On a year that is ending, we often cast a furtive glance. Don't linger too long. You never know how many things you've forced yourself to bury in memory might pop up again, like those impromptu, rude and irritating pop-ups on the Internet. The exercise that can be performed is to concentrate very strongly to extract the important events; the events that will make it possible to understand why they mattered so much; how they turned out to be decisive. It is also important not to lose sight of when the event occurs.
Travelogue
In the shadow of Ernesto Sabato
When Ernesto Sabato passed away on April 30 at the age of 99, he repeated the words of Maria Zambrano to himself: To die, this elusive action which is carried out by obeying, happens beyond reality, in another realm . In his house in Santos Lugarès (“Holy Places” near Buenos Aires), Ernesto Sabato obeys this last injunction. He has been preparing for it for a long time. In Resistance , his moving literary testament published in 2002, he wrote: I forgot large parts of my life, but, on the other hand, certain encounters, moments of danger and the names of those who pulled me out of depressions and bitterness still throbs in my hands. And yours too, you who believe in me, who have read my books and are going to help me die.
Monsignor Centene...
The Vannetais are well off people. The homily of Monsignor Centène in the Saint-Pierre de Vannes cathedral last Sunday is invigorating. This is not the first time that the homilies of Monseigneur Centène have been cited on Catholic sites, and given the quality of these, it is not about to end.
Priest "Generation Benoit XVI"
Dear Father,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome your departure. Not that I am happy that you are leaving the chapel of Notre-Dame du Lys, but because I am happy to have met you and that you are continuing your priesthood by showing the example of the priest according to Benoit XVI.
Yesterday, for the feast of the Holy Trinity, you celebrated your last mass according to the extraordinary rite in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. In this pious little chapel, where you arrived in 2009 when the diocese of Paris began to assume responsibility for the chapel and to appoint priests to its service. And while you had already been ordained a priest for almost ten years, you learned to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 missal! A great lesson in humility! You have cast yourself in the mold of the bi-millennial form. To meet the request of your superiors, but also that of a group of die-hard faithful lovers of the extraordinary rite.
Newman and Socrates
The links between ancient Greek philosophy and Christianity are numerous. The most famous of the Greek precepts: Gnothi Seauton , "Know thyself", inscribed in Delphi retains a certain mystery. Another end of the sentence has stuck with us: “But not too much”… Know yourself… But not too much! Plato leads Socrates to reflect on the Delphic formula in the Philebus :
SOCRATES: In short, it is a species of vice which takes its name from a particular habit, and this part of vice in general is a disposition contrary to that recommended by the Delphi inscription.
PROTARCHUS: It is a precept: know thyself, that thou speakest, Socrates?SOCRATES: Yes, and the opposite of this precept, in the language of the inscription, would be not to know oneself at all.
"Know thyself" in order to improve yourself, to erase in you what hinders your development. Not knowing himself is already a fault for Socrates. "But not too much", because man so easily believes himself much more than he is, son of Adam, man is the plaything of his presumption. “But not too much” so as not to take yourself for a god.
This is one of the foundations of Greek culture, the idea of knowing oneself, the idea of wisdom, of advancing in wisdom, but also the feeling that if you dig too deep, surprises can arise, and not necessarily good. The Greeks were very aware of man's weaknesses, his shortcomings. The Greeks are even, with the Christians, those who have most highlighted the possibility of human weakness, it is also what makes them so close to us. The weakness of man is expressed in their gospels, the tragedies. Pity and terror are the two pillars. Know yourself… but not too much.
Commemorative phrase
A friend contacted me to ask me for the exact quote from Ernst Jünger (taken from Orages d'acier ) that we liked to repeat among officers of the 2nd foreign infantry regiment. I write it on this blog as I remember that General Antoine Lecerf liked this quote and it fits him like a glove:
It has been given to us to live in the invisible rays of great feelings, this will remain our priceless privilege.
And by Saint Antoine… (Death of General Antoine Lecerf)
Antoine is no more. He left on Good Friday. April 22, 2011. He is in the house of the Father. Antoine is Antoine Lecerf . Lieutenant General Antoine Lecerf. A master of war. A brilliant leader of men. One of the most extraordinary men I have known.
When you first met Antoine Lecerf, there was this frank and firm handshake, but there was immediately something else; something about charisma. Antoine Lecerf is said to have charmed snakes. He shook your hand and immediately there was a spell. He wanted to know right away if you were with him, if you were ready, if you supported his project. Which project ? There was a new one every five minutes. And he didn't drop any. He thought fast, but his friendship lasted a long time. He wanted to know if you were with him and he had an infallible way of knowing it: he shook your hand, he kept it, his face approached yours, he came to meet you, he wanted to know. He shook your hand, he kept it, his face approached yours and he wrinkled his left eyelid a little as if to improve his visual acuity, as if to be sure of what he was going to see, of what you were going to reveal to him. His squinted eye, that penetrating gaze was looking for something. He was looking for that little flame. He wanted to know if you too were animated. Antoine Lecerf only consorted with lively people. Nothing interested him more than to know if you were too, or even to a lesser degree if you could be (which was enough to satisfy him, because the potential had a special value for him). Antoine Lecerf chose you. And nothing was less the result of chance.
Continue reading “And by Saint Antoine… (Death of General Antoine Lecerf)”
Emotion at Notre-Dame du Lys
It is a very beautiful emotion that all the assistance of the faithful of Notre-Dame du Lys felt this morning at the holy mass at 11:15 a.m. A delegation of Iraqi Christians from Baghdad was present as well as an Iraqi priest who had simple and touching words to testify to the massacre last October in Baghdad's cathedral. The recall of the facts by one of the witnesses of this carnage transported the assembly for a few seconds in deep contemplation. The young Iraqis present followed the Mass of the Extraordinary Rite with fervor and contemplation. Father Charles Fazilleau's beautiful sermon has been translated into Arabic so that Iraqis can learn the lessons of this Passion Sunday.
On leaving the chapel, the smiles and handshakes exchanged with these young men from the Orient who had already been so tried in their faith were a moving and joyful moment. Well beyond the language barrier, an infinite joy was reflected in the eyes. The joy of being alive in Christ.
original fault
Despite Shûsaku Endo's doubts as to the true Christianity of the Japanese evoked in the admirable "Silence", it also seems to me that the Japanese have a real fundamental point in common with the Christian in the ease with which they the place of the other. Is this not one of the founding bases of Christianity, one of these archetypes of the Discourse on the Montage, to always think that our effort has not been important enough, pronounced enough, for the understanding emerges? Of course, I see the weakness of the reasoning: the Japanese tirelessly try to put themselves in the place of the other culturally; he also wishes to make himself better understood; he does not know guilt, but shame… The Christian must put himself in the place of the other because he thinks that the fault comes from him, which does not mean that he has committed the fault, but rather than the lack of attention to the other caused him not to work hard enough to prevent the fault.
Forgive me, there will always be something left...
In this little reflection on forgiveness, I just wanted to come back to the inadequacy of saying sorry. Forgiveness is sometimes extremely difficult. I admit I still have some grudges deep in my heart. I constantly confess them and ask for a little grace to soften the hardness of my heart, but no, nothing really helps, and I have rather learned to live with this hardness that I have despite everything managed to circumscribe, that I sincerely and intimately forgave. Why ? Why can't I grind this hardness of heart to dust? She seems stronger than me and that worries me, I can't hide it.
Continue reading “Forgive, there will always be something left…”