CIS NEWSLETTER  No. 47 - October 2007 Kicking off a New Social Year September separates summer – with its holidays and rest, its leisure and relaxation – from autumn’s unavoidable onslaught. The new school year is already well on its way, ushering new academic goals and targets. Come October, employers and employees shift to their winter schedules, as slightly heavier clothing nudges bright summer cottons into winter storage. Government officials publish new economic data and a new budgetary law with its social obligations and collective burdens becomes the talk of town. With an economy flying into strong headwinds, Malta spreads further its sails as it ventures further into uncharted waters. But it must reckon with ‘endless’ political events, as it braces itself for the next parliamentary elections. Our two dioceses gradually shed off the joy they experienced when they welcomed a new leadership, as Mgr Paul Cremona and Mgr Mario Grech come to grips with several thorny issues. One day, not too far away, they have to start asking fellow believers to commit themselves to a more active faith life. Families too measure themselves with concerns they may have shelved through the hot summery days and the exhilarating activity of sleepless nights. Young people grudgingly settle in, take up study commitments or work assignments, and pine after long nights at some entertainment venue. Households have to face bills and loans, with all the good and the bad of consumer societies. Spouses and parents address relational and personal issues they can hide no longer. Many find it hard not to avoid looking into the ugly face of their homes: more of a meeting-point than living quarters one gladly shares. In only a few decades, Maltese society has espoused the rhythms and quirks of the rich, first world, just as its citizens treasure new freedoms they can enjoy. The above is but a shortlist of new challenges that take many a Christian by surprise: many good-willed persons are at a loss where to turn to. Few consider such challenges to be gifts of God’s providence, opportunities for a maturing Church, and a new scenario in which locals can renew their legendary hospitality of biblical fame. All God’s good creatures do look to Him, “to give them their food in due season” (Ps 104, 27). The pros and cons of Autumn 2007 – the difficult challenges it ushers in – are but a golden opportunity. God can transform Maltese society into “a blessing” that, through our tiny country, He may send “showers of blessing” on other nations. As October ushers in the damp and cold wintry months; it calls on sweaty brows and weary arms to ‘till the land’. Where? With whom? Autumn is the distant call of a coming spring. What are the fruits we want to look for? We are all to stand up to challenging options, discern God’s light and love, and invest in hopeful outcomes, spring could truly deliver promising blossoms of heavenly fruits. Mario Farrugia sj   NOTE: We would like to inform our readers that the review on the book ‘The Enduring Heart’ by Wilkie Au which appeared in the September 2007 Newsletter, was written by Ms Louise Laferla. We apologise to Ms Laferla for inadvertently omitting her name.   Book Review Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism to the Transfiguration Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism to the Transfiguration, New York: Doubleday 2007. xxiv+374 pp. LM 9.00 / Eur. 20.96. ISBN: 978-0-385-52341-7. This English translation of Jesus von Nazareth is Pope Ratzinger’s first book written as Benedict XVI. In this bold, momentous work, His Holiness seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent ‘popular’ depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the Pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and urges us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith. In the Pope’s own words, “the great question that will be with us throughout this entire book [is]: ‘What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?’ He has brought God. He has brought the God who formerly unveiled his countenance gradually, first to Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and then in the Wisdom Literature – the God who revealed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honoured among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the nations of the earth. He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope, and love.” This book represents Joseph Ratzinger’s own personal search ‘for the face of the Lord’, a search inspired in the 1930s and 1940s by classics as Romano Guardini’s, Giovanni Papini’s and Henri Daniel-Rops’, which, later in the 1950s their gospel-based portrayal of the person of Jesus became blurred in other authors keen on historical-critical scholarship that led to finer and finer distinctions between layers of tradition in the Gospels, subsequently eclipsing altogether the heart of the matter, the real object of faith, Jesus. Ratzinger conducts an extremely honest, deeply sensitive, extremely scholarly yet not at the expense of crystal clarity and a very readable enquiry into all the available sources (of which he is a reputable expert), to present the reader with his own personal insights into the person of Christ. It is, in his own words, “no exercise of the magisterium ... Everyone is free to contradict me. I would only ask my readers for that initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding.” Very conscious that his time on earth is not in his own hands to determine, the Pope opts to publish the first part of this seminal work, as the most urgent priority, covering the period from Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan to Peter’s Confession and the Transfiguration, deferring for Part II the rest of Jesus’ life, including a treatment of the infancy narratives. The material is spread over ten chapters which, after an Introduction on An Initial Reflection on the Mystery of Jesus, follow the thread through the following evangelical milestones: The Baptism of Jesus, The Temptations of Jesus, The Gospel of the Kingdom, The Sermon on the Mount – further subdivided into The Beatitudes, The Torah of the Messiah, The Fourth Commandment, and Compromise and Prophetic Radicalism – The Lord’s Prayer, The Disciples, The Message of the Parables, The Principal Images of John’s Gospel, Peter’s Confession and the Transfiguration, and concluding with a masterly Jesus Declares His Identity. The publication comes to a close with a select Glossary of terms (prepared by the publishers) and a redoubtable Bibliography of works (very understandably with a certain Germanic bias) cited and consulted, among which Jesuits would be pleased to note Peter-Hans Kolvenbach’s Der österliche Weg. Exerzitien zur Lebenserneuerung, and other Scripture scholars of the Society, including Carlo Maria Martini and Hugo Rahner. Prof. Stanley Fiorini Prayer Give Us, O Lord, a Steadfast Heart Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thomas Aquinas From the CIS Programme Ottubru 2007  “U ħares Alla lejn kull ma kien għamel, u, ara, kollox kien tajjeb ħafna.” (Ġen. 1, 31): in-Nisrani u l-Ambjent. Għandna għax niżżu ħajr `l Alla li fl-aħħar il-bniedem tas-seklu 21 qed jagħraf il-ħtieġa li jibda jibża’ u japprezza s-sbuħija tal-ħolqien ta’ madwaru. Kemm jien konxju tas-sbuħija tal-ħolqien? Kemm jien grat `l Alla għal dan ir-rigal li tani? Kemm iressaqni lejn Alla l-ħolqien? X’responsabbiltà nħoss biex nibża’ għal dan il-ħolqien? Dawn huma xi riflessjonijiet li nista’ nagħmel f’atmosfera ta’ talb matul dan il-“week-end retreat”. Data:       Mill-Ġimgħa, 12 ta’ Ottubru, 2007, fis-7.00 ta’ filgħaxija, sal-Ħadd, 14 ta’ Ottubru, wara l-pranzu. Imexxi:   Fr. Victor Degabriele, S.J., megħjun minn Ms. Louise Vella. Post:       Dar Manresa, Victoria, Għawdex. Jum ta’ ġabra għall-għalliema fil-bidu tas-sena skolastika F’ħajti għandi mumenti ta’ waqfien, ta’ mistrieħ m’Alla? Jista’ jkun li ħajti ġirja waħda? Jekk hu hekk, din tista’ tkun okkażjoni tajba fejn tieqaf ftit u tieħu n-nifs f’ambjent sieket u sabiħ. Data:    14 ta’ Ottubru 2007 mid-9.00 am sal-5.00pm (inkluż l-ikel) Imexxi: Fr Godwin Preca, S.J. Post:    Mt St Joseph Retreat House, Tarġa Gap, Mosta Mulej, għallimna nitolbu. Huwa l-Ispirtu ta’ Ġesù li f’qalbna jqanqalna biex nitolbu. Iżda aħna rridu nagħmlu l-parti tagħna. F’dan l-irtir nitgħallmu flimkien metodi differenti ta’ talb. Data:       Mill-Ġimgħa, 19 ta’ Ottubru, 2007 fis-7.00 ta’ filgħaxija, sal-Ħadd, 21 ta’Ottubru wara l-pranzu. Imexxu:  Ms Rosaline Scicluna, Ms Mary Xuereb, Fr. Anthony Cilia, S.J. u Fr. V. Degabriele, S.J. Post:       Dar Manresa, Victoria, Għawdex. November Nersqu lejn Kristu u nsiru nafuH aħjar permezz ta’ San Ġorġ Preca. Żgur li għandna ħafna x’nitgħallmu mill-persuna u l-ispirtu ta’ San Ġorġ Preca, bniedem li għex ħajja tant intima mal-Mulej. Matul dan l-irtir fis-silenzju nisimgħu fuq aspetti u karatteristiċi partikulari ta’ l-ispiritwalità ta’ dan is-saċerdot qaddis u li jgħinuna nidħlu f’relazzjoni intima ta’ talb. Data:       Mill-Ġimgħa, 2 ta’ Novembru, 2007 fis-7.00 ta’ filgħaxija, sal-Ħadd, 4 ta’ Novembru wara l-pranzu. Imexxu:  Is-Sur John Formosa, Superjur tas-Soċjeta’ tal-MUSEUM,                u s-Sur Natalino Camilleri, soċju tas-Soċjetà tal-MUSEUM. Post:       Dar Manresa, Victoria, Għawdex. Introduzzjoni għall-Vanġeli Gnostiċi mill-Professur Anthony J. Frendo Il-Gnostiċiżmu kien l-aktar magħruf permezz tas-Santi Padri bħal Ġustinu u Irinew. Iżda fl-1945 bibljoteka sħiħa tas-setta Gnostika kienet misjuba ġo Nagd-Ħammadi fl-Eġittu. Din is-sejba inkludiet dokumenti importanti bħall-Vanġeli Gnostiċi, per eżempju l-Vanġelu tal-Verità u l-Vanġelu ta’ Tumas fost oħrajn. Dan l-aħħar, id-Da Vinci Code qajjem interess f’dawn il-kitbiet iżda mingħajr distinzjoni bejn dak li huwa fattwali u dak li huwa fittizju. F’dan il-‘weekend seminar’, il-Professur Frendo, jagħti introduzzjoni għall-Vanġeli Gnostiċi u jiddiskuti wkoll il-problema tal-Kanoni tal-Bibbja. Ikun hemm ħin għad-diskussjoni fi gruppi żgħar ukoll. Il-Professur Anthony J. Frendo, Kap tad-Dipartiment ta’ l-Għarbi u ta’ l-Istudji ta’ Lvant Qarib fl-Università ta’ Malta, jgħallem l-Istudji ta’ l-Lvant Qarib. L-oqsma li l-aktar jikkonċentra fuqhom huma l-Lhudi Klassiku, il-Bibbja, u l-Arkejoloġija tal-Lvant Qarib (l-aktar l-Arkejoloġija Bibblika). Data:       Mill-Ġimgħa 9 ta’ Novembru fis-6.30 pm sal-Ħadd 11 ta’ Novembru fil-5.00 pm Imexxi:    Prof. Anthony J. Frendo (Professur tal-Iskrittura u Arkejoloġija Bibblika) Post:       Mt St Joseph Retreat House, Tarġa Gap, Mosta Irtir ta’ Weekend għall-Miżżewġin Dan il-Weekend huwa okkażjoni għall-dawk il-koppji miżżewġa li jixtiequ jġeddu u jiċċelebraw il-wegħdiet taż-żwieġ tagħhom. Din hija esperjenza spiritwali b’differenza. Il-Weekend huwa mfassal li jkun kreattiv fejn il-partners jirriflettu u jitolbu flimkien. Ikun hemm ħin ta’ sharing fi grupp magħmul minn 8 koppji. Dan il-Weekend joffri opportunità lill-koppji parteċipanti sabiex jiskopru dejjem aktar l-imħabba li Alla għandu għall-miżżewġin u l-familji tagħhom. Data:           Mill-Ġimgħa 23 ta’ Novembru, fis-6.00pm sal-Ħadd 25 ta’ Novembru, fil-5.00pm Jiffaċilitaw: Il-Koppja Carmen u Karm Conti u Fr. Vince Magri S.J. Post:           Mount St. Joseph Retreat House, Mosta