James T. Cleland - "Grace, Repentance, and Reconciliation" (July 2, 1967)
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| (organ playing) | 0:03 | |
| (chorus sings indistinctly) | ||
| - | Let us remember the ancient promise of God to His people. | 1:16 |
| If my people which are called by my name | 1:21 | |
| shall humble themselves and pray, | 1:24 | |
| and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, | 1:27 | |
| then will I hear from heaven | 1:31 | |
| and will forgive their sin, | 1:34 | |
| and will heal their land. | 1:37 | |
| May we begin now to meet the conditions | 1:41 | |
| that will enable God to fulfill his promise | 1:43 | |
| to hear our prayers, to forgive our sins, | 1:47 | |
| and to heal our lives. | 1:53 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:56 | |
| Almighty God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 2:03 | |
| we come to thee in this dire hour out of our own great need. | 2:08 | |
| Thou has pledged thy word that whosoever cometh to thee | 2:15 | |
| shall in no wise be cast out. | 2:19 | |
| And so we come. | 2:23 | |
| We dare to pray, oh Lord, that something will happen | 2:26 | |
| as we open ourselves to thy presence, | 2:29 | |
| for we know in our hearts that we need to be changed. | 2:32 | |
| As individuals, as a people, as a world. | 2:37 | |
| As we open our eyes before thee, | 2:43 | |
| shame fills our hearts as we remember | 2:47 | |
| those visions that once swept across | 2:49 | |
| the leaden skies of our nation | 2:52 | |
| that have now grown dim and have faded. | 2:55 | |
| Visions of a land where all would know | 2:59 | |
| the benefits of a free and a full human life. | 3:02 | |
| And so we confess before thee oh Lord, our God, | 3:07 | |
| that as persons and as people, | 3:11 | |
| we have sinned and fallen short of thy glory. | 3:14 | |
| We have by our living cut ourselves off from thy presence. | 3:19 | |
| In our self-sufficiency, | 3:25 | |
| we have not sought thy guidance. | 3:27 | |
| We have either isolated ourselves | 3:30 | |
| from the bleeding wounds of the world, | 3:32 | |
| or in our arrogant ignorance, | 3:36 | |
| we have tried to force the wrong remedies upon the world. | 3:38 | |
| We have disguised our selfishness as patriotism, oh God, | 3:45 | |
| and arrogance as national pride. | 3:49 | |
| As persons, we have sought the easy way | 3:53 | |
| and have drawn back from the road | 3:56 | |
| that is hard and difficult and long. | 3:58 | |
| Lord God of hosts, be with us yet. | 4:03 | |
| Forgive us all the intentions that were born | 4:08 | |
| and somehow never live in our lives and in our nation. | 4:11 | |
| But thy guidance and thy power, | 4:17 | |
| may our beloved land once again become thine own country. | 4:20 | |
| A nation contrite in heart, confessing her sins, | 4:26 | |
| a people, keenly sensitive to all the unresolved injustice | 4:31 | |
| and wrong still in our midst. | 4:36 | |
| Cleanse our hearts, oh God. | 4:40 | |
| Create within us new attitudes and give us new visions, | 4:43 | |
| as only thou canst do. | 4:49 | |
| Hear our prayer and grant that we may confidently expect | 4:52 | |
| to see it answered in our own time. | 4:57 | |
| Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 5:01 | |
| If a man is in Christ, he becomes a new person all together. | 5:06 | |
| The past is finished and gone. | 5:13 | |
| Everything may become fresh and new again. | 5:16 | |
| Because you have confessed, | 5:22 | |
| I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, | 5:24 | |
| we are a forgiven people, | 5:26 | |
| free to rise and to live in his love, | 5:29 | |
| and able and bold to pray together, | 5:34 | |
| the prayer which our Lord taught. | 5:37 | |
| "Our father, who art in heaven, | 5:40 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 5:44 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 5:46 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 5:49 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 5:52 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 5:55 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 5:57 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 6:01 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 6:03 | |
| For thine is the kingdom | 6:06 | |
| and the power and the glory, forever. | 6:07 | |
| Amen." | 6:12 | |
| (organ playing) | 6:19 | |
| (choir sings indistinctly) | 6:20 | |
| - | The Lord be with you | 10:08 |
| Congregation | And with thy spirit. | 10:10 |
| - | Let us pray. | 10:12 |
| Almighty and most merciful father, | 10:13 | |
| from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift, | 10:17 | |
| we yield thee praise and thanks for all thy mercies. | 10:21 | |
| Thy goodness has created us. | 10:26 | |
| Thy bounty has sustained us. | 10:29 | |
| Thy fatherly discipline has chastened us. | 10:32 | |
| Thy patience had born with us. | 10:35 | |
| Thy love has redeemed us. | 10:38 | |
| Give us a heart to love and serve thee, | 10:41 | |
| and enable us to show our thankfulness | 10:45 | |
| for all thy goodness and mercy | 10:47 | |
| by giving up ourselves to thy service | 10:50 | |
| and cheerfully submitting in all things | 10:53 | |
| to thy blessed will. | 10:56 | |
| Amen. | 10:58 | |
| Let us continue our prayers | 11:00 | |
| as we offer our intercessions and our petitions | 11:02 | |
| for others and ourselves. | 11:05 | |
| Let us pray. | 11:08 | |
| Almighty God, our heavenly father, | 11:13 | |
| we lay before thee with solemn intercession, | 11:16 | |
| the sorry estate of our world today. | 11:19 | |
| It's violence. | 11:23 | |
| It's uproar. | 11:24 | |
| It's trust in force, | 11:25 | |
| and it's menacing wars. | 11:28 | |
| Beyond our power, oh God, | 11:31 | |
| to see the possibilities, | 11:33 | |
| we would intercede in the cause of peace. | 11:36 | |
| A just and an honest peace | 11:41 | |
| that will give the world a lasting hope of brotherhood. | 11:43 | |
| Past all the inner barricades, oh God, | 11:51 | |
| that we have erected against thy coming, | 11:54 | |
| we pray for thy presence to unlock the doors in each of us, | 11:57 | |
| that there may be found no wicked way within us. | 12:03 | |
| Comfort our own sorrows. | 12:08 | |
| Strengthen us, we ask, where we are weak. | 12:10 | |
| Steady our spirits, | 12:14 | |
| and may we be enabled by thy spirit | 12:16 | |
| to go from this place to walk more worthily | 12:19 | |
| of the high vocation where with we have been called | 12:23 | |
| in Christ. | 12:26 | |
| Especially, we implore help from thee to any | 12:28 | |
| who are in such dire need that they need our prayers, | 12:33 | |
| forgiveness, inner sustenance, courage, and danger, | 12:38 | |
| serenity under strain, | 12:44 | |
| strength to do what we ought to do, | 12:47 | |
| and to stand for what we must endure. | 12:49 | |
| For such blessings, we would pray, oh Lord, | 12:52 | |
| for ourselves and for all who need them. | 12:56 | |
| Almighty God who has given us this good land | 13:02 | |
| for our heritage, we humbly beseech thee | 13:04 | |
| that we may always prove ourselves | 13:08 | |
| a people mindful of thy favor | 13:10 | |
| and glad to do thy will. | 13:13 | |
| Bless our land and its people, oh God. | 13:16 | |
| Endure with the spirit of wisdom, | 13:20 | |
| those to whom in thy name | 13:22 | |
| we entrust the authority of government, | 13:24 | |
| that there may be justice and peace at home, | 13:28 | |
| and that through obedience to thy law, | 13:31 | |
| we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. | 13:34 | |
| Save us, oh Lord, from violence, discord and confusion, | 13:39 | |
| from the pride and arrogance and corruption | 13:45 | |
| that so easily beset the powerful. | 13:48 | |
| Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people | 13:52 | |
| the multitudes who have come out | 13:57 | |
| of many kindreds and tongues to this, our land. | 13:58 | |
| Grant us, oh God, a vision of our land as she should be. | 14:03 | |
| A land of justice where none shall prey on others. | 14:09 | |
| A land of plenty where ignorance and poverty | 14:14 | |
| shall cease to fester. | 14:17 | |
| And a land of brotherhood | 14:20 | |
| where success shall be founded on service, | 14:22 | |
| and honor be given to worth alone. | 14:25 | |
| A land of peace, oh God, | 14:29 | |
| where order need no longer rest upon force, | 14:32 | |
| but on the mutual respect of her citizens | 14:35 | |
| and the love of all for their common country. | 14:39 | |
| Hear, oh Lord, these prayers of our hearts, | 14:43 | |
| and strengthen our minds and our hands | 14:46 | |
| to bring them to fulfillment in our own day. | 14:49 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. | 14:54 | |
| - | Let us hear the word of God, | 15:18 |
| as it is contained in the scriptures of the New Testament, | 15:20 | |
| the gospel according to St. Matthew, the fifth chapter. | 15:24 | |
| Reading verses 21 to 24 | 15:29 | |
| from the New English Bible translation. | 15:34 | |
| "You have learned that our forefathers were told, | 15:41 | |
| do not commit murder. | 15:45 | |
| Anyone who commits murder must be brought to judgment. | 15:48 | |
| But what I tell you is this, | 15:54 | |
| anyone who nurses anger against his brother, | 15:58 | |
| must be brought to judgment. | 16:03 | |
| If he abuses his brother, | 16:07 | |
| he must answer for it to the court. | 16:10 | |
| If he sneers at him, he will have to answer for it | 16:15 | |
| in the fires of hell. | 16:21 | |
| If when you are bringing your gift to the altar, | 16:25 | |
| you suddenly remember | 16:29 | |
| that your brother has a grievance against you, | 16:30 | |
| leave your gift where it is before the altar. | 16:34 | |
| First go and make your peace with your brother, | 16:41 | |
| and only then come back and offer your gift." | 16:47 | |
| Amen. | 16:56 | |
| And may God bless onto us | 16:58 | |
| the reading of his holy word. | 17:00 | |
| It has long been part of my theological faith | 17:08 | |
| that the word of God, the gospel, the good news, | 17:12 | |
| is not limited to the pages of the Bible, | 17:21 | |
| but is present wherever God is found | 17:26 | |
| in his perpetual quest of bringing a man back | 17:31 | |
| into right relations with himself | 17:36 | |
| and with a man's fellows. | 17:40 | |
| I believe that such a word of God | 17:43 | |
| is found in Morris West's novel, | 17:47 | |
| "The Shoes of the Fisherman." | 17:51 | |
| I would share that good news with you now, | 17:55 | |
| but first let us pray. | 17:58 | |
| Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts | 18:04 | |
| be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, | 18:09 | |
| our strength and our redeemer. | 18:13 | |
| Amen. | 18:18 | |
| "The Shoes of the Fisherman" opens with the election | 18:23 | |
| of a Pope. | 18:28 | |
| With an unearthly timing, the novel appeared | 18:31 | |
| almost in the same week as the Roman Church | 18:37 | |
| was selecting a successor to Pope John XXIII. | 18:44 | |
| Now in the novel, the choice fell on a non-Italian, | 18:51 | |
| Cardinal Kiril Lakota, a Ukrainian | 18:56 | |
| who had just been released from 17 years imprisonment | 19:02 | |
| in a Russian concentration camp. | 19:07 | |
| One major theme in the novel | 19:11 | |
| is the giant endeavor of Pope Kiril I | 19:14 | |
| and his ex-jailer and torturer, Kamenev, | 19:19 | |
| now Premier of the Soviet Union, | 19:23 | |
| to give the nations a breathing spell, a time-out, | 19:27 | |
| so that a lasting peace may be sought and found. | 19:34 | |
| The setting is startlingly contemporary. | 19:39 | |
| The novel was published in 1963. | 19:44 | |
| Now this morning we shall concentrate on but one subplot, | 19:48 | |
| the relationship between Pope Kiril | 19:54 | |
| and Cardinal Leone, Dean of the Sacred Congregation | 19:57 | |
| of the Holy Office, whose business is the protection | 20:02 | |
| of the faith and morals, the judging of heresy, | 20:07 | |
| and the examination and prohibition | 20:12 | |
| of books dangerous to faith or otherwise pernicious. | 20:15 | |
| Now I shall read from the book | 20:21 | |
| with a few personal comments, | 20:23 | |
| dividing the drama into three scenes. | 20:27 | |
| The first scene is found in the early pages. | 20:32 | |
| Cardinal Rinaldi, | 20:36 | |
| a gentle aristocratic prince of the church, | 20:38 | |
| is talking with Cardinal Leone | 20:44 | |
| about the forthcoming election of the new Pope. | 20:47 | |
| "Leone lived up to his name. | 20:55 | |
| He had a white lion's mane and a growling temper. | 20:58 | |
| He was moreover a Roman bred in the bone, dyed in the wool. | 21:04 | |
| Rome was for him the center of the world. | 21:11 | |
| And centralism was a doctrine | 21:15 | |
| almost as immutable as that of the Trinity. | 21:17 | |
| With his great eagle beak and his jowly jaw, | 21:22 | |
| he looked like a senator straight out of Augustine times. | 21:27 | |
| And his pale eyes looked out on the world | 21:31 | |
| with wintry disapproval. | 21:35 | |
| Rinaldi respected him, | 21:39 | |
| though he had never been able to like him. | 21:41 | |
| And so their intercourse had been limited | 21:44 | |
| to the courtesies of their common trade. | 21:46 | |
| Tonight, however, the old lion seemed in a gentler mood | 21:49 | |
| and was disposed to be talkative. | 21:54 | |
| His pale watchful eyes were lit with a momentary amusement. | 21:57 | |
| 'I'm 82, my friend, and I've buried three popes. | 22:02 | |
| I'm beginning to feel lonely.' | 22:07 | |
| 'If we don't get a younger man this time,' | 22:10 | |
| said Rinaldi mildly, | 22:13 | |
| 'you may well bury a fourth.' | 22:14 | |
| Leone shot him a quick look from under his shaggy brows. | 22:17 | |
| 'And what's that supposed to mean?' | 22:21 | |
| Rinaldi shrugged and spread his fine hands | 22:25 | |
| in a Roman gesture, | 22:27 | |
| 'Just what it says. | 22:29 | |
| We're all too old. | 22:32 | |
| There are not more than half a dozen of us | 22:35 | |
| who can give the church what it needs at this moment. | 22:38 | |
| Personality, a decisive policy, | 22:42 | |
| time and continuity to make the policy work. | 22:47 | |
| Do you think you're one of the half dozen?' | 22:53 | |
| Rinaldi smiled with thin irony. | 22:59 | |
| 'I know I'm not. | 23:02 | |
| When the new man is chosen, whoever he is, | 23:04 | |
| I propose to offer him my resignation | 23:08 | |
| and ask his permission to rusticate at home.' | 23:11 | |
| 'Do you think I have a chance of election?' | 23:18 | |
| asked Leone, bluntly. | 23:20 | |
| 'I hope not.' said Rinaldi. | 23:23 | |
| Leone only threw back his great mane and laughed. | 23:26 | |
| 'Don't worry. | 23:29 | |
| I know I haven't. | 23:31 | |
| They need someone quite different. | 23:34 | |
| Someone-' he hesitated, fumbling for the phrase, | 23:36 | |
| 'someone who has compassion on the multitude, | 23:41 | |
| who sees them as Christ saw them, | 23:46 | |
| sheep without a shepherd. | 23:50 | |
| I'm not that sort of man. | 23:53 | |
| I wish I were.' | 23:57 | |
| So Rinaldi asks him, | 24:06 | |
| 'what would you do if you had to begin again?' | 24:07 | |
| 'I thought about it often,' Leon said heavily. | 24:14 | |
| 'If I didn't marry and I'm not sure, | 24:18 | |
| but that's what I needed to make me halfway human, | 24:22 | |
| I'd be a country priest with just enough theology | 24:26 | |
| to hear confession and just enough Latin | 24:29 | |
| to get through mass and the sacramental formulae, | 24:32 | |
| but with heart enough to know what griped | 24:36 | |
| in the guts of our men and made them cry | 24:39 | |
| in the pillows at night. | 24:42 | |
| I'd sit in front of my church in a summer evening | 24:44 | |
| and read my office and talk about the weather and the crops | 24:47 | |
| and learn to be gentle with the poor | 24:52 | |
| and humble with the unhappy ones. | 24:55 | |
| You know what I am now. | 24:58 | |
| A walking encyclopedia of dogma and theological controversy. | 25:01 | |
| I can smell out an error faster than a Dominican. | 25:07 | |
| And what does it mean? | 25:11 | |
| Nothing. | 25:13 | |
| Who cares about theology except the theologians? | 25:15 | |
| Oh, we are necessary, but less important than we think. | 25:21 | |
| The church is Christ. | 25:26 | |
| Christ and the people and all the people want to know | 25:28 | |
| is whether or no there is a God, | 25:32 | |
| and what is his relation with them, | 25:37 | |
| and how can they get back to him when they stray?'" | 25:40 | |
| Have you caught the flavor of Leone, | 25:46 | |
| this lion of the church, this godly enough tradition, | 25:49 | |
| this ecclesiastical potentate who sometimes, now and again, | 25:54 | |
| wishes that maybe perhaps his priestly life | 26:01 | |
| had been less official and more personal, | 26:08 | |
| less administrative and more interpersonal? | 26:13 | |
| The second scene is prepared for by the demand | 26:21 | |
| of Kiril that the Cardinals find him men for the priesthood. | 26:25 | |
| "'I have one commission now for all of you, | 26:34 | |
| for those who are going away from Rome | 26:37 | |
| and those who stay here in the shadow | 26:40 | |
| of our triumphs and our sins. | 26:43 | |
| Find me men. | 26:46 | |
| Find me good men who understand what it is to love God | 26:49 | |
| and love his children. | 26:54 | |
| Find me men with fire in their hearts | 26:56 | |
| and wings on their feet, send them to me | 26:59 | |
| and I will send them out to bring love to the loveless | 27:02 | |
| and hope to those who sit in darkness. | 27:06 | |
| Go now in the name of God.'" | 27:10 | |
| And suddenly, the Father General of the Society of Jesus | 27:16 | |
| finds him such a man. | 27:21 | |
| Jean Telemond, a Jesuit, a paleontologist, | 27:25 | |
| a man who could speak the old truths in a fresh mode | 27:32 | |
| and walk as a new apostle in the strange waddle | 27:39 | |
| that had been born out of the mushroom cloud. | 27:44 | |
| He summons Telemond to Rome from Indonesia. | 27:48 | |
| Now the author has taken as his model for Telemond | 27:54 | |
| Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit priest | 27:59 | |
| and scientist whose theological writings | 28:06 | |
| were prohibited in his lifetime | 28:10 | |
| and are now being published posthumously. | 28:13 | |
| If you want a preview of Teilhard de Chardin, | 28:17 | |
| then read the speech in this novel | 28:21 | |
| which Telemond makes to the leaders of the Roman church | 28:26 | |
| as he tries to reconcile science and dogma, | 28:30 | |
| discovery and revelation, but the sacred congregation, | 28:36 | |
| Cardinal Leone's outfit, refuses to allow Jean Telemond | 28:45 | |
| to teach or to publish because he's on the edge of heresy, | 28:50 | |
| if not all the way over into heresy. | 28:56 | |
| Meanwhile, dramatically, Telemond has become | 29:00 | |
| Pope Kiril's one close friend. | 29:05 | |
| They are David and Jonathan. | 29:11 | |
| And I read again from the novel. | 29:18 | |
| "In the last week of October, | 29:24 | |
| Cardinal Leone in private audience with the pontiff | 29:26 | |
| present the judgment of the holy office | 29:29 | |
| on John Telemond's book. | 29:33 | |
| Leone seemed embarrassed by the occasion. | 29:37 | |
| 'It is the considered opinion | 29:43 | |
| that the Reverend Father Jean Telemond be required | 29:45 | |
| to re-examine this work and those later ones | 29:49 | |
| which may depend on it to bring them into conformity | 29:53 | |
| with the traditional doctrine of a church. | 29:58 | |
| In the meantime, he should be prohibited from preaching, | 30:01 | |
| teaching, publishing or disseminating in any other fashion | 30:06 | |
| the dubious opinions noted by the fathers | 30:10 | |
| of the sacred congregation given of Rome, | 30:13 | |
| this 20th day of October | 30:16 | |
| in the first year of the pontificate | 30:18 | |
| of his holiness Kiril I, gloriously reigning.' | 30:20 | |
| Leone finished his reading, | 30:27 | |
| laid the document on Kiril's desk and said, | 30:30 | |
| 'I'm sorry, holiness. | 30:35 | |
| There was nothing else we could do. | 30:38 | |
| I myself had no part in this. | 30:41 | |
| The commissioners were appointed | 30:43 | |
| at your holiness direction.' | 30:45 | |
| 'We know that.' | 30:48 | |
| Kiril's address was studiously formal. | 30:50 | |
| 'You have our thanks, eminence. | 30:54 | |
| You may carry our thanks and our appreciation | 30:56 | |
| also to the Reverend Fathers of the Sacred Congregation.' | 30:59 | |
| 'I shall do that, holiness. | 31:03 | |
| Meantime, how is this news to be conveyed | 31:05 | |
| to Father Telemond?' | 31:08 | |
| 'We shall tell him ourselves. | 31:11 | |
| Your eminence has leave to go.' | 31:16 | |
| The old lion stood his ground, stubborn and unafraid. | 31:20 | |
| 'This is a grief to your holiness, I know it. | 31:26 | |
| I wish I could share it, | 31:30 | |
| but neither of my colleagues nor I | 31:32 | |
| could have returned a different verdict. | 31:35 | |
| Your holiness must know that.' | 31:37 | |
| 'We do know it. | 31:40 | |
| Our grief is private to ourselves. | 31:43 | |
| Now we should like to be alone.' | 31:46 | |
| He knew it was brutal, but he couldn't help himself. | 31:51 | |
| He watched the old cardinal walk proud and erect | 31:56 | |
| out of the chamber and then sat down heavily at his desk, | 32:00 | |
| staring at the document." | 32:07 | |
| The third scene is the immediate result | 32:10 | |
| of the death of John Telemond a few days later | 32:13 | |
| from heart failure. | 32:16 | |
| A death which submerged Kiril | 32:19 | |
| in a stormy sea of personal grief. | 32:23 | |
| Early the next morning Cardinal Leone | 32:28 | |
| presented himself unannounced in the papal apartment. | 32:31 | |
| He was kept waiting for 20 minutes | 32:36 | |
| and then was shown into the pontiff's study. | 32:38 | |
| Kiril was sitting behind his desk, | 32:43 | |
| lean, withdrawn, weary of mouth and eye | 32:46 | |
| after the night long vigil. | 32:50 | |
| His manner was strained and distant. | 32:53 | |
| It seemed an effort for him to speak. | 32:55 | |
| 'We had asked to be left alone. | 32:59 | |
| Is there something special we can do for your eminence?' | 33:02 | |
| Leone's craggy face tightened up snug, | 33:08 | |
| but he controlled himself and said quietly. | 33:13 | |
| 'I came to offer my sympathy to your holiness | 33:16 | |
| on the death of Father Telemond. | 33:19 | |
| I heard the news from my friend Rinaldi. | 33:21 | |
| I thought your holiness would like to know | 33:25 | |
| that I offered a mass this morning | 33:27 | |
| for the repose of his soul.' | 33:31 | |
| Kiril's eyes softened a little, | 33:35 | |
| but he still held to the formality of speech. | 33:37 | |
| 'We are grateful to your eminence. | 33:40 | |
| This is a great personal loss to us.' | 33:42 | |
| 'I feel guilty about it,' said Leone, | 33:46 | |
| 'as if in some way I would responsible for his death.' | 33:50 | |
| 'You have no cause to feel that, eminence. | 33:55 | |
| Father Telemond had been ailing for some time, | 33:57 | |
| and the holy office verdict was a shock to him, | 34:00 | |
| but neither you nor the eminent fathers | 34:05 | |
| could have acted differently. | 34:07 | |
| You should dismiss the matter from your mind.' | 34:09 | |
| 'I cannot dismiss it, holiness. | 34:12 | |
| I have a confession to make.' | 34:16 | |
| 'Then you should make it to your confessor.' | 34:21 | |
| Leone shook his white mane and lifted his old head | 34:26 | |
| and answered to the challenge. | 34:29 | |
| 'You are a priest, holiness. | 34:31 | |
| I am a soul in distress. | 34:36 | |
| I elect to make my confession to you. | 34:40 | |
| Do you refuse me?' | 34:45 | |
| For a moment, it seemed as if the pontiff | 34:49 | |
| would explode into anger. | 34:51 | |
| Then slowly his top features relaxed | 34:54 | |
| and his mouth turned upwards into a tired smile. | 34:56 | |
| 'You have me there, eminence. | 35:01 | |
| What is your confession?' | 35:04 | |
| 'I was jealous of Jean Telemond's holiness. | 35:08 | |
| I did what was the right, but my intention was not right. | 35:13 | |
| But I did it.' | 35:21 | |
| Kiril the pontiff look to the old man with puzzled eyes. | 35:24 | |
| 'Why were you jealous of him?' | 35:27 | |
| 'Because of you, holiness. | 35:32 | |
| Because I needed, but could not have | 35:35 | |
| what you gave him at a first greeting. | 35:37 | |
| Intimacy, trust, affection, | 35:40 | |
| a place in your private counsels. | 35:44 | |
| I'm an old man. | 35:46 | |
| I have served the church a long time. | 35:48 | |
| I felt I had deserved better. | 35:51 | |
| I was wrong. | 35:56 | |
| None of us deserves anything but the promised wage | 35:58 | |
| for a worker in the vineyard. | 36:03 | |
| I'm sorry. | 36:05 | |
| Now, will your holiness absolve me?' | 36:08 | |
| As the pontiff moved toward him, | 36:14 | |
| he went down stiffly on his knees | 36:16 | |
| and bent his white head under the words of absolution. | 36:17 | |
| When they were finished, | 36:23 | |
| he asked, 'and the penance, holiness?' | 36:24 | |
| 'Tomorrow, you will say a mass for one who has lost a friend | 36:30 | |
| and is still only half resigned to God's will.' | 36:40 | |
| 'I will do that.' | 36:46 | |
| Kiril's strong hands reached down | 36:48 | |
| and drew him to his feet, | 36:50 | |
| so that they stood facing each other, priest and penitent, | 36:52 | |
| Pope and Cardinal, | 36:56 | |
| caught in the momentary wonder of understanding. | 36:57 | |
| Caught in the momentary wonder of understanding. | 37:02 | |
| 'I too have sinned, eminence,' said Kiril. | 37:06 | |
| 'I kept you at a distance from me | 37:10 | |
| because I could not tolerate your opposition to my projects. | 37:12 | |
| I was at fault with Jean Telemond too, | 37:18 | |
| because I clung to him too strongly, | 37:23 | |
| and when the moment came to let him go | 37:26 | |
| into the hands of God, I could not do it without bitterness. | 37:28 | |
| I'm empty today, and very troubled. | 37:34 | |
| I am glad you came.'" | 37:40 | |
| Brethren, I would submit to you | 37:45 | |
| that what we have just read and heard | 37:46 | |
| is the eternal contemporary word of God, | 37:49 | |
| the good news of reconciliation in a current situation. | 37:55 | |
| This is the old new gospel of grace, | 38:01 | |
| which is seen in the momentary wonder of understanding | 38:04 | |
| between two professing and professional Christians | 38:09 | |
| who had walked diverse ways | 38:13 | |
| with an angry disagreement and a puzzled antagonism. | 38:16 | |
| Grace is one term for God's personal attitude toward man, | 38:22 | |
| a good will which forgives sin and brings a man | 38:27 | |
| back into harmony with God. | 38:30 | |
| And one outcome of harmony is that a man should behave | 38:33 | |
| toward his fellows as God has behaved toward him. | 38:40 | |
| With a forgiving good will. | 38:49 | |
| When this harmony between persons | 38:52 | |
| is marred or distorted or broken, | 38:54 | |
| then there is one necessary step toward its reconstitution. | 38:58 | |
| Repentance. | 39:04 | |
| Now, repentance is not primarily regret or sorrow. | 39:06 | |
| Repentance is realization. | 39:11 | |
| Realization. | 39:15 | |
| An appreciation of the actual state of affairs | 39:17 | |
| and the resolve to do something about it. | 39:22 | |
| The good is reconciliation. | 39:27 | |
| The reconstitution of right relations with a brother. | 39:31 | |
| Isn't that what Jesus was getting at | 39:34 | |
| in our scripture lesson? | 39:36 | |
| If one is angry with his brother, | 39:39 | |
| then one should not even try to make contact with God. | 39:43 | |
| Leave the gift before the altar. | 39:50 | |
| Go and be reconciled to your brother. | 39:53 | |
| And when you are reconciled, | 39:57 | |
| come back and offer the gift. | 39:59 | |
| I think there's only one emendation I would make to that. | 40:02 | |
| One might try to get in touch with God. | 40:06 | |
| If he were unreconciled with his brother | 40:10 | |
| in a prayer of confession and for forgiveness. | 40:12 | |
| Matthew and Maurice West are at one | 40:21 | |
| in emphasizing that repentance is facing up to the facts | 40:24 | |
| about ourselves and taking appropriate action. | 40:29 | |
| Grace resulting in love is the theme of this drama | 40:34 | |
| in three acts, that subplot in three scenes. | 40:38 | |
| Grace which overcame Leone's authoritarianism | 40:43 | |
| and led to repentance. | 40:47 | |
| Grace which reestablished Kiril also through repentance. | 40:49 | |
| Grace which became reconciliation. | 40:55 | |
| The love of our radical Pope and a conservative Cardinal | 40:58 | |
| each for the other under God. | 41:03 | |
| Now, what does this say to us? | 41:06 | |
| Oh, maybe nothing at all. | 41:08 | |
| On the out that we are not princes of the Roman church. | 41:11 | |
| Now just forget that our two characters | 41:16 | |
| are a Pope and the Cardinal and think of each of them | 41:19 | |
| as a human being. | 41:22 | |
| We sense that in Leone's longing | 41:24 | |
| for a life outside the Curia, | 41:27 | |
| the civil service of the Roman church. | 41:30 | |
| Now here is one glimpse of the humanness of Kiril. | 41:33 | |
| He has just been elected Pope, | 41:38 | |
| and that night in his bedroom, | 41:41 | |
| he has just read the list of his titles. | 41:43 | |
| Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, | 41:48 | |
| Successor of the Prince of Apostles, | 41:52 | |
| and on and on and on and on for two pages. | 41:54 | |
| And Kiril's reaction is to see himself | 42:00 | |
| as a middle aged fellow in striped cotton pajamas. | 42:03 | |
| Yes, Kiril and Leone like us, | 42:13 | |
| put on pajamas one leg at a time. | 42:16 | |
| We may learn from these church men because they are men. | 42:23 | |
| Are we at enmity with fellow Christians? | 42:28 | |
| Are you? | 42:30 | |
| Am I? | 42:32 | |
| What is recommended to us, demanded of us | 42:34 | |
| so as to guarantee our oneness with God? | 42:39 | |
| Repentance which leads to an act of reconciliation | 42:43 | |
| with our fellows. | 42:47 | |
| What should motivate such a move? | 42:50 | |
| Shouldn't it be self-interest | 42:52 | |
| or a kind of general feeling of benevolence? | 42:55 | |
| It should be an understanding of grace | 42:59 | |
| that God loved us when we were unlovely. | 43:02 | |
| That God loves us when we are unlovely. | 43:07 | |
| If God could, we should. | 43:14 | |
| And the outcome, frustration, maybe. | 43:17 | |
| Failure, possibly. | 43:24 | |
| Surprise joy, perhaps. | 43:27 | |
| Reconciliation, I hope so. | 43:32 | |
| Joy in heaven, certainly. | 43:36 | |
| Because our intention is right. | 43:40 | |
| What should we do with this word of God? | 43:44 | |
| Well, we could sing the hymn following the sermon | 43:47 | |
| as a prayer, "amazing grace, how sweet the sound | 43:51 | |
| that saved a wretch like me." | 43:58 | |
| And if we know such grace, we shall sing it | 44:02 | |
| as a prayer of thanksgiving. | 44:06 | |
| If we do not know such grace, | 44:10 | |
| we could sing it as a prayer of supplication | 44:13 | |
| that we may come to know it. | 44:17 | |
| Well, let us sing about hymn now | 44:22 | |
| as the prayer after the sermon. | 44:25 | |
| (organ plays) | 44:30 | |
| ♪ Amazing grace ♪ | 45:01 | |
| ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ | 45:05 | |
| ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ | 45:09 | |
| ♪ I once was lost, but now I'm found ♪ | 45:16 | |
| ♪ Was blind, but now I see ♪ | 45:25 | |
| ♪ 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear ♪ | 45:34 | |
| ♪ And grace my fears relieved ♪ | 45:42 | |
| ♪ How precious did that grace appear ♪ | 45:50 | |
| ♪ The hour I first believed ♪ | 45:59 | |
| ♪ Through many dangers, toils, and snares ♪ | 46:08 | |
| ♪ I have already come ♪ | 46:16 | |
| ♪ 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far ♪ | 46:24 | |
| ♪ And grace will lead me home ♪ | 46:33 | |
| ♪ The Lord has promised good to me ♪ | 46:42 | |
| ♪ His word my hope secures ♪ | 46:51 | |
| ♪ He will my shield and portion be ♪ | 46:59 | |
| ♪ As long as life endures ♪ | 47:07 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 47:17 | |
| (organ plays) | 47:27 | |
| ♪ For all the saints who from their labors rest ♪ | 48:55 | |
| ♪ Who thee by faith before the world confessed ♪ | 49:02 | |
| ♪ Thy name, oh Jesus, be forever blest ♪ | 49:11 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 49:20 | |
| ♪ Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine ♪ | 49:32 | |
| ♪ We feebly struggle, they in glory shine ♪ | 49:41 | |
| ♪ Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine ♪ | 49:51 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 50:00 | |
| ♪ From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast ♪ | 50:11 | |
| ♪ Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host ♪ | 50:20 | |
| ♪ Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 50:29 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 50:38 | |
| (organ plays) | 50:57 | |
| ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 52:32 | |
| ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ | 52:38 | |
| ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ | 52:45 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 52:52 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 53:01 | |
| (organ plays) | 53:11 | |
| We give thanks to thee, oh God, | 53:29 | |
| that thou has opened paths of service to thee. | 53:32 | |
| May we thy people honor with our substinance | 53:36 | |
| and show forth our thanks, not only in words, | 53:40 | |
| but by our gifts and our deeds through Jesus Christ | 53:43 | |
| who came not to be served, | 53:48 | |
| but to serve and to give his life that all might have life. | 53:50 | |
| Amen. | 53:55 | |
| - | And now unto God's gracious mercy and protection | 53:57 |
| that we commit you, may the blessing of God | 54:00 | |
| come upon you abundantly, | 54:04 | |
| may it keep you strong and tranquil | 54:06 | |
| in the truth of his promises through Jesus Christ, our lord. | 54:09 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 54:19 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 54:24 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 54:29 | |
| (bell tolls) | 54:43 | |
| (organ plays cheerfully) | 54:56 |
