Reconciliation for the Whole Church Raniero Cantalamessa

“The Righteousness of God Has Been Manifested”: The Fifth
Centenary of the Protestant Reformation, an Occasion of
Grace and Reconciliation for the Whole Church
Raniero Cantalamessa
Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Volume 53, Number 3, Summer 2018, pp.
423-435 (Article)
Published by University of Pennsylvania Press
DOI:
For additional information about this article
Access provided by Ebsco Publishing (13 Dec 2018 06:24 GMT)
https://doi.org/10.1353/ecu.2018.0028
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/710842
journal of ecumenical studies
vol. 53, no. 3 (summer 2018) © 2018
Explorations And Responses
“Th e Righteousness of God Has Been
Manifested”: Th e Fift h Centenary of the
Protestant Reformation, an Occasion of Grace
and Reconciliation for the Whole Church*
•
I. The Origins of the Protestant Reformation
I believe that trying to shed light on the history and the current state of
the discussion on justifi cation by faith for sinners is the most useful way
to make the anniversary of the fi ft h centenary of the Protestant Reformation an occasion of grace and reconciliation for the whole church. We
cannot dispense with rereading the whole passage from the Lett er to the
Romans (3:21–28), on which that discussion is centered.1
It says:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no
distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they
are justifi ed by his grace as a gift , through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. Th is was to show God’s righteousness, because in his
*Th e present text reproduces the fi ft h Lenten Sermon delivered by the author in the
presence of Pope Francis and the Roman Curia, on April 7, 2017. It was published in Stimmen
der Zeit 142 (October, 2017): 669–679, as “Rechtfertigung durch den Glauben an Christus:
Wie die Fünfh undertjahrfeier der Reformation für di ganze Kirche eine Gelegenheit der
Gnade und der Versöhnung warden kann.” It is here translated from the Italian by Marsha
Daigle- Williamson. 1
Biblical quotations herein are from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (1965; 2nd ed., 2006).
424 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the
present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifi es him who has
faith in Jesus. Th en what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what
principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith. For
we hold that a man is justifi ed by faith apart from works of law.
How could it have happened that such a comforting and clear message
became the bone of contention at the heart of Western Christianity, splitting the church and Europe into two diff erent religious continents? Even
today, for the average believer in certain countries in Northern Europe,
that doctrine constitutes the dividing line between Catholicism and Protestantism. I myself have had faithful Lutheran lay people ask me, “Do you
believe in justifi cation by faith?” as the condition for them to hear what I
had to say. Th is doctrine is defi ned by those who began the Reformation
themselves as “the article by which the Church stands or falls” (articulus
stantis et cadentis Ecclesiae).
We need to go back to Martin Luther’s famous “tower experience” that
took place in 1511 or 1512. (It is referred to this way because it is thought to
have occurred in a cell at the Augustinian monastery in Witt enberg called
“the Tower.”) Luther was in torment, almost to the point of desperation
and resentment toward God, because all his religious and penitential
observances did not succeed in making him feel accepted by God and at
peace with God. It was here that, suddenly, St. Paul’s word in Rom. 1:17
fl ashed through his mind: “Th e just shall live by faith.” It was a liberating
experience. Recounting this experience himself when he was close to
death, he wrote, “When I discovered this, I felt I was reborn, and it seemed
that the doors of paradise opened up for me.”2
Some Lutheran historians rightly go back to this moment some years
before 1517 as the real beginning of the Reformation. What transformed
this inner experience into a real religious chain reaction was the issue of
indulgences, which made Luther decide to send his famous ninety- fi ve theses to Archbishop Albrecht von Magdeburg and to the doctors of the University, on October 31, 1517. It is important to note the historical succession
of these facts. It tells us that the thesis of justifi cation by faith and not by
works was not the result of a polemic with the church of his time but its
2
Martin Luther, “Preface to His Latin Works,” Weimar ed., vol. 54, p. 186.
• Explorations and Responses 425
cause. It was a genuine illumination from above, an “experience,” “Erlebnis,” as he described it.
A question immediately arises: How do we explain the earthquake that
was caused by the position Luther took? What was there about it that was
so revolutionary? St. Augustine had given the same explanation for the
expression “righteousness of God” many centuries earlier. “Th e righteousness of God [justitia Dei],” he wrote, “is the righteousness by which,
through his grace, we become justifi ed, exactly the way that the salvation
of God [salus Dei] (Ps. 3:9) is the salvation by which God saves us.”3
St. Gregory the Great had said, “We do not att ain faith from virtue but
virtue from faith.”4
St. Bernard had said, “What I cannot obtain on my
own, I confi dently appropriate (usurpo!) from the pierced side of the Lord
because he is full of mercy. . . . And what about my righteousness? O Lord, I
will remember only your righteousness. In fact it is also mine because you
became God’s justifi cation for me (see 1 Cor. 1:30).”5
St. Th omas Aquinas
went even further. Commenting on the Pauline saying that “the lett er kills,
but the Spirit gives life” (see 2 Cor. 3:6), he wrote that the “lett er” also
includes the moral precepts of the gospel, so “even the lett er of the gospel
would kill if the grace of faith that heals were not added to it.”6
Th e Council of Trent, convened in response to the Reformation, did
not have any diffi culty in reaffi rming the primacy of faith and grace, while
still maintaining (as would the branch of the Reformation that followed
John Calvin) the necessity of works and the observance of the laws in the
context of the whole process of salvation, according to the Pauline formula
of “faith working through love” (“fi des quae per caritatem operatur”) (Gal.
5:6).7
Th is explains how, in the context of the new climate of ecumenical
dialogue, it was possible for the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World
Federation to arrive at a joint declaration on justifi cation by grace through
faith that was signed on October 31, 1999, which acknowledges a fundamental, if not yet total, agreement on that doctrine.8
3
Augustine, On the Spirit and the Lett er, 32, 56 (PL 44, 237). 4
Gregory the Great, Homilies on Ezekiel, 2, 7 (PL 76, 1018). 5
Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the “Song of Songs,” 61, 4–5 (PL 183, 1072). 6
Th omas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, 1–IIae, q. 106, a.2. 7
Council of Trent, “Decretum de iustifi catione,” 7, in Denziger and Schoenmetzer, Enchridion Symbolorum, ed. 34, n. 1531. 8
Available at htt p://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/pccujnt4.htm.
426 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
So, was the Protestant Reformation a case of “much ado about
nothing”—the result of a misunderstanding? We need to answer with a
fi rm “No”! It is true that the magisterium of the Catholic Church had never
reversed any decisions made by preceding councils (especially against the
Pelagians); it had never forgott en what Augustine, Gregory, Bernard, and
Th omas Aquinas had writt en. Human revolutions do not break out, however, because of ideas or abstract theories but because of concrete historical
situations, and unfortunately for a long time the praxis of the Church was
not truly refl ecting its offi cial doctrine. Church life, catechesis, Christian
piety, spiritual direction, not to mention popular preaching—all these
things seemed to affi rm just the opposite, that what really matt ers is, in
fact, works, human eff ort. In addition, “good works” were not generally
understood to mean the works listed by Jesus in Matt hew 25, without
which, he says, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Instead, “good
works” meant pilgrimages, votive candles, novenas, and donations to the
Church, and, as compensation for doing these things, indulgences.
Th e phenomenon had deep roots common to all of Christianity, not
just Latin Christianity. Aft er Christianity became the state religion, faith
was something that was absorbed instinctively through the family, school,
and society. It was not as important to emphasize the moment in which
faith was born and a person’s decision to become a believer as it was to
emphasize the practical requirements of the faith—in other words, morals
and behavior.
One revealing sign of this shift of focus was noted by Henri de Lubac in
his Medieval Exegesis: Th e Four Senses of Scripture. In its most ancient phase,
the sequence of the four senses was the literal historical sense, the christological or faith sense, the moral sense, and the eschatological sense.9
However, that sequence was increaingly substituted by a diff erent one in which
the moral sense came before the christological or the faith sense. “What to
do” came before “what to believe”; duty came fi rst, before gift . In spiritual
life, people thought, fi rst comes the path of purifi cation, then that of illumination and union.10 Without realizing it, people ended up saying exactly
9
Th e classical couplet that sets forth this sequence is “Litt era gesta docet, quid credas allegoria. / Moralis quid agas; quo tendas anagogia”: “Th e literal sense proclaims the events, the allegorical sense what you should believe. / Th e moral sense what you should do, the anagogical
sense where you are going.” 10 See Henri de Lubac, Histoire de l’exégèse médiéval: Les quatre sens de l’Écriture (Paris:
Aubier, 1959), vol. 1, 1, pp. 139–157.
• Explorations and Responses 427
the opposite of what Gregory the Great wrote, “We do not att ain faith from
virtue but virtue from faith.”
II. The Doctrine of Justification by Faith after Luther
Aft er Luther and very soon aft er the two other great reformers, Calvin and
Ulrich Zwigli, the doctrine of the free gift of justifi cation by faith resulted,
for those who lived by it, in an unquestionable improvement in the quality
of Christian life, thanks to the circulation of the word of God in the vernacular, to numerous inspired hymns and songs, and to writt en aids made
accessible to people by the recent invention of the printing press and distribution of printed materials.
On the external front, the thesis of justifi cation only by faith became the
dividing line between Catholicism and Protestantism. Very soon (and in
part with Luther himself) this opposition broadened to become an opposition between Christianity and Judaism as well, with Catholics representing,
according to some, the continuation of the supposed Jewish legalism and
ritualism and Protestants who represented the Christian innovation.
Anti- Catholic polemic was joined to anti- Jewish polemic that, for other
reasons, was no less present in the Catholic world. According to this perspective, Christianity was formed in opposition to—and was not derived
from—Judaism. Starting with Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860), the
theory of two souls in early Christianity increasingly gained ground:
Petrine Christianity as expressed in the so- called “proto- catholicism”
(Frühkatholizismus), and Pauline Christianity that fi nds its more complete
expression in Protestantism.
Th is belief led to distancing the Christian religion as far as possible from
Judaism. Adolf von Harnack went so far as to sympathize with the ancient
gnostic Marcion, who had completely rejected the Hebrew Scriptures as the
work of a God diff erent from the God revealed by Jesus.11 People would try
to explain the doctrines and Christian mysteries (including the title Kyrios,
Lord, and the divine worship owed to Jesus) as the result of contact with
Hellenism. Th e criterion used to judge the authenticity of a saying or a fact
11 Adolf von Harnack, Marcion: Th e Gospel of the Alien God, tr. John E. Steely and Lyle D.
Bierma (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2007; orig.: Das Evangelium vom fr emden Gott, Texte
und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 45 [Leipzig: J. C. Hinrich,
1924]).
428 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
from the gospel was how diff erent it was from what characterized the Jewish
world of that time. Even if that approach was not the main reason for the
tragic Antisemitism that followed, it is certain that, together with the accusation of deicide, it encouraged Antisemitism by giving it a tacit religious
covering.
Beginning in the 1970’s, there was a radical reversal in this area of biblical studies. It is necessary to say something about it to clarify the current
state of the Pauline and Lutheran doctrine of the free gift of justifi cation
through faith in Christ. Th e nature and the aim of this essay exempt me
from citing the names of the modern writers engaged in this debate. Whoever is versed in this subject will not have diffi culty identifying the authors
of the theories alluded to here; for others, I think it is not the names but the
ideas that are of interest.
Th is reversal involves the so- called “third quest of the historical Jesus.”
(It is called “third” aft er the liberal quest of the 1800’s and that of Rudolf
Bultmann and his followers in the 1900’s.) Th is new perspective recognizes
Judaism as the true matrix within which Christianity was formed, debunking the myth of the irreducible otherness of Christianity with respect to
Judaism. Th e criterion used to assess the major or minor probability that a
saying or fact about Jesus’ life is authentic is its compatibility with the
Judaism of his time—not its incompatibility, as people once thought.
Certain advantages of this new approach are obvious. Th e continuity of
revelation is recovered, and Jesus is situated within the Jewish world in the
line of biblical prophets. It also does more justice to the Judaism of Jesus’
time, demonstrating its richness and variety. Th e problem is that this
approach went too far, so that this gain was transformed into a loss. In
many representatives of this third quest, Jesus ends up dissolving into the
Jewish world completely, without any longer being distinct except through
a few particular interpretations of the Torah. He is reduced to being one of
the Hebrew prophets, an “itinerant charismatic,” “a Mediterranean Jewish
peasant.”12 Th e continuity with Judaism has been recovered, but at the
expense of the newness of the Second or New Testament. Th e new historical quest has produced studies on a whole diff erent level (for example,
those of James D. G. Dunn, my favorite New Testament scholar), but what
12 See John Dominic Crossan, Th e Historical Jesus: Th e Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant
(New York: HarperCollins, 1992).
• Explorations and Responses 429
I have sketched here is the version that is most widely circulated on the
popular level and has infl uenced public opinion.
Th e person who shed light on the misleading character of this approach
for the purposes of serious dialogue between Judaism and Christianity was
precisely a Jew, American rabbi Jacob Neusner.13 Whoever has read Pope
Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus of Nazareth14 is already familiar with much
of the thinking of this rabbi with whom he dialogued in one of the most
fascinating chapters of his book. Jesus cannot be considered a Jew like
other Jews, Neusner explained, given that he put himself above Moses and
proclaimed that he is “Lord also of the Sabbath.”
However, it is especially in regard to Paul that the “new perspective”
demonstrates its inadequacy. According to one of its most famous representatives, the religion of works, against which the Apostle railed with such
vehemence in his lett ers, does not exist in real life. Judaism, even in the
time of Jesus, is a “covenantal nomism,” that is, a religion based on the free
initiative of God and God’s love; the observance of God’s laws is the consequence of a relationship with God, not its cause. Th e law serves to help
people remain in the covenant rather than to enter it. Th e Jewish religion
continues to be that of the patriarchs and prophets, and its center is hesed,
grace and divine benevolence.
Scholars, then, have to look for possible targets of Paul’s polemic: not
the “Jews” but the “Jewish- Christians,” or a kind of “Zealot” Judaism that
feels itself threatened by the pagan world around it and reacts in the manner of the Maccabees—in brief, the Judaism of Paul prior to his conversion
that led him to persecute such Hellenistic believers as Stephen. However,
these explanations appear immediately unsustainable and result in making
the Apostle’s thinking incomprehensible and contradictory. In the preceding part of his lett er, Paul formulated an indictment as universal as humanity itself: “Th ere is no distinction; . . . all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Rom. 3:22–23). Th ree times in the fi rst three chapters of this
lett er he returned to the wording “Jews and Greeks alike.” How can anyone
think that a remedy aimed at a very limited group of believers corresponds
to such a universal evil?
13 See Jacob Neusner, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus (Montreal: McGill- Queen’s University
Press, 2000). 14 Pope Benedict XVI ( Joseph Ratzinger), Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the
Jordan to the Transfi guration, tr. Adrian J. Walker (New York: Doubleday, 2007).
430 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
III. Justification by Faith: A Doctrine of Paul or of Jesus?
Th e diffi culty comes, in my opinion, from the fact that the exegesis of Paul
is carried on at times as if the doctrine began with him and as if Jesus had
said nothing on this matt er. Th e doctrine of the free gift of justifi cation by
faith is not Paul’s invention but is the central message of the gospel of
Christ, whether it was made known to Paul by a direct revelation from the
Risen One or by the “tradition” that he says he received, which was certainly not limited to a few words about the kerygma (see 1 Cor. 15:3). If this
were not the case, then those who say that Paul, not Jesus, is the real
founder of Christianity would be correct.
However, the core of this doctrine is already found in the word “gospel,” “good news,” that Paul certainly did not invent out of thin air. At the
beginning of his ministry Jesus went around proclaiming, “Th e time is fulfi lled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel”
(Mk. 1:15). How could this proclamation be called “good news” if it were
only an intimidating call to change one’s life? What Christ included in the
expression “kingdom of God”—that is, the salvifi c initiative by God’s off er
of salvation to all humanity—Paul called the “righteousness of God,” but it
refers to the same fundamental reality. “Th e kingdom of God” and “the
righteousness of God” were coupled by Jesus when he said, “Seek fi rst his
kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt. 6:33).
When Jesus said, “repent, and believe the gospel,” he was thus already
teaching justifi cation by faith. Before him, “to repent” always meant “to
turn back,” as indicated by the Hebrew word “shub”; it meant to turn back,
through a renewed observance of the law, to the covenant that had been
broken. “To repent,” consequently, had a meaning that was mainly ascetic,
moral, and penitential, and it was implemented by changing one’s behavior.
Repentance was seen as a condition for salvation; it meant “repent and you
will be saved; repent and salvation will come to you.” Th is was the meaning
of “repent” up to this point, including on the lips of John the Baptist.
When Jesus spoke of repentance, metanoia, its moral meaning moves
into second place (at least at the beginning of his preaching) with respect
to a new, previously unknown meaning. Repenting no longer means turning back to the covenant and the observance of the law; rather, it means
taking a leap forward, entering into a new covenant, seizing this “kingdom”
that has appeared, and entering into it—by faith. “Repent and believe”
• Explorations and Responses 431
does not point to two diff erent, successive steps but to the same action:
Repent, that is, believe; repent by believing! Repenting does not signify
“mending one’s ways” as much as “perceiving” something new and thinking in a new way. Th e humanist Lorenzo Valla (1405–57), in his Annotations
on the New Testament, had already highlighted this new meaning of the
word “metanoia” in Mark’s text.
Innumerable sayings from the gospel, among the ones that most certainly go back to Jesus, confi rm this interpretation. One is Jesus’ insistence
on the necessity of becoming like children to enter the realm of heaven. A
characteristic of children is that they have nothing to give and can only
receive. Th ey do not ask anything from their parents because they have
earned it but simply because they know they are loved. Th ey accept what is
freely given.
Th e Pauline polemic against the claim to be saved by one’s own works
also did not begin with him. We would need to exclude an endless number
of texts to remove all the polemic references in the gospel to a number of
“scribes, Pharisees, and doctors of the law.” We cannot fail to recognize in
the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple the two
types of religiosity that Paul later contrasted: One man trusts in his own
religious performance, and the other trusts in the mercy of God and returns
home “justifi ed” (Lk. 18:14).
It is not a temptation present only in one particular religion, but in
every religion, including Christianity. (Th e Evangelists did not relate the
sayings of Jesus to correct the Pharisees, but to warn the Christians!) If
Paul takes aim at Judaism, it is because that is the religious context
in which he and those to whom he is speaking live, but it involves a religious rather than an ethnic category. Jews, in this context, are those who,
unlike the pagans, are in possession of revelation; they know God’s will
and, emboldened by this fact, feel themselves secure with God and can
judge the rest of humanity. One indication that Paul was designating a
religious category is that Origen was already saying in the third century
that the target of the Apostle’s words are now the “heads of the Church:
bishops, presbyters, and deacons,” that is, the guides, the teachers of the
people.15
15 See Origen, Commentary on the “Lett er to the Romans,” 2, 2 (PG 14, 873).
432 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
Th e diffi culty in reconciling the picture that Paul gives us of the Jewish
religion and what we know about it from other sources is based on a fundamental error in methodology. Jesus and Paul were dealing with life as people lived it, with the heart; scholars deal instead with books and writt en
testimonies. Oral and writt en statements tell us what people know they
should be or would like to be, not necessarily what they are. No one should
be surprised to fi nd in the scriptural and rabbinical sources of the time
moving and sincere affi rmations about grace, mercy, and the prevenient
initiative of God. It is one thing to say what Scripture states and leaders
teach and another thing to say what is in people’s hearts and what governs
their actions.
What happened at the time of the Protestant Reformation helps us to
understand this situation during the time of Jesus and Paul. At the time of
the Reformation, if one looks at the doctrine taught in the schools of theology, at ancient defi nitions that were never disputed, at Augustine’s writings
that were held in great honor, or even only at the Imitation of Christ that
was daily reading for pious souls, one will fi nd there the magnifi cent doctrine of grace and will not understand against whom Luther was fi ghting.
However, if one looks at what was going on in real life in the Church, the
result, as we have seen, is quite diff erent.
IV. How to Preach Justification by Faith Today
What can we conclude from this bird’s- eye view of the fi ve centuries since
the beginning of the Protestant Reformation? It is indeed vital that the
centenary of the Reformation not be wasted, that it not remain a prisoner
of the past, trying to determine rights and wrongs, even if that is done in a
more irenic tone than in the past. Instead, we need to take a leap forward,
the way a ship having arrived at a river lock resumes its course at a higher
level.
Th e situation has changed since then. Th e issues that brought about
the separation between the Church of Rome and the Reformation were,
above all, indulgences and how sinners are justifi ed. Can we say that these
are the problems on which people’s faith stands or falls today? I remember
that Cardinal Walter Kasper on one occasion made this observation. For
Luther, the number one existential problem was how to overcome the
sense of guilt and fi nd a gracious God; today, the problem is rather the
• Explorations and Responses 433
opposite: how to restore to human beings a genuine sense of sin that they
have completely lost. Th is does not mean ignoring the enrichment brought
by the Reformation and wanting to return to the situation before it. It
means, rather, allowing all of Christianity to benefi t from its many important achievements once they are freed from certain distortions and
excesses due to the overheated climate of the moment and the need to
correct major abuses.
Among the negative aspects resulting from the centuries- old emphasis
on the issue of the justifi cation of sinners, it seems to me, one is having made
Western Christianity be a gloomy proclamation, completely focused on sin,
which the secular culture ended up resisting and rejecting. Th e most important thing is not what Jesus, by his death, has removed from human beings—
sin—but what he has given to them, that is, his Holy Spirit. Many exegetes
today consider the third chapter of the lett er to the Romans on justifi cation
by faith to be inseparable from the eighth chapter on the gift of the Spirit and
to be one piece with it.
Th e worst error one can make with the Lett er to the Romans is not to
separate it from the rest of the New Testament, as we Catholics used to say;
it is to separate its fi rst kerygmatic part from the second parenetic part.
Starting from Romans 12, all kinds of moral duties or fruits of the Spirit,
practically “good works,” are mentioned: “Let love be genuine. . . . Let
every person be subject to the governing authorities. . . . Let us conduct
ourselves becomingly.” Protestants would learn in this way that there is
room according to Paul for both faith and works; Catholics would be
reminded of the proper order of the two: not fi rst the works and then grace
as a reward for them but, rather, fi rst faith and the free grace of God and
then the works as a necessary way to keep faith alive. Th ere is an analogy
between the physical and the spiritual life. Th e child can do nothing to be
conceived in the womb of his or her mother; this is a free and undeserved
gift of love. However, once born, the child needs to put in motion his or her
lungs, breathe, suck milk from the breast of his or her mother. Otherwise,
the life he or she has received dies. Th is, in my opinion, is how we should
interpret the discussed statement of James: “Faith, by itself, if it has no
works, is dead” (Jas. 2:17). It was not dead from the start, but it dwindles
litt le by litt le and dies.
Th e free gift of justifi cation through faith in Christ should be preached
today by the whole church and with more vigor than ever—not, however,
434 Journal of Ecumenical Studies • 53:3
in contrast to the “works” whereof the New Testament speaks but in contrast to the claim of postmodern people of being able to save themselves
with their science and technology or with an improvised, comforting spirituality. Th ese are the “works” on which many modern human beings rely. I
am convinced that, if Luther came back to life, this would be the way that
he, too, would preach justifi cation by faith today.
Th ere is another thing that we all—Lutherans and Catholics—should
learn from the man who initiated the Reformation. As we saw, for Luther
the free gift of justifi cation by faith was, above all, a lived experience and
only later something about which to theorize. Aft er him, justifi cation
though faith increasingly became a theological thesis to defend or to
oppose and less and less a personal, liberating experience to be lived out in
one’s intimate relationship with God. Th e joint declaration of 1999 very
appropriately points out that the consensus reached by Catholics and
Lutherans on the fundamental truths of the doctrine of justifi cation must
take eff ect and be confi rmed—not just in the teaching of the church but in
people’s lives as well (no. 43).
We must never lose sight of the main point of the Pauline message.
What the Apostle wished to affi rm above all in Romans 3 was not that we
are justifi ed by faith but that we are justifi ed by faith in Christ; we are not so
much justifi ed by grace as we are justifi ed by the grace of Christ. Christ is
the heart of the message, more so than grace and faith. Today, he himself is
the article by which the church stands or falls: a person, not a doctrine.
We ought to rejoice because this is what is happening in the church—and
to a greater extent than commonly realized. In recent months, I att ended two
conferences: one in Switzerland organized by Protestants with the participation of Catholics, and the other in Germany organized by Catholics with the
participation of Protestants. Th e latt er conference, in Augsburg in January,
2017, seemed to me to be truly a sign of the times. Th ere were 6,000 Catholics
and 2,000 Lutherans, the majority of whom were young, who had come from
throughout Germany. Its title was “Holy Fascination.” What fascinated that
crowd was Jesus of Nazareth, made present and almost tangible by the Holy
Spirit. Behind this eff ort was a community of lay people and a house of prayer
(Gebetshaus), which has been active for years and is in full communion with
the local Catholic Church.
It was not an easy ecumenism. Th ere was a very Catholic Mass with
lots of incense, celebrated once by me and once by the auxiliary bishop of
• Explorations and Responses 435
Augsburg; on another day, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated by a Lutheran
pastor with full respect for each other’s liturgies. Worship, teachings,
music—it was an atmosphere that only young people today are able to create and that could serve as a model for some special event during World
Youth Day. I asked those in charge if they wanted me to speak about Christian unity. Th ey answered, “No. We prefer to live that unity instead of
talking about it.” Th ey were right. Th ese are signs of the direction in which
the Spirit—and Pope Francis—invite us to go.
Raniero Cantalamessa, ofmcapp
Preacher to the Papal Household
Vatican City
Copyright of Journal of Ecumenical Studies is the property of University of Pennsylvania
Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print,
download, or email articles for individual use.

---

Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply

Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?

Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.

Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?

• Plagiarism free papers
• Timely delivery
• Any deadline
• Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
• Subject-relevant academic writer
• Adherence to paper instructions
• Ability to tackle bulk assignments
• Reasonable prices
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Get superb grades consistently

Online Academic Help With Different Subjects

Literature

Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.

Finance

Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.

Computer science

Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!

Psychology

While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.

Engineering

Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Nursing

In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.

Sociology

Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.

Business

We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!

Statistics

We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.

Law

Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.

What discipline/subjects do you deal in?

We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.

Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?

Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.

What if I don’t like the paper?

There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.

Reasons being:

• When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
• We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.

In the event that you don’t like your paper:

• The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
• We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
• Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.

Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?

Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.

What if the paper is plagiarized?

We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.

When will I get my paper?

You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.

Will anyone find out that I used your services?

We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.

How our Assignment Help Service Works

1. Place an order

You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.

2. Pay for the order

Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.

3. Track the progress

You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.

4. Download the paper

The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.

GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!

---