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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Schools today face significant challenges in the field of educating new generations. For this reason, schools cannot just be places for imparting ideas but are called to offer pupils the opportunity to fathom cultural, social, ethical and religious messages.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the diverse representation of Italian students that gathered in the Vatican Basilica for the General Audience held on Wednesday, March 12. Directing his words to teachers, he told them, “Teachers cannot fail to perceive the moral dimension of all human knowledge, because man knows in order to act and action is the fruit of his knowledge.” Benedict XVI also encouraged the youth who wish to follow Christ to take care of updating their spiritual formation, “seeking an ever greater understanding of the contents of faith.”
In the Paul VI Hall, where pilgrims from all over the world had gathered, the Pope dedicated his catechesis today to two early Christian writers: Boethius and Cassiodorus, who “who lived during some of the most troubled years in the Christian West , and in particular in the Italian peninsula.” Boethius, who was born in Rome around the year 480, entered into public life as a young man and attained the post of senator when he was still only 25 years old. “In this new era of an encounter between cultures,” the Pope explained, “he considered it his personal mission to reconcile and join these two cultures -- the classical Roman culture with the culture of the Ostrogoths.” Despite being so active in public life, Boethius did not neglect his studies, dedicating much of his time to a deeper understanding of subjects of a philosophical and religious nature, later composing manuals himself. “In his efforts to promote unity of the two cultures, he used Greek philosophy to put forward the Christian faith, again striving for a synthesis of the Roman Hellenic heritage and the evangelical message.”
His best-known work is the 'De consolatione philosophiae,' which he wrote while in prison, having been unjustly accused of plotting against King Theodoric. Tried and condemned to death, he was executed on 23 October 524, at the age of 44. “In this work, completed while in jail, he searches for comfort, he searches for light, and he searches for wisdom. He tells us that precisely in the situation in which he finds himself, he is able to distinguish between apparent goods -- these disappear in jail -- and true goods, such as real friendship which never disappears, even if you are in jail. The greatest good is God: Boethius learned and now teaches us not to succumb to fatalism, which extinguishes hope. He teaches us that fate does govern our lives -- Providence does and Providence has a face. You can speak to Providence because Providence is God. Thus, even in jail it is still possible to pray, to talk to him who will save us.”
The final plea of "De consolatione philosophiae" can be considered a synthesis of all the teachings which Boethius directs to himself and to all those who may find themselves in similar circumstances. “Every detainee, no matter what the reason of his incarceration, will understand how heavily this weighs upon you, especially if the situation is exacerbated -- as was the case with Boethius -- by the use of torture. It is particularly reprehensible that someone should be tortured to death, as Boethius was -- he was recognized and celebrated by the city of Pavia in the liturgy as a martyr -- for no reason other than one’s own political and religious ideals. Boethius, symbol of the huge number of detainees, unjustly arrested from all the different times and regions in our history, is an objective doorway to contemplating the mystery of the Crucifixion on Golgotha.”
Aurelius Cassiodorus was a contemporary of Boethius. He was born in Squillace around 485 and died at Vivarium around 580. “Conscious of the need not to allow the human and humanistic patrimony accumulated in the golden age of the Roman empire to vanish into oblivion, Cassiodorus collaborated generously -- and at the highest levels of political responsibility -- with the new peoples who had entered the confines of the empire and had now settled in Italy. He also set an example of how to join cultures, of dialogue and reconciliation,” Benedict XVI pointed out. Cassiodorus supported the monastic movement, dedicating to them all his wealth and his spiritual efforts. In turn, he entrusted the monks with the task of “recovering, preserving and transmitting to posterity the vast cultural property of the ancients, so that it would not get lost. This is why he founded Vivarium, a monastery organized in such a manner that the intellectual work of the monks was considered most precious and vital.”
In his teaching, spread in various works, prayer forms the central focus, “nourished by sacred Scripture and especially by the assiduous contemplation of the Psalms.” “The search for God, oriented toward his contemplation, notes Cassiodorus, remains the permanent aim of monastic life. He adds, however, that with the help of divine favor, it is possible to reveal a better use of the holy word through the use of scientific breakthroughs, ‘secular’ cultural instruments already in the possession of the Greeks and the Romans. Cassiodorus himself was dedicated to philosophical, theological and exegetical studies, without being particularly creative, but was attentive to the intuitions that he recognized as valid in others.”
The Holy Father concluded his catechesis with a quote from Cassiodorus, in which he refers to the teachings of Jerome and urges the monks to ask for God’s help in order to overcome the requests of the world and its enticements: “In fact, if all your attention is occupied by Christ the enemy will not find any opening to attack you.” Benedict XVI commented on the text, with an exhortation to the faithful: “It is an admonishment we can relate to. We also live in times where cultures meet, where violence threatens to destroy culture, where we have a duty to pass on the great values and to teach the new generations the ways of peace and reconciliation. We will find this way by turning toward God and his human face, the God revealed to us in Christ.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 13/3/2008; righe 79, parole 1049)
