REMEMBERING GOOD POPE JOHN
Komonchak, Joseph A.
Ferment In hardscrabble hills stubborn old men still, with forty dollars of off-the-shelf hardware, cobble together a maze to draw the moon through mash and jug the spirit they'll lug...
...The failure of the canonization effort at the council, especially the linkage with Pius XII, deeply disappointed some peo- ple who saw it as emblematic of the failure of Vatican II to live up to the goals of John XXIII...
...Pope John spoke of the importance of self-knowledge and the dangers of trusting too much in one's own ideas...
...RoncaUi found gentleness and humility--and patience--too often lacking in churchmen...
...he preferred the style of Saint Francis de Sales to that of Saint Jerome...
...If he knew his own temptation was to be too patient and to keep quiet, he found the opposite vices even more dangerous, whether within his own household or in public affairs...
...He did mean that his idea was not entirely his own ("My merit your mercy," was another favorite adage), and that its divine grace was confirmed when he brought the idea to his closest advisers...
...Long before he spoke of "prophets of doom" in his opening speech to the council, he was critical of those who did nothing but bemoan the evils of the modern world...
...RussJennings ond grace" for which he was grateful: "To have been able to accept as simple and practicable certain ideas which were not at all complex in themselves, indeed quite simple, but far- reaching in their effects and future significance, and with immediate success...
...In some press accounts this act was linked with the expected beati- fication, not of Pius XII, but of Pius IX...
...The image of the "medicine of mercy" which he famously contrasted to the "weapons of severity" was anticipated years earlier when he spoke of the duty of bishops "to spread the balsamic oil of sweetness over the wounds of humanity...
...he was also being besieged with requests for the canoniza- tion of Pius XII...
...It does not profit these arthritic acolytes to wait the smoky taste and amber cast believed to inspirit seers or poets seeking the clear unambiguous distillate of hope...
...The con- viction that God was s~ll present and active in the world, as in the church, lay behind his frequent remark that the church is not a museum of antiques but a living garden of life...
...A caress is better than a sting," he once wrote...
...Why does no one speak of the "naive pessimism" of those who blame every- thing on the devil...
...John XXIII, it may surprise some, would proba- bly be pleased by the association: several times in his diary he expressed the hope that he himself could canonize Pius IX...
...We prefer instead to reaffirm all our confidence in our Savior who has not abandoned the world which he redeemed...
...it made him "inclined to gather the good wherever he finds it, not wasting time and energies on investigating evils...
...He did not mean that God had tapped him on the shoulder and whispered the word "council" in his ear...
...When he saw evil, he was able to iden- tify and denounce it...
...His reasons were three- fold: the problem of departing from the ordinary process...
...The early stages in the canonization process proceeded apace but then stalled...
...Instead, on November 18, 1965, Paul VI announced that he was authorizing the in- troduction of the causes of both John XXIII and Pius XII and that the process would follow the normal procedures...
...Distrust- ful souls," he wrote in December 1961, "see only darkness burdening the face of the earth...
...Pope John's canonization should help to illuminate the Commonweal | 4" August 11,2000...
...Indeed, we make our own the recommendation of Jesus that we learn to distinguish 'the signs of the times,' and we seem to see now in the midst of so much darkness more than a few indications that augur well for the fate of the church and of humanity...
...Ferment In hardscrabble hills stubborn old men still, with forty dollars of off-the-shelf hardware, cobble together a maze to draw the moon through mash and jug the spirit they'll lug along pot-holed paths in smoky woods...
...and, it seems, because some of the propos- als subtly implied a contrast between what was taken to be John XXIII's vision of the council and the orientations his successor was thought to be giving it...
...Ill f Roncalli had died as patriarch of Venice, he certainly would not be widely remembered ~ today...
...Proof that one should accept the good in- spirations of the Lord 'simply and confidently.'" He went on to illustrate the point by what he called the "inspiration" to call the council...
...Pope Paul VI refused...
...But where he differed from many of his predecessors and contemporaries was in the spirit of faith and confidence with which he faced the world...
...It was and is common for "Good Pope John's" openness to be dismissed as "naive optimism...
...He was grateful for the thirty years of con- tact with a larger world than that of the Roman curia...
...In the aftermath of Vatican II, however, the nearly universal grief that followed his death led to proposals that the council canonize him by ac- clamation...
...This connection sug- gests a desire to link the two Vatican Councils, the present pope and other high Vatican officials being concerned to offset efforts to view Vatican II as a "rupture" of the church's tradition...
...It was Pope John Paul II who insist- ed that it be vigorously pursued, and earlier this year it was announced that the beatification of John XXIII will take place on September 3, the feast of Gregory the Great...
Vol. 127 • August 2000 • No. 14
