-willing, our course) does offer is more profoundly impactful than any political action plan: it offers the formation of your person so that it is not only one action or another that is renewed and changed, but rather your entire life.
This reveals something true about human life in general: we can only act and engage well if we have been sufficiently formed. I can engage the piano keys quite vigorously, but the beauty of the result will depend upon my formation in the art of piano-playing (the nature of the instrument, basic techniques, chord structures, etc.). Likewise, I can act politically, but have I been formed in the true nature and demands of political engagement as revealed by Jesus Christ and his Church? As the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops puts it, “the work for justice requires that the mind and the heart of Catholics be educated and formed to know and practice the whole faith” (Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, §4). Hearing this call, and acknowledging our need for such education and formation, our graduate course is designed to invite each of us to be formed by the great Formator of all, the Holy Spirit (see 2 Cor 3:17-18), as we explore the teachings of Christ and the Church that enable us to engage politically with beauty, freedom, and confidence So often our deepest formation is given by the American political binary, which then directs our engagement of the Church’s teachings Our hope is to pursue together that formation in Christ (“until Christ be formed in you!” [Galatians 4:19]) that takes the revealed mysteries as our guiding light, the deepest way in which we have been informed, which will lead the way in our political engagement.
The form of authentic political engagement as a Catholic is hinted at in a striking passage found in The Epistle to Diognetus, authored by an anonymous Apostolic Father in the 2nd century A D It may be no exaggeration to say that this passage gives voice (however briefly) to the deepest element of the formation we need in order to engage politics as a Catholic. He says:
“But while they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one ’ s lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual (parádoxon) character of their own citizenship. They live in their own countries, but only as nonresidents; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign” (5 4-5)
Christians, like yeast in bread, leaven the entire earth with the message of Jesus Christ Providence places each Christian in just the place that God intends, graced to share the Lord with those around him as a prophet to his own people. And yet, Christians do not differentiate themselves by style of dress or haircut or food. In these things, Christians live according to the custom of time and place. And this is because being a Christian is not primarily about temporal things but rather the eternal. The Church is not a club, an aesthetic, or any other association through some shared particular Rather, the Church is truly katholikos, i e universal It is for Jew and Gentile, for jock and nerd, old and young, lord and servant, etc
Attachment to the particularity of our homeland can provide unity and peace, but we know all too well that it can also divide Man’s history is a litany of factious warfare, kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, ethnicity against ethnicity But natural antinomies are overthrown by the supernatural Christian love embraces the other as myself and sees in the foreigner a creature of my own Creator This is what is meant by, “every foreign country is their fatherland,” for every foreign country is home to those beloved by God. And, therefore, those places are loved by the Christian.
Yet, while grace builds upon nature, giving greater clarity to the goodness of natural love for our own home, our own customs, and people, nevertheless the Christian’s primary loyalty is to the transcendent and supernatural community of Christ’s Church. Insofar as even our own country and people are not ordered toward Christ, I, as a Christian, must find them foreign. The bonds of nature are elevated by the calling of grace unless those bonds refuse to give way and subordinate themselves to the transcendent. It is for this reason that Our Lord says:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one ’ s enemies will be those of his household Who-
ever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me ” (Matt 10:34 – 37).
Similarly, whoever loves his country, his political party, or his political leaders more than God will “lose his life” for only those who “take up [their] cross” will find it (see Matt 16:24-26)
This is why the Christian must subordinate his politics to his faith. The Cross must always be higher to us than the political banner. This is not because God is jealous, arbitrarily demanding more be given to Him as if for His own benefit. Rather, God calls us for our own benefit, to recognize the one truth that can save us, the one truth that can bring us true happiness There is only one Road, one Truth, and one Life Whatever loves we have must be means through which we pass toward the ultimate end of God Himself If we place our politics above God, even unwittingly, we will deviate from the road to happiness and get lost on the way We Christians are wayfarers, nomadic travelers on a long journey to God We may physically reside in the United States of America, in New York state, etc., but spiritually we are always on the move. We cannot rest even in the goods of our piety toward the USA, our allegiance to a political party, or any other such thing, for to rest here will mean that we never carry on and arrive at our true homeland. Such is the paradox of Christian citizenship: while we are truly citizens of our country, in an even more foundational way “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20)
Matthew Kuhner, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at St Bernard’s Taylor Patrick O’Neill is a Tutor (teaching faculty) at Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield, MA Both are founding members of the Sacra Doctrina Project
BY MARCO STANGO
to think about what courses he would like to teach, there are two possible roads that he can take: either choosing a subject of which he is an expert, or choosing a subject which represents for him a problem or, one may say, an “open question” (the two can of course overlap at many points). Every time St. Bernard’s is considering offering my class on secularization, my immediate reaction is to propose a different class, something covered by my expertise And yet, every time I end up agreeing to teach this course because almost nothing else constitutes for me a problem or an open question as secularization does
Contrary to a widespread tendency, the category of “culture” is crucial to any philosophical study of who human beings are In a certain sense, in fact, one could say that a definition of man as a “cultural animal” would be at least as good as other, more popular definitions, from the classical “rational animal” to the more contemporary “symbolical animal ” Similarly crucial is the category of “religion.” The Thomistic tradition understands religion as a virtue, more specifically, as a species in the broader genus of “justice.” What do we owe God, and what are the acts pertaining to our just relationship to Him?
“On the other hand, however, secularization too often turns into secularism, namely, that attitude of explicit denial of transcendence...”
The Catholic Church, in her wisdom, sees culture and religion as belonging to each other. As John P. Hittinger states, speaking about St. John Paul II’s magisterium, “[the] deep aspiration of the human spirit for God and the meaning of existence, as well as the expression of this quest in various ways, is the heart of culture.”
Not only is secularization a problem and an open question for me: in its nature, secularization presents itself as a problem and an open question to the Western mind Is the nexus between culture and religion a permanent truth about the human condition, or is it rather something that needs to be abandoned, overcome, left behind? Thus, before being a proposal, the process of secularization is, first and foremost, a question: is it still the case that a culture is born of the self-cultivation that a people does of itself in aspiring to God and of the cultivation that God does of a people? The different ways in which the question is posed at various points in the history of the West – from the way corresponding to the desire for a more self-aware and even more “enlightened” stance, to the way corresponding to open skepticism –marks the history of the process of secularization
As all the theorists of secularization have pointed out, it is not possible to provide one univocal account of what secularization is The phenomenon of secularization, in fact, is so rich and affects the many dimensions of human culture so deeply that it seems impossible to capture it into one single model Nevertheless, one could say that secularization, at least with respect to the way this concept originated in and then developed on the European scene, raises the problem of the relationship between human culture in general and Christianity in particular. According to one interpretation of the birth of the process of secularization, the European wars of religion marked a period of overall crisis for Christendom. If Christianity, some theorized, is no longer sufficient to guarantee the peace among the people, what else will take its place? Which different, purely secular, common ground will people have to rely upon in order to find peace? Also at this level, one can note the ambiguity of the process of secularization: was the crisis of Christendom a call to a more self-aware and purified
Christian life, or was it the beginning of that skeptical movement that ended up portraying any organized religion, and Christianity in particular, as the source of political violence?
Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis both point out, albeit in different ways, the distinction between secularization and secularism On the one hand, secularization is not altogether misguided On the contrary, it may provide Western people with the spiritual resources to rediscover the autonomy that many dimensions of the cultural and political life can and even ought to have with respect to the ecclesiastical sphere On the other hand, however, secularization too often turns into secularism, namely, that attitude of explicit denial of transcendence, which leads many in modern times to think that there are no people and there is no culture under one God, but that on the contrary there are only individuals seeking to become one society under one secular power (and if God still exists, he does not matter any longer).
The course on Secularization offered in the Spring ’25 semester will cover all these issues, as well as provide, if not a definitive answer to the problem of secularization, at least a deepened understanding of its crucial importance for our time
MARCO STANGO, PH.D., is Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Bernard’s. Dr. Stango did his graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan (Italy) and the University of Macerata (Italy).
VIEW ALL OF ST. BERNARD’S SPRING ‘25 COURSES
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The Eucharist and Suffering’s Transformation into Love1
by Matthew Ramage
A HALLMARK OF JOSEPH RATZINGER’S THEOLOGYwas his ability to develop profound, evocative
images by which to illuminate the deepest mysteries of faith These often took their inspiration from the sciences, but one that he returned to most often was an analogy drawn from the sacramental realm Particularly dear to Pope Benedict XVI was the biblical hope that one day we who bear God’s image will dwell in a “new heaven and new
earth” (Rev 21:1), where all creation will be “set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:19–22). Benedict viewed this eschatological transformation of the created order as so sublime that he compared it to a “transubstantiation.”
The Bavarian pope revisited this theme a number of times as he drew near to the end of his earthly life. In one posthumously published essay on the meaning of communion, he wrote that the sacramental priesthood “is always ordered to the great transformation of the entire creation.” Yet this vocation is not restricted to those who belong to the sacramental priesthood In a brief post-retirement address delivered on the sixty-fifth anniversary of his ordination, the emeritus pontiff proclaimed boldly that all believers are called to “insert ourselves” into the Eucharistic mystery and “contribute to the ‘transubstantiation’ of the world, so that it might not be a place of death, but of life: a world in which love has conquered death ” 2 3
Connecting the transformation of the cosmos with man’s vocation to divinization (2 Pet 1:4), Benedict liked to describe the Eucharist as the bridge that unites the two As he saw it, our reception of the Eucharist endows believers with the power to extend the transforming love of God to the whole world The Second Vatican Council identified this as our vocation to “consecrate the world itself to God.” In this way, Cardinal Ratzinger suggested, we the faithful can make our own contribution to the transfiguration of the cosmos: “I myself become part of the new bread that he is creating by the re-substantiation of the whole of earthly reality.” In this dynamic, says Ratzinger, the transubstantiated host becomes the first fruit of the renewed creation “the anticipation of the transformation and divinization of matter in the Christological fullness.” This, he says, in turn “provides the movement of the cosmos with its direction; it anticipates its goal and at the same time urges it on ” Benedict expounded on this vision in a homily for the solemnity of Corpus Christi, proclaiming that “in some 4 5 6
1 Benedict XVI, “The Meaning of Communion,” in What Is Christianity?, 158.
For a more in-depth exploration of this topic, parts of which have been adapted here, see Dr Ramage’s 2022 book From the Dust of the Earth: Benedict XVI, the Bible, and the Theory of Evolution, from Catholic University of America Press
2 Benedict XVI, Address (June 28, 2016)
3 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §34, 11; cf 1 Pet 2:5 4 Joseph Ratzinger, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 78 5
Joseph Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy, 29. 6.
way, we detect in the piece of bread, creation is projected towards divinization, toward the holy wedding feast, toward unification with the Creator himself.”7
The Church’s vision of creation’s consecration and man’s divinization can be illuminated by further consideration of what happens when the bread and wine are offered at Mass. As is the case with the Eucharist, so too the “transubstantiation” of creatures does not necessarily entail a change in outward appearances. Nor does it cause the daily existence of the human creature to lose its apparently mundane character. No matter how much we might offer up a hectic day at work, disappointment at school, strife within our family, or struggle with an illness, the “accidents” of our sufferings do not simply go away. However, through my personal experience, particularly in dealing with various sources of pain every day since being diagnosed with lupus many moons ago, I have learned that the very act of offering up such things bearing the Cross joyfully can change the inner character of these experiences from one of anguish and rebellion to one of joy and sanctification Indeed, it can also change the world
The basis of this power lies in the passion of Jesus Christ The victory of our Lord on the Cross did not immediately eradicate suffering, but rather endowed it with redemptive power Invoking another one of his other favorite images Jesus’ Eucharistic presence as “nuclear fission within the very heart of being” Benedict elsewhere added: “He is within us, and we are in him His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world ” Having changed bread and wine into his body and blood, Christ now wishes to transform us into his nature through grace. And we, in turn, have the joyful duty of bringing his work to fruition by consecrating our joys, our sorrows, our work, our families, and indeed all of creation to God. 8
7 Benedict XVI, Homily for the Mass of Corpus Christi (June 15, 2006)
8 Benedict XVI, Homily (August 21, 2005)
MATTHEW RAMAGE, PH.D. is full professor of Theology at Benedictine College where he serves as co-director of its Center for Integral Ecology His research and writing concentrates especially on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, the wedding of ancient and modern methods of biblical interpretation, the dialogue between faith and science, and stewardship of creation
