Benedict XVI made the announcement during his general audience. In his speech to those present the pope spoke of theology according to St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, for whom there is an “arrogant” way to do theology, a pride of reason which places itself above the word of God. But true theology is driven by the desire to know ever better and more the beloved.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Pope will sign his letter to the faithful of Ireland March 19, the letter that will address the difficult situation in the Church there in the wake of cases of child abuse that occurred in the past within church structures. Benedict XVI himself announced it today, addressing the faithful of the English language present among the 11 thousand people who attended the general audience. "As you know - he told them - in recent months, the Church in Ireland has been severely shaken by the crisis of child abuse. As a token of my deep concern, I have written a pastoral letter to address this painful situation. I will sign it on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family and patron of the universal Church, and send it immediately. I ask that you read it yourselves, with an open heart and in a spirit of faith. My hope is that it can help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal. "    

"Theology that is dictated by the love of God," was instead the subject of Pope Benedict’s address to the faithful this week, describing what differentiates and unites two great theologians of the thirteenth century, St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas. The first, a Franciscan theologian speaks of "an arrogant way of doing theology, a pride of reason which places itself above the word of God.  Rather true theology, the rational work of true theology has a different origin, not the pride of reason. Those who love want to know better and more their beloved. "  

Then sketching the features of the thought of the two great theologians, Benedict XVI exemplified that for "St. Thomas, the supreme end to which our wish is directed is to see God.  In this simple act of seeing God we find solution to all problems: we are happy and nothing else is needed".   "For St. Bonaventure, the ultimate destiny of man is: loving God, to meet and join His love with our love.   This is for him is the most appropriate definition of happiness.".   "In this line, we could also say that the highest category for St. Thomas is truth, while for St. Bonaventure it is good." But "it would be wrong” to see a contradiction between the two. "For both the true is also good, and the good is also true; to see God is to love and to love is to see God. These are different accents of a fundamentally common vision. Both accents have formed different traditions and spirituality and so many have shown the fruitfulness of faith, each one in the diversity of its expressions".

St. Bonaventure, then studying a new translation of Pseudo-Dionysius, the sixth-century Syrian theologian, says that in "the ascent to God you can get to a point where reason no longer sees. But in the intellectual darkness love still sees, it sees all that remains inaccessible to reason. Love is beyond reason; it sees more, goes more deeply into the mystery of God".  "In the dark night of the Cross, the greatness of divine love; where reason no longer sees, love sees." "This is not anti-intellectual and is not anti-rational: it presupposes the path of reason, but transcends it in the love of Christ crucified. With this transformation of the mystic of Pseudo-Dionysius, St. Bonaventure places himself at the beginning of a great mystical current, which has elevated and purified the human mind: it is a summit in the history of the human spirit. "  

In conclusion, Benedict XVI said that for St. Bonaventure "our whole life is a journey, a pilgrimage, an ascent to God. But using our own forces – he ended - we can not arrive at the height of God, God must help, he must 'pull us' upwards. This is why we need prayer. Prayer, the saint would say, is the mother and the origin of elevation, an action that leads us upwards on high".

 

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