Retrospective on München: The Homily at Islinger Feld

This is the third in a series of posts about Pope Benedict XVI’s homilies and other addresses during his journey to Bavaria.  This post considers his homily at the Mass at Islinger Feld in Regensburg, given the morning before his address at the university that has drawn much attention since that journey.

"Those who believe are never alone."  Those were the first words of the homily.  Shortly before the journey, it was anticipated that the motto of the trip and the phrase to be remembered from that journey would be these words.  Those words have been nearly forgotten in the aftermath.  And yet it should be remembered that, at the time when the Holy Father gave his address at the university, later that day, it was thought that the most memorable thing he was going to say in Bavaria was “Those who believe are never alone.”

The same phrase is one he had used in his homily for the Inaugural Mass on April 24, 2005:

"How alone we all felt after the passing of John Paul II – the Pope who for over twenty-six years had been our shepherd and guide on our journey through life! He crossed the threshold of the next life, entering into the mystery of God. But he did not take this step alone. Those who believe are never alone – neither in life nor in death. At that moment, we could call upon the Saints from every age – his friends, his brothers and sisters in the faith – knowing that they would form a living procession to accompany him into the next world, into the glory of God."

Indeed, in that Inaugural Mass homily, he spoke most personally of what it meant to be alone, taking on the burden of the papacy, and yet never alone, accompanied by the prayers of the Communion of the Saints, including the prayers of the living Church:

"And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this? How will I be able to do it? All of you, my dear friends, have just invoked the entire host of Saints, represented by some of the great names in the history of God’s dealings with mankind. In this way, I too can say with renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me. And your prayers, my dear friends, your indulgence, your love, your faith and your hope accompany me. Indeed, the communion of Saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of Saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood, through which he transforms us and makes us like himself. Yes, the Church is alive – this is the wonderful experience of these days. During those sad days of the Pope’s illness and death, it became wonderfully evident to us that the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future."

He spoke of how apparent it became, during the last days of John Paul II's papacy, that the Church is alive and young, and that She shows us the way towards the future.

In his sometimes nostalgic, sometimes forward looking journey home to Bavaria, he returned to the theme of the inaugural of his papacy, and asked:

“We are gathered for a celebration of faith. But the question immediately arises: What do we actually believe?  What does it mean to have faith?  Is it still something possible in the modern world?”

Here was the issue for the week: Those who believe are never alone . . .  but what do we believe in the modern world?  And the world he was addressing was the increasingly secular world of modern Europe, looking at its present and at the course of its future direction.

Here, too, he raised the issue of the Middle Ages, but not with a desire to return to the Church of the Crusades.  Rather, he said:

“When we look at the great Summae of theology compiled in the Middle Ages, or we think of the number of books written each day for or against faith, we might lose heart and think that it is all too complicated.  In the end, we can no longer see the forest for the trees.”

The passing reference to the Summae of the Middle Ages entails a reference to reason as understood by St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, and indeed to St. Thomas’ understanding of the interaction of faith and reason.  Much more has been written about that aspect of St. Thomas' writing in an earlier post on this blog with quotes and commentary on the Summae's analysis of reason and divine revelation.

Instead of the complexity of St. Thomas, Benedict pointed to the Apostle’s Creed, a simple statement of what we believe that dates back to the early centuries of the Church. 

About the Apostle’s Creed, he made two basic points:

1. Faith is simple:  “We believe in a God who enters into a relationship with us human beings, who is our origin and our future. Consequently, faith is, always and inseparably, hope: the certainty that we have a future and will not end up as nothing. And faith is love, since God's love is "contagious". This is the first thing: we simply believe in God, and this brings with it hope and love.”

2. Faith is a relationship: “A second thing also becomes clear: the Creed is not a collection of propositions; it is not a theory. It is anchored in the event of Baptism - a genuine encounter between God and man. In the mystery of Baptism, God stoops to meet us; he comes close to us and in turn brings us closer to one another.  Baptism means that Jesus Christ adopts us as his brothers and sisters, welcoming us as sons and daughters into God's family.”

The reference to baptism also reprized the theme of his inaugural Mass, in which he said, in April 2005:

"All of us belong to the communion of Saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood, through which he transforms us and makes us like himself."

In a week remembered much for a statement that came across to some people as prejudiced, this homily actually expressed a great ecumenical openness, a statement of the simplicity of faith and a statement of faith as rooted in baptism.  This echoed his reference in the inaugural homily to the communion of the Saints as including all baptized in the Trinity, thus extending well beyond the bounds of people who are in full communion with the Catholic Church.  In the inaugural homily, this implication was made more clear by another statement he made, specifically referencing baptized Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church and also reaching out to acknowledge those who are not Christians:

"With great affection I also greet all those who have been reborn in the sacrament of Baptism but are not yet in full communion with us; and you, my brothers and sisters of the Jewish people, to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual heritage, one rooted in God’s irrevocable promises. Finally, like a wave gathering force, my thoughts go out to all men and women of today, to believers and non-believers alike."

Perhaps the inclusiveness of these words would be most remembered from Bavaria, if not for a distraction.  The Pope then returned to the issue of the present day: secular reason that has separated itself from faith, dating back to the efforts of the Enlightenment to separate faith from reason and to support only reason separated and apart from faith:

“As Christians, we say: 'I believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.'  I believe in the Creator Spirit.  We believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal Word, with Reason and not Unreason.” 

It was in this homily that he clearly introduced a new theme of God as Logos -- the Greek for "Word" in John 1:1 ( and of reason as part of the nature of God, just as God is love and love is part of the nature of God.  The Logos of John 1:1 enters into the Christian understanding of reason, : “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God.”  It is a concept of Hellenistic reason interwoven with the Hebrew concept of creation and with the Trinitarian concept of Christ as God and as the Logos, the Word of God.  And this concept of reason as a Person, as Christ, involved in creation, is the reason that is contrasted with the secular reason of the Enlightenment and of the present day.

Continuing, the Holy Father linked this God of Reason, of Logos, with God who is Love:

“The second section of the Creed tells us more.  This creative Reason is Goodness, it is Love.  It has a face.  God does not leave us groping in the dark.  He has shown himself to us as a man.  In his greatness he has let himself become small.  "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", Jesus says (Jn 14:9).” 

Reason and Love are thus seen as one, and that One is the God of the Trinity, as Christ is both Love and Logos.

In that context, he also mentioned the "hatred and fanaticism" that denies that God, by nature, is love and is reason.  Without specifically mentioning Islamic terrorism, he did specifically contrast hatred and fanaticism with the understanding of God's nature as love and logos:

“Today, when we have learned to recognize the pathologies and the life-threatening diseases associated with religion and reason, and the ways that God's image can be destroyed by hatred and fanaticism, it is important to state clearly the God in whom we believe, and to proclaim confidently that this God has a human face." 

He then turned again to the subject of modern secularism, seeing its source as a fear of God, and offering as a remedy for that fear an understanding of God as a God of love, reason and joy:

"Only this can free us from being afraid of God - which is ultimately at the root of modern atheism. Only this God saves us from being afraid of the world and from anxiety before the emptiness of life. Only by looking to Jesus Christ does our joy in God come to fulfilment and become redeemed joy.  During this solemn Eucharistic celebration, let us look to the Lord lifted up before us on the Cross and ask him to give us the immense joy which, at the hour of his farewell, he promised to the disciples (cf. Jn 16:24)!”

In Deus Caritas Est, the Holy Father wrote primarily on one aspect of God's nature: God is love.  In Bavaria, he spoke more extensively on another aspect of God's nature: God is Logos.  He did not demand such faith, in a form rejecting of those who might disagree.  Rather, he offered that faith as a means of overcoming fear, overcoming emptiness of life, overcoming political and social violence, and finding joy.  This was not a message of prejudice, but one of openness.

In considering the connection of faith and reason in his lecture at the University of Regensburg later the same day, the Holy Father was carrying further the thoughts he had introduced earlier in Bavaria, including the ideas expressed in the homily that morning at Islinger Feld. 

Yet, concluding the homily at Islinger Feld, we might remember again that his introduction to the homily echoed his inaugural homily.  For the conclusion of the homily at Islinger Feld could be seen as an affirmation the he, as pope, intended not to be silent in the face of injustice.  His speaking out for peace a few weeks earlier, during the war in Lebanon, had drawn criticism from those who supported the Israeli intention to continue the war while Benedict XVI called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and yet his speaking for peace also opposed violence by Islamic militants such as Hezbollah.  The time a few weeks before his trip to Bavaria had been a time when he had spoken out more on global political issues of immediate importance in a way that had drawn controversy, and yet his message was consistently a message of peace and a message of justice for people on all sides of that conflict.  That intent to speak out on issues of injustice could be seen as a look back at the role he took on in the papacy, as he also encouraged those listening to not let fear make them become silent accomplices to the world's injustice:

“In the face of injustice we must not remain indifferent and thus end up as silent collaborators or outright accomplices. We need to recognize our mission in history and to strive to carry it out. What is needed is not fear, but responsibility - responsibility and concern for our own salvation, and for the salvation of the whole world.”