Many have commented on Pope Francis's choice of name and these rather remarkably Franciscan moves. He's been making in the early weeks
think of when he paid his own bill at the
At the clergy no residents in rome or when he washed the feet of those young
prisoners in Rome or when he spoke at his inaugural, mass of
The need to care for creation, so these kind of remarkably beautifully franciscan gestures and all that of course is true and important
I think we've overlooked too much a very important part of his spirituality which is the connection to Monsignor Luigi
Giussani who's the founder of Communion and Liberation
It's a very interesting movement that began in Italy and now has spread
around the world. I found the article that was written about ten years ago
by then cardinal Bergoglio of course became Pope Francis and it was a
contribution to a book on Giussani and his spirituality.
What Bergoglio talked about was the central theme in Giussani's writing and speaking,
namely the "religious sense"
He said part of Giussani's genius was in engaging the contemporary world
he rarely began with
dogma or doctrine. What he began with was the
awakening of
this often implicit but very powerful religious sensibility which runs in and through most of
human experience.
Where does it express itself? It expresses itself in terms of
very fundamental questions
Where's the world ultimately come from?
What's the ultimate destiny of all things?
What's my life?
Finally about not just my economic success or even my family life and all that, but what it's ultimately about?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Questions such as that now
We religious people know that the ultimate answer to those questions is God
Only God can finally answer those questions, which is why the Bible says only in God is my soul at rest
Why Augustine is I often quote famously said: "Lord, You've made us for yourself"
Therefore our heart that means the part of us that raises those questions is restless until it rests in Thee now
What cardinal Bergoglio saw and I thought was really interesting
Reflecting on this religious sense is that our contemporary
secularist society is
the one that systematically
suppresses these questions
And thereby does tremendous damage both psychological and spiritual to human beings. He specified by saying
secularism as an ideology is concerned above all with
scientific Knowledge, and
economic attainment. Those two great values so the physical sciences absolutely good, important,
useful.
We tend so to valorize
scientific ways of knowing that we block out this more intuitive type of knowing associated with the religious sense.
In the economic realm we so prioritize, so valorized
economic good,
that we leave out these great goods of the spirit that transcend even infinitely transcend
economic good.
Secularism is a
conscious shutting down of the religious sense.
As I say, causing enormous damage to us the same way any kind of
suppressed powerful passion leads to all sorts of problems.
The systematic ideological suppression of the religious which is what you find in secularism does great damage.
You know comes to mind here very much is one of my great intellectual heroes namely Blaise Pascal.
Pascal, the 17th century
scientist, he was first that great mathematician, great scientist who was an eager
participant in the birth of what we now know as the modern sciences.
But right away Pascal understood the importance of the religious sense, which is why he said:
(in French)« Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point »
The heart has its reasons
that reason knows not.
It's not talking about some sentimentalism or some emotionalism. By heart "cœur" in his French he means this
deepest ground of the soul.
Which raises and seeks to answer the religious questions.
"Le cœur", the heart, has its reasons that reason knows not. That means it's a kind of
rationalism if you want that goes beyond the ordinary rationalism of the sciences.
Pascal famously said that we spend much of our lives
diverting ourselves from the fundamental questions. In his french, we engage in "divertissement"
diversions. So in his day and of course he he loved gambling and gaming and all that. Gambling and
womanizing and so on drinking were the diversions of his time. We have all those of course too, but we also have today
I mean think of the internet think of you know trivial texting think of Facebook and all the things good in themselves
I'm using internet right now, but I mean we can use them as "divertissement" as
diversions from the fundamental questions.
Now when Pope Francis speaks of
going out to the "periferia" as the term of using in Italian in a recent
talk the periphery yes
You do think of those on the economic margins of society and that's a very good franciscan instinct
And I think he does mean that the church has to have an instinct for the periphery those on the margins, but I would say
"Periferia" also means those who are on the margins in terms of the religious sense?
Those victims if you want of the secularist ideology
That are suffering from the suppression of these deepest
questions
One of my favorite images from Francis and his you know recent talks is that the shepherd?
Should smell like his sheep. It means that he's telling priests you got to be out
You know with your people close to your people.
So you have the the scent of your people on you?
Well see part of it is shepherd should smell like those who are spiritually on the periphery
Shepherd should get close to those who are victims of the secularist ideology and whose religious sensibility has been
suppressed that I think is a very important Giussani's sort of dimension of
France's call to go to the "periferia".