Jersey Hiradó, 1964 (45. évfolyam, 3-39. szám)

1964-04-10 / 15. szám

April 10, 1964 5 Text of Pope Paul’s Easter Message The folloiving is a translation of the Easter message ivhich Pope Paul VI delivered in Italian from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. Brothers and children of Rome and of the world: Let there ring out once more, in the course of history and upon the face of the earth—in this year of grace 1964, third year of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, and from this city which marks the meeting of human ci­vilization with the divine plan for the world’s salvation—let there ring out the powerful and joyous message: Christ is risen. The Jesus Who was born at Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, Who was foretold by the prophets and was a master in the midst of the people of Israel, Who was by some recognized and loved, but 'by many rejected, execrated, con­demned and crucified, dead and buried, this same Jesus is risen, is truly risen, on the morning of the third day. He lives again with true life, new and supernatural, conquering forever the great en­emy, death. He is risen. How can we spread such a mes­sage in the world? My brothers and my children, listen. It is we who are the wit­nesses of this fact. We are the voice, renewed from year to year throughout history; We are the voice making itself heard in ever widening circles in the world; We are/the voice which repeats the irrefragable testimony of those who first saw Him with their own eyes and touched Him with their hands and learned the unheard of reality of the event which triumphantly surpasses the limits of all natural experience; We are the transmitters from one generation to another, from na­tion to nation, of the life-giving message of the Resurrection of Christ. We are the voice of the Church, founded for this purpose, for this spread throughout the world, for this ever militant, for this living and hoping, for this ready to con­firm its message with its blood. It is the message of the Faith, which like an angelic trumpet­­call rings out again today in Heaven and on earth: He is risen. Christ is risen. Brothers and children, hear Me still. The fact of the Resurrec­tion concerns His history, which is the Gospel, and it concerns His life, human and divine, as it manifested itself in the living person of the word of God, but it also concerns us. In Jesus Christ God’s plan is realized; the mys­tery of the redemption of man­kind, hidden for long ages, is openly revealed: in Christ we are saved. Our destiny depends on Christ, in Christ our problems find their solution, in Christ our sorrows have meaning, in Christ is all we hope for. The Lord’s Resurrection is not an isolated fact, it is a fact which concerns the whole of mankind; from Christ it extends to the world: it has a cosmic importance. And what a source of wonder it is! That tremendous event affects all men born into this world, with diverse and dramatic conse­quences: it permeates the whole family-tree of mankind; Christ is the new Adam, Who infuses into the frail, mortal organism of natural human life a vital new principle, real though too great for words to express; a principle of purifying rebirth, a seed of immortality, a link of living com­munion with Him, Christ, even to the sharing with Him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, in the very life of the infinite God, Whom, again because of the Christ, we can in our happiness call our Father. We should reflect much on this universal value of the Resurrec­tion of Christ, for it is the source of the meaning of the human dra­ma, the solution of the problem of evil, the origin of a new form of life, to which we give the name of Christianity. Recall the song of the deacon at the beginning of last night’s ceremony, a song which is the most sublime poetic expression of hu­man destiny; almost immediately after referring to the source, that is, to the Resurrection of Christ, it goes on to pour itself out in vast, incomparable paeans on the history of salvation, which is the history in which all of us are in­evitably involved. Once we have realized our solidarity with the Resurrection of the Lord, there follow spontaneously many con­sequences, all of them great and wonderful, of which this is one: The restoration—or perhaps We should say the Resurrection — of the sense of religion in men’s con­sciousness. It is on the reality of Christ’s Resurrection that the religion which takes its name and life from Him is founded; and such are the light, the strength, the happiness, the holiness, that spring forth from the Faith kindled by Him in the world that the Christian reli­gion offers not only fulness of peace and joy to whoever pro­fesses it from his heart, but radi­ates around itself an invitation, awakes a desire, stirs up a rest­lessness, sets a target to be aimed at, and so keeps the question of religion ever alive in the world. On this occasion We ought to recall the religious crisis which has developed in so many men of our time for reasons which ought rather to have awakened religious convictions. Arising from cultural, scientific, technical and social progress, these reasons have con­fused the conscience of modern man by giving birth to the feel­ing, and even to the delusion, that of his own power he can be his own master and savior, that he needs no one else to solve the fundamental and even more mys­­térious problems of his own life, and finally that unaided, he can satisfy the insatiable thirst for knowledge, for existence, for hap­piness, and love, which is born with him, which slowly grows within him, and by which he deep­ens and extends his mastery over the world of nature which sur­rounds him. We fully realize the attitudes of those people whose thinking has been penetrated by this experience so typical of our times: some of them are ill at ease in the blind negation of obsolete scientism; others are disturbed; many others are apathetic, hostile, almost re­signed to the conclusion that life lacks direction and purpose; among more thoughtful people, many are worried by the decay of that religious consciousness which is at the base of the most solid and the most valuable achieve­ments of the human spirit. Whatever be the position which you wh§ hear these words have adopted regarding religion, to all of you, from this summit to which the Christian Easter has raised us, we extend the invitation to wel­come the message of light which comes to the world through the Resurrection of Christ, which is such an event as to constitute at the same time a motive for be­lieving in Him and an object of that very belief. His Resurrection BREAKFAST SPEAKER—Wil­liam Falcey, Mercer County clerk and Civil Defense coor­dinator, will be guest speaker April 12 at the annual break­fast of St. Augustine’s Holy Name Society, Franklin Park. Members will receive Holy Com­munion at the 8 o’clock Mass, after which the breakfast will be served at the Holiday Inn, Route 1, Princeton. Edward W. Cadmus Jr. and President James Brennan are co-chairmen. Mr. Falcey will speak on the role of the Catholic layman. stands at the peak of human rea-| son, which seeks and wants to see and to know the truth. His Resurrection is found at the very beginning of that supreme cer­tainty of religious truth as accep­ted by faith which floods the soul with the power and sweetness of the Word of God. A correct and sure evaluation both of man and of human life is desired by the mature critics of modern thought as well as by per­sonal experience stimulated by social development. Man today needs to recover this evaluation. He needs an illumination which by himself he cannot find. Those of you who have partici­pated in that symbolic, lovely, extremely significant ceremony which has brought joy to the Easter vigil of the faithful must be moved by the growing echo of the triple announcement made at the lighting of the white candle: Lumen Christi, behold the Light of God. “The light shines in the darkness,” proclaims the prologue of the Gospel according to St. John. One needs wisdom, courage and joy to answer: Deo Gratias. Thank you, O God, for having kindled in the Paschal sacrifice of Christ a providential light in the darkness which enfolded man and the universe. Every religion has in itself sparks of light which must be neither despised nor extinguished, even though they be insufficient to give man that clarity which he needs or to achieve the miracle of the light of Christianity which makes truth coincide with life. But even natural religion raises us to; the transcendent level of that being without whom there is no sufficient reason for exist­ing, for thinking, for working, nor any basis for hope which is free from deception. Every genuine re­ligious truth is the dawn of faith, and we are waiting for it in the best dawn, in the full splendor of Christian wisdom. But We beg those who have no religion or who are against reli­gion to judge for themselves that they are laboring under the weight of irrational dogmas, of contradic­tory doubts that leave no peace, or absurdities without escape, of maledictions caused by despair and nothingness. Perhaps some of you have in­exact or more repugnant concepts of religion; perhaps your idea of faith is erroneous: that it offends against intelligence, it shackles progress, humiliates man, brings sadness to his life. Perhaps some of you are more eager and therefore wihout know­ing it more prepared to catch the gleam of the light, for if you do not lie in idleness and ignorance, the gloom of your atheism will di­late the pupil of your eyes in or­der to strive to read in the dark the answer to the why and where­fore of things. Today We intend to show only one ray of the light of Easter, for all who desire to catch it, as a greeting, a gift, or at least a sign of Our great love, especially for you, Christians, for you, faith­ful Catholics, who already are are open to receive this light. The first ray of Easter which is the risen life of Christ is in us who really strive to lead Christian lives. It is joy. Christianity is joy. The faith is joy. Grace is joy. Remember this, all men, my sons and brothers and friends. Christ is the joy, the true joy of the world. It is true that Christian life is austere; it is no stranger to pain and self-denial; it demands pen­ance and sacrifice; it accepts the Cross, and, when the time comes, bravely goes out to meet suffering and death. But in its essential manifesta­tion Christian life is happiness. Recall the program of life laid down by Christ in the discourse on the beatitudes. You will see that it is substantially positive. Christian life is a' force that liberates, purifies, transforms. Everything is reduced to the good, to joy in Christian living. It is human. But it is more than hu­man, for it is permeated by the vivifying and ineffable presence of the spirit, the consoler, the spirit of Christ, Who comforts and sus­tains it, and gives it the power to perform superior acts of believing, of hoping, of loving. It is su­premely optimistic and creative. It enjoys happiness today in ex­pectation of perfect happiness to­morrow. Why do We stress this aspect of the Paschal feast? Why do We reduce life lived in accordance with religious principles to human happiness? It is easily understood. For We wish all men to experience the claims of Christianity, which is no other than the derivation of the mystery of Easter in its most genuine expression—the complete solution of the problems of man­kind. To you, therefore, who aie suf­fering We specially direct our Easter greetings; may you who still hunger and thirst after jus­tice, you who labor and are weary, may you have a joyful and consol­ing Easter. We also send our Eas­ter greetings to the young, you who have the instinct for joy, hop­ing that you will know how to find the source of joy, beyond the merely sensible, beyond pleasur­able things, beyond worldly suc­cess, in the profound reality of life, which Christ alone reveals. To you, Christians, specially We send our Easter greetings, so that you will learn to relish what you possess, so that you may give to the world the testimony it needs, the testimony of true happiness. And while We extend Our greet­ings to Rome, to the Church, to Our brethren still separated from us, to all believers in God, and also to unbelievers or those who no longer believe, We impart to all mankind, to the whole world, as a testimony of truth and of life, Our Apostolic Benediction. MISSIONARY — FORMER TRENTONIAN Working in Midwest — Sorely Needs Your Help MUST BUY NEW BUS TO TRANSPORT CATHOLIC CHILDREN TO SCHOOL BOURBON, MO. — Population 800 - 1% Catholic 40 children enrolled in Catholic School YOU CAN HELP US GET THE NEW BUS BY Sending ALL TRADE STAMPS To: Father John B. DeAngelis Box 38, Bourbon, Mo. Father DeAngelis attended grade school at Imrr~ ' Concep­tion and St. Joachim’s in Trenton; Seton Hail •''•Sty »»4 Darlington Seminary. SÄLÄMANDRA LIQUOR STORE 900 CHESTNUT AVENUE — PHONE: 393-4040 — 393-4954 SALAMANDRA BRAND CALIFORNIA WINE VEDMABITy Burgundy, Zinfandel, ^ É FI Barberone, Chianti *1.85 *«*« 3.15 *■*>"

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