archives

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York

Over the last year, Pope Benedict XVI has significantly sharpened his environmental message – not just in word but also in deed, approving plans, for example, to put solar cells atop the Paul VI Audience Hall and to replant trees in a stretch of Hungarian forest in order to offset the Vatican’s annual carbon output.

In his annual message for the World Day of Peace, released today in a Vatican news conference, he once again returns to the urgency of effective ecological safeguards, insisting that “the problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short.”

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, December 11, 2007
	Vol. 2, No. 16

Where did Jesus learn his visionary nonviolence, those spectacular Sermon on the Mount teachings? Luke makes it clear: from his mother. Mary's Advent journey moves from the Annunciation as a scene of contemplative nonviolence to the Visitation as the practice of active nonviolence, and finally to the Magnificat, as a public proclamation, the epitome of prophetic nonviolence (Luke 1:46-56). I think Jesus learned the lessons of revolutionary nonviolence from his mother's manifesto.

The joy of the Christmas season is here. Love reigns. Finding smiles and laughter always seems easier. Advent is a time of preparation, and each year marks a new beginning. Every year the old meets the new.

I have added meditations on Vatican II to my Advent “to-do” list. I can’t help but feel the need to work harder to integrate the old and the new. Vatican II was the recognition that our world is always changing and that we will change with it, whether we want to or not. At times we may find ourselves feeling frustrated by, or fearful of, the inability to find a consensus with regard to a specific application of the teachings of Christ, and prayer always helps us to find consensus. Vatican II was not a single event in time. Some people find great comfort in salvation history, while others feel an urgent need for spiritual progress or evolution. We are two sides of the same coin, a coin that cannot be split apart. The teachings of Jesus were progressive; some saw them as radical. The teachings of Jesus were also faithful to tradition. We need to support and understand both sides of the coin, if we are to succeed. Below are some helpful Christmas meditations for embracing Vatican II, both the Old and the New.

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The gift of contemplative prayer
Trappist Fr. Thomas Keating speaks on the ancient and modern origins of contemplative prayer, which he calls Centering Prayer, and its place in our lives. He sees contemplative prayer as a gift from God, allowing us to open to the Spirit in a deeper and much needed way.