Topics for a Theology of Reconciliation

Conclusions Document of the International Congress on Reconciliation in the Thought of John Paul II
Arequipa, Peru, January 11th to 13th, 1985

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Prolog to the second edition in English

I'm very glad that an English edition of the text Topics for a Theology of Reconciliation is to be published on the eve of the Synod of America. Reconciliation is a subject that has been exerting an important influence in the history of this American continent. It certainly constitutes a fundamental subject in the teachings of Paul VI and of John Paul II. And it has had a central place in the regional teachings, as the document of Santo Domingo attests.

As Archbishop of Arequipa in 1985, I had the pleasure of placing this text into the hands of the Pope John Paul II himself. This was some days after the conclusion of the "First International Congress on Reconciliation in the Thought of John Paul II", which was held in Arequipa. Today I am glad that this text, which sums up the reflections of the Congress, can be offered to the English speaking people as a contribution to reflection on the eve of the Synod of America and at the gates of the Third Millenium.

Lima, Peru, September 5th, 1997

+ Fernando Vargas Ruiz de Somocurcio
Emeritus Archbishop of Arequipa

Topics for a Theology of Reconciliation

1. The International Congress on Reconciliation has provided an exceptional opportunity to deepen our consciousness about the importance that reconciliation has for the world today. The recent Magisterium of the Church has particularly stressed this point, especially in the writings of Pope John Paul II [1]. This decision seems to be a clear sign of times. It is also an invitation to assume the concept of Reconciliation as the center of theological reflection, as a key that will enrich our vision of the mystery of God's salvation in Christ [2]. It is a firm conviction that this approach may enable us to obtain a deeper understanding of the ultimate meaning of the Christian mystery of a true human liberation. This is a particularly relevant concern among the people of Latin America.

2. This perspective is especially urgent in the Latin American context. Here the effects of sin, that dazzingly contradict God's Plan, are experienced "bitterly, to an unbearable degree." [3] The bloody oppressions, depravations, injustices and anxieties suffered by our people, especially in large sections hit by the crudest forms of poverty, force us to exclude the position of those who remain indifferent. This situation also forces us to reject the position of those who accept the ideology of conflict and join in the struggle, seeking to widen the gap and to accentuate the contradictions, in a negative and deadly spirit that is doomed to bring about worse forms of oppression and injustice [4]. There can be little doubt that only a defense of life and an effort to accept and adhere to the reconciliation that God offers us in Christ, can lead to the fulfillment of God's Plan, assuming that it is not misinterpreted as an insincere exhortation for the oppressed to opt for an alienating resignation, or as a tranquilizer for those who are not prepared to sacrifice their privileges and comfort in order to assist those in need [5].

3. Reconciliation presupposes the existence of previous ruptures. More specifically, it presupposes the existence of the mystery of iniquity, of sin, through which the four ruptures suffered by man make themselves manifest: a rupture with God, with one's own inwardness, with one's neighbor and with the world. Reconciliation, in its four corresponding levels, means the overcoming of these ruptures and disorders, but especially the overcoming of "sin, that force of rupture that permanently hinders the growth of love and communion in men's hearts, as well as in the various structures created by them, which have been marked by the destructive sin of their makers." [6]

4. Every sin, including original sin, has its roots in the heart of man. It is the free expression of his loveless egoism, and it always invariably makes its effects felt on others. Every Christian's sin harms the life of the Church which is the life of grace, at the same time as it harms the sinner himself, his neighbor and the world. There is a mysterious human solidarity to be found in sin [7]. Worse still, one's own sin often leads others to evil. Frequently, other people are viewed as means subordinate to one's own ends. Sins, for which men are responsible, are the radical cause of injustice [8], and they are inherent "to the ideologies which have dominated our century and continue to do so, making themselves manifest in political, social and economic systems which control peoples' ideas." [9]

5. "Sin is with us; if we deny it we are cheating ourselves; it means that truth does not dwell in us" (1Jn 1:8; cf. v. 10). We are all sinners; "we all stumble into many faults" (Jms 3:2). The history of the accumulation of human sins is responsible for the corrupt atmosphere which has been given the biblical name "sin of the world". This explains the assertion that we find in the New Testament: "the whole world rests in the hands of evil" (1Jn 5:19). None of us can claim to be immune from responsibilities for a situation which makes itself manifest in individual deeds, that draws us away from God's Plan, as well as in social, political, economic and ideological expressions that are inspired in a dynamism of denial of life and love, a culture which the Holy Father has called "culture of death." [10]

6. Man cannot, on his own, overcome his limited condition (cf. Rm 5:6), of sinfulness (cf. Rm 5:8), and enmity (cf. Rm 5:10). Only God can free him from this fundamental rupture. God's friendship is a free gift; once rejected, only God can restore it. The initiative is always his: He loved us first (cf. 1Jn 4:10).

7. God determined to reconcile the whole universe to Himself in Christ, pacifying through the blood of his cross what there is on earth and what there is in heaven (cf. Col 1:20). Reconciliation is offered to us in Jesus Christ (cf. Rm 5:10). "God so loved the world, that he gave up his only begotten Son" (Jn 3:16). This love was not stopped by the misery and the sin of the world. God the Father sent his own Son to assume human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary (cf. Gal 4:4); through a subsequent dispossession (cf. Phil 2:7), of his Son who "never knew sin, ...God made him into sin for us" (2Cor 5:21), thereby showing the greatness of his love (cf. Rm 5:8) not only fulfilling but surpassing the expectations of the Old Testament with regard to the messianic reconciliation of mankind. Incarnation shows all its grandeur when it is placed against the background of sin.

8. The coming of the Son of God to the world, making himself Son of a woman (cf. Gal 4:4), marks the beginning of a new humanity. Christ is the new Adam (cf. 1Cor 15:45) who heals the rupture caused by the first Adam (cf. Rm 5:19). Just as with the first Adam, Eve's disobedience was the cause of ruin, so now, with Christ, Mary collaborates lovingly and actively in the task of Reconciliation: with her participation in God's designs (cf. Lk 1:38), Mary brought the Saviour to us, and with him she brought Reconciliation. She can justly be named Mother of Reconciliation. Her role as humble and faithful handmaid of the Lord, her obedience and self-effacement, her total commitment, are a supreme and encouraging example for all those who wish to receive God's reconciliation and thereby become agents of reconciliation in the world.

9. "According to God's Plan, in Mary "everything is referred to Christ and everything depends on Him." [11] Her whole existence is a full communion with her Son." [12] For those who journey towards the house of the Father, Mary is the Mother who educates us in the Faith [13]; she is the pedagogue of the Living Gospel, who takes care "that the Gospel may imbue us, rule our daily lives and produce fruits of holiness." [14] Mary helps us to discover how the life of Jesus, offered by him to the Father from the beginning (cf. Heb 10:5-7), bears witness to the way of reconciliation that permeates his preaching. Jesus with his attitudes, his deeds and his words invites us to follow him and to give ourselves to him, to accept the Divine Plan: a constant task of reconciliation with God, with oneself, with one's neighbor -which includes one's enemies (cf. Mt 5:43-48)- and with the world.

10. Jesus, the Son of Mary, lived his death as a gift of love to each of us (cf. Gal 2:20). In the continuation of the mystery of his Incarnation, in his redeeming death, accepted through love and obedience to the Father (cf. Jn 10:18), Christ has objectively brought about the reconciliation of all men with God, "inflicting death, in his own person, upon the feud" (Eph 2:16). On that agonizing cross, where he atoned for our sins, he pointed to Mary as the Mother of all of us, and thereby showed us our common filiation and fraternity (cf. Jn 19:26-27) which are the fruits and signs of Reconciliation.

11. Christ died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us (cf. Rm 4:25). After his ascension he sent the Holy Spirit who, through his action on each man's heart, is the immediate cause of individual and social reconciliation. In this way the subsequent dispossession gives place to an ascending impulse through which the Lord reconciles all things (cf. Col 1:20).

12. But reconciliation does not end here: "God in Christ, is reconciling the world to Himself" (2Cor 5:19). This implies a dynamic process through which Reconciliation, merited for us by Christ, passes to the heart of every man, and carries out a conversion, a radical change, to which God is calling us. Jesus called us thus at the start: "repent and believe the Gospel" (Mk 1:15). As the guardian of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Church must continue his teaching. That is why she feels as an ambassador of Christ, when, in the name of the Lord Jesus she insists that we "Be reconciled to God" (2Cor 5:17). To this calling of the Church, which is made perceptible intimately to every man by the grace of God, each one of us has to respond with a change of attitude (metanoia), so that through an open acceptance of God's reconciliation and through the implementation of that four-fold reconciliation at all levels we may become agents of reconciliation. This implies a genuine change, a radical transformation that touches deeply into our own reality, and modifies our thoughts, sentiments and actions; a "new creation in Christ" (cf. 2Cor 5:17).

13. Through Christ's will, the Church possesses the ministry of Reconciliation (cf. 2Cor 5:18). Every man is born parted from God through original sin (cf. Eph 2:3; Rm 5:12,19). According to the Patristic interpretation this means that he has to be born from the Church and from the Holy Spirit in order to attain the new life in Christ. This first reconciliation is received from the Church through baptism, which incorporates us to her. On the other hand, according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council [15], full incorporation in the Church presupposes a life of grace which is tantamount to being a member of the Mystical body of Christ. For that reason, the sins that a Christian may commit after baptism, besides constituting a rupture with God, make their effects felt on the Church and on the whole of Mankind. Reconciliation with God finds a concrete means of fulfillment in the sacrament of conversion, penance and pardon. It entails a clear manifestation of a gift of reconciliation from God. The celebration of the Eucharist is an efficacious sign of God's reconciliating action in actualization of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus; it is a life-giving source of unity [16], as well as an edifying basis of the community [17].

14. In the Sacrament of Penance, the acts of the receiver are not merely a disposition to the Sacrament and a precondition for its valid reception: they are an essential part (matter) of the Sacrament. The recognition of truth, the repentance of the sins committed, of the rupture, and the resolution to change, together with the full manifestation of the sins committed, make up a central part of the very Sacrament of Penance. Hence, the particular importance of the openness of the sinner to God in order to receive Christ's reconciliation through the ministry of Church.

15. Every actual sin committed is a personal sin and it must be imputed to the person who commits it. For this reason the Sacrament of Penance is inevitably a personal encounter of the sinner with God. Through pardon and truth, God rescues us from the land of isolation and dislikeness and reconciles us to himself bringing us into communion. But at the same time it must be clearly stressed that every sin has social and collective repercussions that must be taken into account in the process of guilt, as well as in the conversion and its final goal: Reconciliation with God.

16. Interiorly man is a witness to the lacerating force of ruptures. He is a divided creature: the victim of oppositions that echo the original rupture, as well as his own personal sins. To a certain extent he feels alien to himself. He suffers an identity crisis. He rejects God's Plan and is consequently trapped by an existential lie which is alien to the reconciliation brought about by the Truth. False love of self centers man upon himself and prevents his openness to a personal God who invites him to communion and participation, thus refusing to give himself fraternally to others in accordance with the Divine Plan. The heart of man must also be reconciled with itself through a conscious and intimate acceptance of the dynamic of Reconciliation. It is through the manifestation of truth that the prodigal son discovers his own intimacy: "entering into himself" (cf. Lk 15:17) and from intimate depth, he comes to himself and drops the cloak of falsehood. He recognizes himself as he is and decides to return to the communion of the House of the Father. This initiative is a gift of God, and it is echoed by the teaching of the Council: "In fact, the mystery of man only becomes clear in the context of the mystery of the Word Incarnate... Christ, the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to man himself, making him aware of the sublime mystery of his vocation." [18]

17. Man's reconciliation with God culminates in his return to the life of charity. Freed at last from the life of falsehood that rejects the love of the Father, the prospect of a community of love and of a fraternal society, which are inherent to the Divine Plan, immediately becomes apparent. Here the love of God becomes the center of all things; the very authenticity of Christian love for others finds its distinctive sign in the fact that "we love God, and keep his commandments" (1Jn 5:2). In this context, any project of relationship among men cannot be accepted without reference to their relationship with God. The importance of the love to one's neighbor, however, must never be underestimated: it is the new commandment (cf. Jn 13:34), to which the very love of God invites us. The universal and concrete effects of such love are based on a serious commitment to all men (cf. Lk 10:36). It is an illusion to believe that one has opened one's heart to one's neighbor when this is not expressed through active charity towards him: "let us show our love by the true test of action, not by taking phrases on our lips" (1Jn 3:18). "And now, suppose that a man has the worldly goods he needs, and sees his brother go in want; if he steels his heart against his brother, how can we say that the love of God dwells in him?" (1Jn 3:17). St. John never uses the expression "love of neighbor"; he speaks rather of love "for one's brother" and on one occasion he speaks of love for "God's children" (1Jn 5:2). This shows how we must always see Christ's brother in others, since Christ is the Eldest-born among many brethren (cf. Rm 8:29; Col 1:18), and we must look on every man as someone called to be God's child, just as the rest of us. Jesus said that anything we do to the least of his brethren he will take, in the Final Judgement, as done to him (cf. Mt 25:31-46). This must be taken in its most literal and conscientious sense. We must discover Christ and the image of God in others [19]. One same love leads us to love God and Christ, as well as to love those who are God's children and Christ's brethren, sons of the same Father and the same Mother, the Virgin Mary (cf. Jn 19:25-27; Rm 8:29; Col 1:18).

18. The servants of Reconciliation must make every effort to collaborate in the making of a world that is more human, more just and more according with God's Plan. The goal lies in what Paul VI called an integral liberation: A liberation of the whole man [20]. None of the ruptures and miseries of man can be forgotten. Neither can the hunger of God, so dramatically evident in our times. A world that found no place for God would be the most inhuman world imaginable. The effort to humanize and reconcile the world implies a serious commitment to improve and transform the structures. The social teaching of the Church constitutes a safe guide for Christian social action. In the unavoidable task of the making of a brotherly society, the diversity of roles of clergy, religious and lay people within the Church must not be forgotten [21]. When clerics assume an active commitment of leadership in the temporal field, it leads paradoxically to a regrettable revival of clericalism, especially in an age characterized by mature lay action. At a time when spiritual poverty parallels a severe material misery, it is incomprehensible, and even unfair, that those who specifically have the power of the ministry of reconciliation with God, should not give what only they can give to the whole liberation of man, while they devote themselves to tasks that are the proper ground of the laity and often of civil society as such. The same principle, in its proper circumstances, can be applied to those called to the religious life.

19. The spirit of the Sermon of the Mount is an invitation to give more than what is merely just (cf. Mt 5:40-41; Lk 6:19-30). The animating principle of unlimited charity, which urges man to unlimited love, is expressed in a constant openheartedness toward any sign of reconciliation, which far surpasses mere legal demands. In Dives in Misericordia, John Paul II has stressed that the ideal of a just world is likely to fail if it is not inspired by love. Consequently, in face of the culture of death which springs from the dynamism of the ruptures, our commitment must be the construction of a Civilization of love, guided by a dynamics of reconciliation. "God is love" (1Jn 4:8,16) is a sublime definition of the Creator which enlightens our lives ineffably. In a parallel and equally rich fashion it has been revealed to us "how rich God is in mercy" (Eph 2:4). Mercy is a love so intense that it is not disappointed by indifference or weakness. Each one of us must adhere to God in His love (cf. Eph 5:1-2) participating in it, and being merciful like the Father is merciful (cf. Lk 6:36). In a world fraught with injustice, oppression, abuse, and all sorts of want, the Christian must realize that the dynamic of reconciliation goes beyond justice and achieves a richer and more profound dimension in mercy. To follow Christ, inevitably implies social responsibilities [22]. Only a reconciliation based on love is capable of remedying the numerous social ruptures that exist, in a way that avoids the dangers that become manifest when love is absent. The transforming ferment of reconciliation's dynamism, therefore, constitutes a horizon of hope and enthusiasm for mankind.

20. To reconciliation with God, with one's self and with others, we must add reconciliation with all Creation. From a righteous acceptance of God's Plan, there emerges the ordering of the world to the righteous service of man. It is through the action of men who have been reconciled with God that the whole universe may be ordered towards Christ Jesus [23].

21. Jesus the Reconciliator invites us to assume his attitudes of gentleness and humility of heart (cf. Mt 11:29), as well as of complete filial obedience to the Plan of the Eternal Father. In the human heart of the divine person of the Son of God, we find the point of reference and the strength of the Spirit to lead a reconciled and reconciliatory life. Consequently, in her prayers the Church considers the Heart of Christ as "our peace and reconciliation." [24] Through the express will of the Lord, Mary is our teacher in the love of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the cross of love and reconciliation, Christ pointed to Mary as the authentic Mother who educates the brothers of the Eldest-born (cf. Rm 8:29; Col 1:18). Through the loving heart of the Mother we are gradually led into the mysteries of the heart of the Son, until we become fully reconciled sons in the Son, being able to cry out through the Holy Spirit: Abba, Father! (cf. Rm 8:15).

22. Like Mary -the "ideal image of the Church" [25]- the people of God have a reconciliatory task. This mission, conferred on by the Lord himself (cf. 2Cor 5:18-20), transcends sacramental action. The very union of the Pilgrim People becomes a sign of reconciliation in the world [26]. For this reason all the interior tension in the Church must seek its solution in that unifying and loving reconciliation that the Lord wanted: that you are to love one another as I have loved you (cf. Jn 13:34). The crisis of the last years, which has given rise to simplistic and disqualifying generalizations, must be overcome as soon as possible in a spirit of humility and fraternal dialogue, guided, at all times, by the love of the truth. Once again we are not talking about superficial concessions or an easy-going pacifism, but of the acceptance that it is God that reconciles us to himself (cf. 2Cor 5:18) introducing in the midst of humanity the dynamic force of love according to his Divine Plan. It is in the truth that we shall be made free (cf. Jn 8:32). It is around the truth that the unity that liberates us from falsehood, from illusions and from divisions, is to be built up. The realization of a Church of Reconciliation must be based on the fact that she is "the pillar and foundation upon which the truth rests" (1Tim 3:15). In this way, when in the past, ruptures that threatened the reconciliatory dynamic of the Church became apparent, she "overcame the situation of internal discord by stressing clearly -as essential prerequisite for communion- those principles that helped to maintain her constitutive unity intact, and allowed her to manifest herself in the proclamation of one faith, in the celebration of a common divine cult and in the fraternal concord of the family of God [27]." [28]

23. It is imperative that all faithful -bishops, priests, religious and lay- who belong to the People of God, should, according to their own status, take active part in the effort of Reconciliation [29], and thus help to create an environment which favors it efficiently, hindering, at the same time the effects that human frailty and worldly conflicts might have on the sincerity, charity and union that must always abide among the children of the Church. Likewise, Charity demands that a legitimate level of diversity in matters of opinion should not be exacerbated to the point of endangering concord, thus leading to division [30]. In the context of emergence of opinions that clearly go beyond a legitimate pluralism, it should be remembered that within the Church of Christ the last word belongs to the authority of the Church, and that the dialogue between theologians and the Magisterium must always be held in a spirit of humility and service of the truth. This sincere spirit of dialogue is not apparent in the use of social means of pressure, such as press campaigns that destroy the very roots of dialogue. On the contrary, we would do well to remember what Pope Paul VI was asking for, little more than ten years ago: "Show yourselves to be increasingly docile disciples of the Lord, who sets reconciliation and mutual charity as essential conditions in order to be forgiven by the Father (cf. Mt 11:26) and in order to be recognized as his disciples (cf. Jn 13:35). Consequently, whoever feels in any way involved in this state of division should go back and listen to those words that become irresistible, even at the time of prayer: "go home; be reconciled with thy brother first" (Mt 5:24)." [31]

24. These considerations are only an attempt to point to some possible lines of thought that may serve for a later, more serious, effort to elaborate a complete Theology of Reconciliation. This goal is still a long way off. It is not our intention to propose a new sectorial theology, but rather to suggest a vital approach from the very center of the Christian mystery, and from there, to attempt an understanding of all its implications in the light of that rich interpretative key: the reconciliation of mankind with God which has been achieved by him in Christ. The message of John Paul II's post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, is very encouraging in this respect. Here we are told that "it is legitimate to make every consideration on the mystery of Christ converge on his mission as reconciliator." [32]