May 6, 2011 Commencement Address Sacred Heart School of Theology Fr. Melvin E. Michalski Dear members of the Board of Trustees; Faculty,

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1 1 May 6, 2011 Commencement Address Sacred Heart School of Theology Fr. Melvin E. Michalski Dear members of the Board of Trustees; Faculty, Administration, and Staff; Students of Sacred Heart School of Theology; Honored Guests; dear Graduating Class of 2011: I am honored to be chosen as your commencement speaker. When I mentioned to my sister, Rita, that I would be giving the commencement address this year, she asked: Can I give you some advice? I said, Sure. This is what she told me: Keep it short! I also mentioned that I would be giving the commencement address to a very good friend of mine, Sister Virginia Handrup, SSSF. She asked me: Do you have a joke you can tell? I asked her why I needed a joke. She answered, Mel, you want to be a little lighthearted and not so serious. I want to take their advice. And since I want to draw our attention this afternoon to two pieces of art at Sacred Heart School of Theology I decided to begin my address with this little lighthearted story about Picasso. One evening, contrary to his normal routine, Picasso decided to return to his studio after dinner. As he approached the studio, he

2 2 thought he saw movement in it. As he cautiously opened the door, he came face-to-face with a man rummaging through a stack of Picasso's paintings. Surprised by the artist's presence, the thief grabbed two smaller paintings and ran for all he was worth out of the building. Picasso then called the police. When they arrived and heard the story from Picasso, they were thrilled he had seen the thief so that he could give them a good description of the person they'd be looking for. Picasso said he wasn't very good with verbal descriptions but he could draw a sketch of the man. The police said that was even better. On the basis of the sketch Picasso created, the police soon arrested a Carmelite nun, a washing machine, and a mailbox. My friends: Everyone who enters the foyer of Sacred Heart School of Theology immediately sees a bronze statue of Jesus; he is holding a cup with both hands. The statue of Jesus stands on a stone base above a fountain of fresh flowing water. At the base of the fountain, inscribed on a bronze plaque, are these words from John s Gospel, Chapter 7: verses 37-38: Jesus stood up and exclaimed: Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within. Jesus proclaimed these words on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. For seven days water was carried in a golden

3 3 pitcher from the Pool of Siloam to the temple as a reminder of the water from the rock in the desert (Numbers, Chapter 20, verses 2-13) and as a symbol of hope for the coming Messianic deliverance (Isaiah, Chapter 12, verse 3). The Church Father Origen knew the text of John, Chapter 7, verses 37-38, with the exact same punctuation we find in our foyer. He argued that the words: Rivers of living water will flow from within refer back to the words that begin the sentence, namely, Whoever believes in me, that is, Rivers of living water will flow from within believers. Origen s interpretation became the dominant interpretation of the Middle Ages and into the Modern Era. He is the oldest Christian exegete to interpret John, Chapter 7, verses to mean that believers will become springs of life-giving water. The main theme of Origen s theology is that the spiritual life of the Christian begins in faith and reaches its completion in knowledge (gnosis). According to Origen the one who drinks deeply in faith will not only have life but also becomes a source of living water for others. However, the Jesuit theologian, Fr. Hugo Rahner, professor of Church History and Patristics at the University of Innsbruck, who died in 1968, pointed out that St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, and St. Hippolytus of Rome, knew a different punctuation of the text, namely: Jesus stood and cried out, saying: Let the one who thirsts come to me and drink, whoever believes in me. As the

4 4 Scripture says: Out of his heart there shall flow rivers of living waters. (Rahner 1964) In this punctuation of the text the words: Whoever believes in me, are part of the first sentence and are not placed at the beginning of the second sentence. Thus St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, and St. Hippolytus asserted that the words: there shall flow rivers of living water refer not to believers hearts but to the heart of the Messiah. Jesus invites those who thirst to drink from the one whom the Scriptures say will give living water, the Messiah, who stands before them. Pope Pius XII quotes John, Chapter 7, verses in his encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, On Devotion To The Sacred Heart, of May 15, 1956 (AAS 48, 1956, 310). The pope uses the punctuation favored by St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, and St. Hippolytus. I want to show the relevance for us of the punctuation favored by them. St. Hippolytus, in his commentary on the book of the prophet Daniel, writes that the living water flows from the breast of Christ, i.e., from his body. He says: The holy flesh of Christ is the spiritual rock of which St. Paul speaks in First Corinthians, Chapter 10, verses 2-4. That text reads: They were all baptized into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and the rock was Christ.

5 5 For St. Hippolytus, the death of Jesus possesses life-giving power. It is only through the blood of Christ that the water of the Spirit is released. He also wrote: As the prophet says: Streams flow from his body. The prophet is the apostle John. In the First Letter of John, Chapter 5, verse 6, we read: This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The blood and water flowing from Christ s pierced side are signs of a real death. As the blood is a sign of Christ s true humanity, a sign that he is a true descendant of Adam s race, so also is the water a symbol of Christ s divinity. St. Cyril of Jerusalem added an ecclesial emphasis: Just as the Spirit leads Christ to the cross, so also in the Church and in the individual believer the new possession of the Spirit leads believers to martyrdom; Water leads to blood. We have now seen two different punctuations of John, Chapter 7, verses 37-38, and two interpretations: the spiritual, mystical interpretation favored by Origen and the sacramental, ecclesial interpretation favored by St. Hippolytus, St. Cyprian, St. Irenaeus, and by Pope Pius XII. Let us summarize our findings: First, for Hippolytus, Christ is not so much the Logos as the Messiah.

6 6 Second, for Hippolytus, Christ is not so much the one who gives water of knowledge (gnosis) as the one who in his true human nature bestows the Spirit. Finally, for Hippolytus, the word breast or heart does not refer to a spiritual organ, i.e., to the heart in a mystical sense but to the real body and true human heart of Jesus. John, Chapter 7, verse 38 thus stands in close relationship with John, Chapter 19, verse 34. There we read: but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. From the pierced heart of Christ the Church is born and in the Church the martyrdom of Christ continues. Many of the Church Fathers interpreted water and blood as symbols of Baptism and Eucharist. The Church, the second Eve, is born from the side of Christ, just as the first Eve was born from the side of Adam. But before we too quickly take blood and water as symbols of Eucharist and Baptism we should heed the advice of Fr. Ronald Rohlheiser who cautions us to see that blood and water symbolize new birth. (Rohlheiser 2011, 12). He says: When a baby is born, blood and water accompany the delivery. For John, Jesus death is the birth of something new in our lives. Blood symbolizes the flow of life within us. Water both quenches thirst and washes dirt from our bodies. What John wants to say with this image is that

7 7 those who witnessed the death of Jesus immediately recognized that the kind of love which Jesus manifested in dying in this way created a new energy and freedom in their lives. They felt both an energy and a cleansing, blood and water flowing from Jesus death. In essence, they felt a power flowing out of his death into their lives that allowed them to live with less fear, with less guilt, with more joy with more meaning. That is still true for us today. My friends, in this address we have made our way from the foyer to the chapel; from the bronze statue to the slab glass window of Jesus Sacred Heart; from the water to the blood and water; from John, Chapter 7, verses to John, Chapter 19, verse 34. We have moved from the fountain of life to the pierced heart of Christ. Fr. Hugo Rahner, SJ, wrote his dissertation on Jesus Christ, the fountain of life; Fr. Karl Rahner, SJ, wrote his dissertation on the birth of the Church from the pierced heart of Jesus Christ. The two brothers worked together; they shared their research on the writings of the Church Fathers. We do not minister alone; we rely constantly on one another. Graduates, I am giving you a gift: two bookmarks, one of the bronze statue of Christ with the words of John, Chapter 7, verses 37-38, and the other the colored glass window of the Sacred Heart: on the back of the bookmark is the Preface of the Sacred Heart. This Preface invites us to the wounded side and the open heart of Christ, from which the Savior invites all to draw water.

8 8 In your honor I am making these bookmarks available to all who gather here today. Fr. Charlie Bisgrove, SCJ, said to me in the sacristy following the community Mass on the day before his stroke: I see you are giving the commencement address. Are you speaking on the Fathers of the Church? I smiled, but did not answer taken aback by his insight. Then he asked: Are you going to talk about Rahner? Well I started to think that Fr. Charlie could read my mind! Again I didn t answer, not wanting to disclose too much. Then Fr. Charlie said: I ll be there. Indeed Fr. Charlie is with us; his generous life of sacrifice, his witness lives on and gives us courage. Let me conclude with this recollection. During the summer of 1969, the year before my ordination to priesthood, I went to the Holy Land. A group of eight of us, among us, Fr. Robert North SJ ( ), made a day trip into the Negev desert to visit a place called Kadesh Barnea, a place where Moses and the Israelites may have camped. Our guide from Hebrew University asked each of us that morning if we were prepared for the excursion: She went through her checklist: Do you have your sun glasses, sun tan lotion, camera, straw hat, canteen of water? I had all I needed. When I hopped into the jeep I asked our guide: Why all the containers stored under the seats? She said: That s our water; we re going into the desert. If our jeep breaks down we ll need all that. Every hour on the hour we stopped and our guide asked each person: Did you drink?

9 9 One time I answered, No, I drank the last time we stopped; I m not thirsty. She said: If you wait until you re thirsty, it will be too late; you must drink every time we stop. When we came to Kadesh Barnea, four hours later, we found an oasis in the middle of the desert palm trees, plants, some bushes, a Bedouin man riding on a camel, a Bedouin woman with three small children, their pets, young puppies, and a donkey. The woman had filled her goat skins with fresh artesian water and tied them to the donkey. We washed our faces in the cool water, took off our shoes and socks, cooled our feet, drank abundantly; we sat and rested. Dear graduates, you might think you have all that you need, your canteens are full, but you also need the water that only others can and will supply, and you need the fresh flowing living water of Christ. Pope Leo the Great composed these words: From the wound of Christ the fountain of life takes its course cleansing the whole world. These are the words on one of the eight porphyry columns at the Lateran Baptistry in Rome. (Rahner 235). My dear graduates, when your hearts are pierced and broken, when you suffer for righteousness sake, when you pour out your life-blood in self-sacrificing love, remember that Fr. Charlie Bisgrove, SCJ, Fr. Michael Van der Peet, SCJ, Fr. Michael McLernon, and so many others have done it before you, and remember: your sacrifice for others is never in vain. Look to the

10 10 Sacred Pierced Heart of Christ, the fountain of life, and draw the courage and the strength to be faithful. We are proud of you, we love you, and we bid you go in God s Spirit, and Christ be with you. Reference List Rahner, Hugo Flumina De Ventre Christi: Die Patristische Auslegung von JOH. 7, 37, 38. Symbole der Kirche: Die Ekklesiologie der Väter. Otto Müller Verlag Salzburg Pius XII, Pope. Encyclical. Haurietis Aquas, On Devotion To The Sacred Heart, May 15, AAS 48, 1956) ts/hf_p-xii_enc_ /12/2011 Rohlheiser, Fr. Ronald, Powerful symbolism evident in John s Passion account, Catholic Herald, Vol. 142 No. 15, 12. April 21,

Messianic Prophecy. Messiah in Pentateuch, Part 5. CA314 LESSON 11 of 24. Louis Goldberg, ThD

Messianic Prophecy. Messiah in Pentateuch, Part 5. CA314 LESSON 11 of 24. Louis Goldberg, ThD Messianic Prophecy CA314 LESSON 11 of 24 Louis Goldberg, ThD Experience: Professor of Theology and Jewish Studies, Moody Bible Institute Another very striking experience that the children of Israel had