Ephesians 4:1-16
Today is a rare day on the Anglican calendar, wherein we commemorate the life of a modern-day Pope of the Roman Church! John XXIII (now a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church) was a great reformer, convening the Second Vatican Council.
From For All the Saints (Toronto: ABC Publishing, 2007):
John XXIII 4 June
Bishop of Rome, Reformer, 1963 — Commemoration
John XXIII convened the second Vatican Council in 1962 and
thereby launched Roman Catholics into the modern renewal of
their Church. We specially remember him because of his ecumenical
concerns. He himself once remarked to an Anglican
priest: “Whenever I see a wall between Christians, I try to pull
out a brick.”
Born as Angelo Roncalli in 1885, he entered seminary at the age
of ten. Ordained priest in 1904, he spent the next decade as secretary
to the bishop of Bergamo, one of the most enlightened
prelates of his time and place.
After the end of the first World War, Roncalli’s career in the
Church developed rapidly. In 1934 he was appointed Apostolic
Delegate in Turkey and Greece. His predecessors in the post
had confined their dealings with the Orthodox to official business;
Roncalli went out of his way to develop cordial relations
with the Oecumenical Patriarch himself.
During the second World War, Roncalli used his office as Apostolic
Delegate to help Jews escape from German control, and
towards the end of the war he arranged relief supplies for the
starving Greeks. In 1944 he was appointed Papal Nuncio to the
newly liberated France, and nine years later was made Patriarch
of Venice.
Roncalli was elected Pope in 1958, and took the name John
XXIII. At the age of seventy-three, he had been chosen as a
“caretaker” Pope. But John quickly made it clear that he did not
intend to doze in the Chair of Peter. He inaugurated a series of
administrative reforms and established the Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity. Then, on October 11, 1962, he opened
the second Vatican Council.
At about this time John was told that he had an inoperable cancer.
He replied: “Don’t worry about me, because my bags are
packed. I’m ready to go.” Undeterred by his illness, he spent
the last months of his life mediating between American and
Soviet leaders in order to broaden the scope of their nucleardisarmament
talks. He died in early June, 1963.
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You might also find the following post, by my friend Dr. Greg Hillis of Bellarmine University, perhaps the Manny Lee or Ernie Whitt of the patristics world. It originally appeared in December 2013 on his excellent blog, My Unquiet Heart.
Thomas Merton & Blessed Pope John XXIII
Today is the 45th anniversary of Thomas Merton's death. I've written elsewhere about Merton's impact on me in my early 20's. After reading The Seven Storey Mountain when I was 23, I scrambled to read everything I could by Merton, and was particularly taken with his journals (I still consider his autobiographical writings to be his best stuff). I was so smitten with Merton, in fact, that in a moment of youthful exuberance I had a drawing by Merton tattooed on my shoulder; the drawing is of a monk. (On a side note, my kids love this tattoo and address the monk on my shoulder simply as "Tom".)
I now find myself at Bellarmine University, at which the Merton Center - the official repository of Merton's literary and artistic estate - is located, and I live a short 45 minute drive from the Abbey of Gethsemani, which I visit regularly, often with students. Honestly, I can't believe my luck.
I'm currently working on a project on Cyril of Alexandria that I hope to finish very soon, after which my goal is to devote far more time to reading and writing about Merton. Not long ago I went to a lecture by Michael Higgins on Merton and Pope John XXIII. It led me to look up some of Merton's thoughts on Pope John XXIII in his journals, and I was struck by how much his reaction to John XXIII mirrors the reaction of so many to Pope Francis. On this "Feast Day" of Merton, therefore, I thought I'd quote his thoughts on the soon to be canonized pope, both at the beginning of his pontificate and at the end.
Less than two weeks after Pope John XXIII's election, Merton writes:
John XXIII seems to me to be a most wonderful Pope and I love him already very much - he is a kind of simple person with a lot of good sense and all of a sudden he seems to me, for this, for his simplicity, to be a great man and I cannot help feeling right away that perhaps he is a saint. My kind of saint - who smokes a cigarette after dinner. (I have got over the idea that this would immediately disqualify him - that went out ten years ago.)
And upon learning of John XXIII's death, he writes:
May he rest in peace, this great and good Father, whom I certainly loved, and who has been good to me, sending me the stole and many blessings. And I don't think he has stopped being a father to us, to me. He will one day be canonized, I think (if we last that long), and I do not hesitate to ask for his intercession now.
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Those who have read Merton's famous autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, will know that the young Merton was rather judgemental regarding the Anglican Church. Thankfully, he warmed to it over the years. In writing to a reader in the 1960s, Merton comments that "[i]t is, unfortunately, so easy and so usual simply to compare the dark side of someone else's Church with the bright side of one's own. Thank heaven we are getting over that now, I hope."
Even though things might move slower than we'd like, thank heaven we are moving in some bright directions, and thank heaven for saints like John XXIII, who are bold enough to look forward and outward.
- Matthew Kieswetter
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