Intellectual Integrity Requires Constant Conversion Says the Pope

In his 2 September address to the yearly Summer school course of former students Papa Ratzinger speaks of the occupational hazard of the theologian: intellectual custom--routine--which is often the death of honest thought. Human thought in order to stay alive and truly humane must be in constant reference to the Truth and never content with itself. It must be personal and involved with the Word--God--Christ. You have to have a personal, constant and ongoing relationship with Christ. The honest man is constantly readjusting. The standard must be Christ, against which to measure everything--every idea and system of thought. All truth must conform to the Truth--to Him. It must agree with Him or else it is useless.

It is precisely the Sacramental life that saves us from stagnation--from the illusion of self-sufficiency. This side of eternity we can never fully rest. Everyone in this life is a work in progress. Even the Son of God Himself was constantly in dialogue with the Father to insure that He never did His own thing or thought on His own, always in complete conformity with the Other! Truth is never isolated! It is communio personarum because God is three in one. It is relational. There must be a relationship for truth. The point is that the Truth never changes but, given our human limitations and imperfections our relationship to It/Him does change and must change as long as we live to belong ever more to Him.

You never "possess" the Truth. It possesses you! It makes constant demands on you. It enlightens you. It changes you. Therefore those who are honest are constantly converting in the quest for perfect Vision/Wisdom. Yesterday's dialogue will not do for today. Every day, indeed, every moment, needs it's sufficient "bread"--Word--because the Truth is a Person not a thing. The only proper stance before It/Him therefore is relationship.

Here is the relevant passage.

"No one can say: I have the truth — this is the objection raised — and, rightly so, no one can have the truth. It is the truth that possesses us, it is a living thing! We do not possess it but are held by it. Only if we allow ourselves to be guided and moved by the truth, do we remain in it. Only if we are, with it and in it, pilgrims of truth, then it is in us and for us. I think that we need to learn anew about “not-having-the-truth”. Just as no one can say: I have children — they are not our possession, they are a gift, and as a gift from God, they are given to us as a responsibility — so we cannot say: I have the truth, but the truth came to us and impels us. We must learn to be moved and led by it. And then it will shine again: if the truth itself leads us and penetrates us.

"Dear friends, let us ask the Lord to give us this gift. St James tells us today in the Reading: you must not limit yourselves to hearing the Word, you must put it into practice. This is a warning about the intellectualization of the faith and of theology. It is one of my fears at this time, when I read so many intellectual things: they become an intellectual game in which “we pass each other the ball”, in which everything is an intellectual sphere that does not penetrate and form our lives, and, thus, does not lead us to the truth. I think that these words of St James are directed to us theologians: do not just listen, do not just intellectualize — be doers, let yourself be formed by the truth, let yourself be led by it!"

Thanks to Father Bob Connor for posting the article on his blog The Truth Will Make You Free. See also his recent post on character formation pedagogy in elite private schools.

Also...the Pope's Address in Lebanon on unity versus uniformity.