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S UPPLEMENT THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1964 The Renewal - Dedicated of throwing overboard every restraint and incon venience from the conduct of life finds the disci pline of Christian ascetism burdensome and futile. Sometimes even the apostolic desire of ap proaching the secular milieu or of making oneself acceptable to modern mentality, especially that of youth, leads up to a rejection of the forms prop er to Christian life and even of its very dignity, which must give meaning and strength to this eagerness for approach and educative influence. Is it not perhaps true that often the young clergy of indeed even some zealous Religious moved by the good intention of penetrating the masses or particular groups, tend to get mixed up with them instead of remaining apart, thus sacrificing the true efficacy of their apostolate to some scrrt of useless imitation? It is not conformity to the spirit of the world, not immunity from the discipline of reasonable asceticism, not indifference to the laxity of mod ern behavior, not emancipation from the au thority of prudent and lawful superiors, not apathy with regard to the contradictory forms of modern thought, that can give vigor to the Church, or make her fit to receive the influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or render her following of Christ more genuine, or give her the anxious yearning of fraternal charity and the ability to communicate her message. These things come from her aptitude to live according to divine grace, her faithfulness to the Gospel of the Lord, her hierarchical and communal unity. The Christian is not soft and cowardly, he Is strong and faithful. We realize how long this letter would be if we were to indicate even the main lines of the modern program of the Christian life, and we do not intend to enter into such an undertaking now. You, more over, know what the moralneedsof our time are, and you will not cease to call the faithful to an un derstanding of the dignity, purity and austerity of the Christian life, nor will you fail to denounce, as best you can, and even publicly, the moral dangers and vices from which our age is suffer ing. We all remember the solemn exhortations which Holy Scripture addresses to us: '*! know of all thy doings, all thy toil and endurance; how little pat ience thou hast with wickedness” (Apoc. 2:2) and all of us will strive to be watchful and diligent pastors. The council is to give to us, too, new and salutary instructions, and all of us must cer tainly prepare ourselves now to hear them and carry them out. But we do not wish to forego commenting brief ly on two points, which we consider to concern principal needs and duties and which can provide matter for reflection on the general lines of the renewal of ecclesiastical life. We refer first of all to the spirit of poverty. We consider that it was so proclaimed in the holy Gospel, that it is so much a part of the plan of our destination to the Kingdom of God. It is so much in danger because of the great store the modem mind sets by possessions, that it is so necessary to helpus to understand so many of our weaknesses and failures in the past and to show us what our way of life should be and what is the best way to announce the religion of Christ to souls. And, finally, it is so difficult to practice it as we ought, that we presume to mention it explicitly in this our message. We do this, not because we have the in tention of issuing special canonical regulations on the subject, but rather to ask of you, venerable brethren, the comfort of your agreement, your counsel and your example. We look to you as the authoritative voice which interprets the better impulses by which the Spirit of Christ manifests itself in the Church, to tell us how pastors and people ought to adapt their lan guage and conduct to poverty today. As the Apostle admonishes us, "Yours is to be the same mind which Christ Jesus showed” (Phil. 2:5). We look to you to say how we should, together, propose for the life of the Church those directives which must base our confidence more upon the help of God and the goods of the spirit than upon temporal means. These must remind us, and teach the world, that spiritual goods take precedence over economic goods, and that we should limit and subordinate the possession and use of the latter insofar as they are useful for the right exercise of our apostolic mission. The brevity of this allusion to the nobility and necessity of the spirit of poverty which characte rizes the Gospel of Christ, does not exempt us from our duty of remarking that this spirit does not prevent us from understanding making lawful use of economic reality’. This has assumed an enormous and far-reaching importance in the de velopment of modern civilization, particularly in its consequences for society. We consider, indeed, that the inner freedom which is derived from the spirit of evangelical poverty makes us more sen sitive to, and more capable of understanding the hu man aspects of economic questions, by applying to wealth and to the progress it can effect the just and often severe standard of judgment that they require, by giving to indigence our most solici tous and generous attention, and finally, by ex pressing the wish that economic goods be not the source of conflicts, of selfishness and of pride among men, but that they be used in justice and equity for the common good and, accordingly, dis tributed with greater foresight. Whatever concerns these economic goods— goods inferior to those that are spiritual and eter nal, but necessary in this present life—find in the man who has studied the Gospel the capacity'need ed to form a wise scale of values and to coope rate in projects beneficial to mankind. Science, technolog)’ and, particularly, labor become the ob ject of our keenest Interest. The bread which they produce becomes sacred for table and for altar. The social teachings of the Church leave no doubt on this subject, and we are pleased to take this opportunity’ of reaffirming our close ad herence to such salutary teachings. The other point we should like to mention is that of the spirit of charity. But is not this subject al ready in the forefront of your minds? Is not chari ty the focal point of the religious economy of the Old Testament and the New? Is it not to charity that the progress of spiritual experience in the Church leads? May it not be that charity is the ever more illuminating and joyful discovery that theology, on the one hand, and piety, on the other, are making in the never-ending meditation on the scriptural and sacramental treasures of which the Church is heir, guardian, mistress and dis penser? We consider, with our predecessors, with the bright company of saints which our age has given to the Church on earth and in heaven, and with the devout instinct of the faithful, that charity should assume today its rightful position, that is, the first and the highest, in the scale of religious and moral values. Not only should this be in theoreti cal estimation, but also by being put into practice in the Christian life. Let this be so of the charity towards God, which His charity poured out upon us, and true also of the charity which in return we should display towards our neighbors, that is to say, the human race. Charity explains all things. Charity inspires all things. Charity makes all things possible. Charity renews all things. Chari ty “sustains, believes, hopes, endures to the last” (I Cor. 13:7). Who is there among us who does not know these things? And, if we know them, is not this, perhaps, the hour of charity? This vision of humble and profound Christian perfection leads our thoughts to Mary most holy, for she reflects this revision most perfectly and wonderfully in herself; she lived it on earth and now in heaven she rejoices in its glory and beatitude. Devotion to Mary is happily flourishing in the Church today; and we, on this occasion, gladly turn our thoughts to her to admire in the Blessed Virgin, mother of Christ (and therefore, the mother of God and the mother of us) the model of Christian perfection, the mirror of true vir tues, the pride of true humanity. We regard devotion to Mary as a source of Gos pel teaching. InourpilgrimagetotheHoly Land we wished to learn the lesson of real Christianity from her, the most blessed, lovable, humble and immaculate creature, whose privilege it was to give to the Word of God hum an flesh in its pristine and innocent beauty. To her now we turn our im ploring gaze as to a loving mistress of life, while we discuss with you, venerable brethren, the spirital and moral regeneration of the life of Holy Church. Ill THE DIALOGUE There is a third attitude which the Catholic Catholic Church should adopt at this period in the history of the world, an attitude characterized by study of the contacts which the Church ought to maintain with humanity. If the Church acquires an ever-growing awareness of itself, and if the Church tries to model itself on the ideal which Christ proposes to it, the result is that the Church becomes radically different from the human en vironment in which it, of course, lives or which it approaches. The Gospel makes us recognize such a distinc tion when it speaks to us of "the world”, i.e., of humanity opposed both to the light of faith and to the gift of grace, of humanity which exalts itself in a naive optimism which believes that its own energies suffice to give man complete, lasting, and beneficent self-expression. Originally, of hu manity which plunges itself into a crude form of pessimism which declares its own vices, weak nesses and moral ailments to be fatal, incurable, and perhaps even desirable as manifestations of freedom and of authenticity. The Gospel, which recognizes, denounces, pities and cures human misfortunes with penetrating and sometimes with heart-rending sincerity, does not yield to any illusions about the natural goodness of man (as if he were sufficient unto himself and as if he needed nothing else than to be left free to express himself according to his whims), nor to any despairing resignation to the incurable cor ruption of human nature. The Gospel is light, it is newness, it is energy, it is rebirth, it is salvation. Hence, it both creates and defines a type ofnewlife, about which the New' Testament teaches us a continuous and remark able lesson which is expressed in the warning of St. Paul: "You must not fall in with the manners of this world; there must be an Inward change, a remaking of your minds, so that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing” (Rom. 12, 2). This distinction between the life of the Christian and the life of the worldling also derives from the reality and from the consequent recognition of the sanctification produced in us by our sharing in the Paschal mystery and, above all, in holy Baptism, which, as was said above, is and ought to be con sidered a true rebirth. Again St. Paul reminds us of this truth: ”We who were taken up into Christ by Baptism have been taken up, all of us, into his death. In our Baptism, we have been buried with him, died like him, that is, just as Christ was raised up by his Father’s power from the dead, we too might live and move in a new kind of existence” (Rom. 6, 3-4), It will not be amist if the Christian of today keeps always in view his original and wondrous form of life which should not only sustain him with the happiness that results from his dignity but also protect him from an environment which threatens him with the contagion of human wretchedness and with the seduction of human glory. See how St. Paul himself formed the Christians of the primitive Church: “You must not consent to be yokefellows with unbelievers. What has inno cence to do with lawlessness? What is there in common between light and darkness? How can a believer throw in his lot with an infidel?” (2 Cor. 6, 14-15). Christian education will always have to remind the student today of his privileged position and of his resultant duty to live in the world but not in the way of the world, according to the above- mentioned prayer of Jesus for His Disciples: "I am not asking that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them clear of what is evil. They do not belong to the world, as I, too, do not belong to the world” (Jn. 17, *5-16). And the Church adopts this prayer as its own. But this distinction is not a separation. Neither is it indifference or fear or contempt. When the Church distinguishes itself from human nature, it does not oppose itself to human nature, but rather unites itself to it. Just as the doctor who, realiz ing the danger inherent in a contagious disease, not only tries to protect himself and others from such Infection, but also dedicates himself to cur ing those who have been stricken, so too the Church does not make an exclusive privilege of the mercy which the divine goodness has shown it, nor does it distort its own good fortune into a reason for disinterest in those who have not shar ed it. Rather in its own salvation it finds an argu ment for interest in and for love for anyone who is either close to it and can at least be approached through universal effort to share its blessings. If, as we said before, the Church has a true realization of what the Lord wishes it to be, then within the Church there arises a unique sense of fullness and a need for outpouring, together with the clear awareness of a mission which trans cends the Church, of a message to be spread. It is the duty of evangelization. It is the missionary mandate. It is the apostolic commission. An attitude of preservation of the Faith is insuf ficient. Certainly we must preserve and also de fend the treasure of truth and of grace which has come to us by way of inheritance from the Chris tian tradition. "Keep safe what has been entrusted to thee”, warns St. Paul (I Tim. 6, 20). But neith er the preservation nor the defense of the Faith exhausts the duty of the Church in regard to the gifts which it possesses. The duty consonant with the patrimony received from Christ is that of spreading, offering, an nouncing it to others. Well do we know that “Go ing, therefore, make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28, 19) is the last command of Christ to His Apostles. By the very term “apostles” these men define their inescapable mission. To this intenal drive of charity which tends to become the eternal gift of charity we will give the name of dialogue, which has in diese days come into common usage. The Church should enter into dialogue with the world in which it exists and labors. The Church has something to say; the Church has a message to deliver; the Church has a communication to offer. It is no secret that this Important facet of the contemporary life of the Church will be specially and fully studied by the ecumenical council, and we have no desire to undertake the concrete exami nation of the themes involved in such study, in order to leave to Fathers of the council full free dom in discussing them. We w ish only to invite you venerable brethren, to preface such study with certain considerations in order that we see more clearly the motives which impel the Church tow ard To Perfection the dialogue, the methods to be followed, and the goals to be achieved. We wish to give, not full treatment to topics, but proper dispositions to hearts. Nor can we do otherwise in our conviction that the dialogue ought to characterize our apostolic office, heirs as we are of such a pastoral approach and method as has been handed down to us by our predecessors of the past century, beginning with the great, wise LeoXIIL Almost as a personifica tion of the Gospel character of the wise scribe, who, like the father of a family, “knows how to bring both new and old things out of his treasure- house” (Mt. 13, 52), in a stately manner he as sumed his function as teacher of the world by mak ing the object of his richest instruction the prob lems of our time considered in the light of the word of Christ. , Thus, also , did his successors, as you well know. Did not our predecessors, especially Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII, leave us a magnifi cently rich patrimony of teaching which was con ceived in the loving and enlightened attempt to join divine to human wisdom, not considered in the ab stract, but rather expressed in the concrete lan guage of modern man? And what is this apostolic endeavor if not a dialogue? And did not John XXIII, our immediate predecessor of venerable memory, place an even sharper emphasis on its teaching in the sense of approaching as close as possible to the experience and the understanding of the con temporary world? And was not the council it self assigned—and Justly so—a pastoral function which would be completely focused on the injection of the Christian message into the stream of the thought, of the speech, of the culture, of the cus toms, of the strivings of man as he lives today and acts in this life? Even before converting the world, nay, in order to convert it, we must meet the world and talk to it. Concerning our lowly self, although we are re luctant to speak of it and would prefer not to at tract to it the attention of others, we cannot pass over in silence, in this deliberate communication to the episcopal hierarchy and to the Christian people our resolution to persevere, so far as our weak energies will permit and, above all, so far as the grace of God will grant us the necessary means, in the same direction and in the same effort to approach the world in which Providence has des tined us to live, with all due reverence to be ob served in this approach, and with all due solicitude and love, in order that we may understand it and offer it the gifts of truth and of grace of which Christ has made us custodians in order that we may communicate to the world our wonderful des tiny of redemption and of hope. Deeply engraved on our heart are those words of Christ which we would humbly but resolutely make our own: “When God sent his Son into the world, it was not to reject the world, but so that the world might find salva tion through him” (Jn. 3, 17). See, then, venerable brethren, the transcendent origin of the dialogue. It is found in the very plan of God. Religion, of its very nature, is a relationship between God and man. Prayer expresses such a relationship in dialogue. Revelation, i.e., the supernatural relationship which God Himself, on His own initiative, has established with the human race, can be represented as a dialogue in which the Word of God is expressed in the Incarnation and therefore in the Gospel. The fatherly and holy conversation between God and man, interrupted by original sin, has been marvelously resumed in the course of history. The history of salvation narrates exactly this long and changing dialogue which begins with God and brings to man a many-splendored conversation. It is in this conversation of Christ among men (cf. Bar. 3, 38) that God allows us to understand something of Himself, the mystery of His life, unique in its essence, trinitarian in its Persons; and He tells us finally how He wishes to be known; He is Love; and how He wishes to be honored and served by us: love is the supreme commandment. The dialogue thus takes on full meaning and offers grounds for confidence. The child is invited to it; the mystic finds a full outlet in it. We need to keep ever present this ineffable, yet real relationship of the dialogue, which God the Father, through Christ in the Holy Spirit, has of fered to us and established with us, if we are to understand the relationship which we, i.e., the Church, should strive to establish and to foster with the human race. The dialogue of salvation was opened spontane ously on the initiative of God: "He (God) loved us first” (I Jn. 4,- l0); it will be up to us to take the initiative in extending to men this same dialogue, without waiting to be summoned to it. The dialogue of salvation began with charity, with the divine goodness: “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son” (Jn. 3, 16); nothing but fervent and unselfish love should moti vate our dialogue. The dialogue of salvation was not proportioned to the merits of those toward whom it was direct ed, nor to the results which it would achieve or fail to achieve: “Those who are healthy need no physician” (Lk. 5, 3l); so also our own dialogue ought to be without limits or ulterior motives. The dialogue of salvation did notphysically force anyone to accept it; it was a tremendous appeal of love which, although lacing a vast responsibility on those toward whom it was directed (cf. Mt. 11, 21), nevertheless left them free to respond to it or to reject it. Even the number of miracles (cf. Mt. 12, 38 ff.) were adapted to the spiritual needs and dispositions of the recipients, in order that their free consent to the divine revelation might be facilitated, without, however, their losing the merit involved in such a consent. So, too, al though our own mission is the announcement of the truth which is both Indisputable and necessaryfor salvation, that mission will not be Introduced in the armor of external force, but simply through the legitimate means of human education, of interior persuasion, of ordinary conversation, and it will offer its gift of salvation with full respect for personal and civic freedom. The dialogue of salvation was made accessible to all; it was destined for all without distinction (cf. Col. 3, 11); in like manner our own dialogue should be potentially universal, i.e, all-embracing and capable of including all, excepting only one who would either absolutely reject it or insincerely pretend to accept it. The dialogue of salvation normally experienced a gradual development, successive advances, hum ble beginnings before complete success (cf. Mt. 13, 31). Ours, -too will take cognizance of the slowness of psychological and historical matura tion and of the need to wait for the hour when God may make our dialogue effective. Not for this reason will our dialogue postpone till tomorrow what it can accomplish today; it ought to be eager for the opportune moment; it ought to sense the preciousness of time (cf. Eph, 4, 16). Today, i.e. every day, our dialogue should begin again; we, rather than those toward whom it is directed, should take the initiative. As is clear, the relationships between the Church and the world can assume many mutually different aspects. Theoretically speaking, the Church could set its mind on reducing such rela tionships to a minimum, endeavoring to isolate It self from dealings with secular society; just as it could set itself the task of pointing out the evils that can be found in secular society, condemning them and declaring crusades against them, so also it could approach so close to secular society as to strive to exert a preponderant influence on it or even to exercise a theocratic power over it, and so on. But it seems to us that the relationship of the Church to the world, without precluding other legitimate forms of expression, can be represent ed better in a dialogue, not of course, a dialogue in a univocal sense, but rather a dialogue adapted to the nature of the interlocutor and to factual circumstances (the dialogue with a child differs from that with an adult; that with a believer from that with an unbeliever). This has been suggested by the custom, which has by now become wide spread, of conceiving the relationships between the sacred and the secular in terms of the transform ing dynamism of modern society, in terms of the pluralism of its manifestations, likewise in terms of the maturity of man, be he religious or not, en abled through secular education to think, to speak and to act through the dignity of dialogue. This type of relationship indicates a proposal of courteous esteem, of understanding and of good ness on the part of the one who inaugurates the dialogue; it excludes the a priori condemnation, the offensive and time-worn polemic and empti ness of useless conversation. If this approach does not aim at effecting the immediate conversion of the interlocutor, inasmuch as it respects both his dignity and his freedom, nevertheless it does aim at helping him, and tries to dispose him for a fuller sharing of sentiments and convictions. Hence, the dialogue supposes that we possess a state of mind which we intend to communicate to others and to foster in all our neighbors: It is a state of mind of one who feels within himself the burden of the apostolic mandate, of one who rea lizes that he can no longer separate his own sal vation from the endeavor to save others, of one who strives constantly to put the message of which he is custodian into the mainstream of humandis- course. The dialogue is, then, a method of accomplish ing the apostolic mission. It is an example of the art of spiritual communication. Its characteris tics are the following: 1) Clearness above all; the dialogue supposes and demands comprehensibility. It is an outpour ing of thought; it is an invitation to the exercise of the highest powers which man possesses. This very claim would be enough to classify the dia logue among the best manifestations of human ac tivity and culture. This fundamental requirement is enough to enlist our apostolic care to review every angle of our language to guarantee that it be un derstandable, acceptable, and well-chosen. 2) . A second characteristic of the dialogue is its meekness, the virtue which Christ sets before us to be learned from Him: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt. H, 29). The dialogue is not proud, it is not bitter, it is not bitter, it is not offensive. Its authority is in trinsic to the truth It explains, to the charity it communicates, to the example It proposes; it is not a command, it is not an imposition. It is peace ful; it avoids violent methods; it is patient; it is generous. 3) Trust, not only in the power of one’s words, but also in an attitude of welcoming the trust of the interlocutor. Trust promotes confidence snd friendship. It binds hearts in mutual adherence to the good which excludes all self-seeking. 4) Finally, pedagogical prudence, which esteems highly tne psychological and moral circumstances of the listener (cf. Mt. 7, 6), whether he be a child, uneducated, unprepared, diffident, hostile. Prudence strives to learn the sensitivities of the hearer and requires that we adapt ourselves and the manner of our presentation in a reasonable way lest we be displeasing and incomprehensible to him. In the dialogue, conducted in this manner, the union of truth and charity, of understanding and love is achieved. In the dialogue one discovers how different are the ways which lead to the light of Faith, and how it is possible to make them converge on the same goal. Even if these*ways are diver gent, they can become complementary by forcing our reasoning process out of the worn paths and by obliging it to deepen its research, to find fresh expressions. The dialectic of this exercise of thought and of patience will make us discover elements of truth also in the opinions of others, it will