austraLasia #2101

Evangelisation - a central yet demanding work requiring the light of the Holy Spirit

ROME: Holy Thursday, 20th March 2008 --  Evangelisation in a moment.  Firstly, may I simply emphasise the point made yesterday by drawing directly from the Vatican and 'official' translation of the Pope's message to GC26.  Here is the Italian phrase, one which Fr Bernard Grogan (who did 'our' translation) and I agonised over beforehand to get right:
"Non vi può essere un'ardente mistica senza una robusta ascesi che la sostenga...".  And here is the Vatican translation of that phrase:
"There can be no ardent mystic without a vigorous ascesis that sustains him".
The 'la' refers to 'mistica' - it can refer to nothing else.  And 'mistica' is not a mystic (Pope was not speaking to women religious, I take it, when addressing us).  What was our translation? "There cannot be a passionate mystical dimension without a solid asceticism to support it".  We believe that this latter interpretation of what the Pope said is in fact the correct one.  It is no minor point we are dealing with here; does one quote an official translation in error, or an unofficial one which is correct? 
    Another trap - an unnamed Vatican official who spoke to the Chapter Assembly quoted our Constitutions to us - except that he misquoted them.  Of course, we do it ourselves often without realising it.  How many of us trot off the phrase: 'Honest citizens and good Christians". What does our official Constitutional text say on this one? Check it out in C. 31!  Again the point is not a minor one - and maybe the hallowed Constitutions themselves in English translation have introduced the odd error - Fr Mazzali pointed to a likely error in the English translation of R 187 that has got the juridical commission poring over commentaries and the like.
    On to evangelisation.  It is a pretty central theme in the Da mihi animas cetera tolle, and it is getting an exhaustive workover in commissions and assemblies. There are those who feel that the 'urgency' is not there so far, and there are those who feel that it will work out somehow - it always does! Actually to be fair to that view, we have to put it maybe in the words of one contributor: "the core element of evangelisation becomes a subtle mix between taking initiatives and the necessary reserve to give space to things that revive spontaneously" (like a forest recovers after a hurricane or bushfire.  An interesting view. The core point might be 'zeal'. What moves our heart, as one contributor put it (Fr Klement, as it happens) and what moves our heart to see the urgency of evangelising, including 'ad gentes'.
    The Easter pause will be more important for its content than its pause, at this point - seeking the answer in the Passover, the death, the resurrection and what then 'got to' the disciples as they became aware that something totally new was happening, something they just had to witness to. Maybe we'll get to the 'new Pentecost' after all.
    I'm sure there'll be a chance to wish Happy Easter yet, before Sunday, but here is as good a point as any to wish it.
  _________________
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Title: australasia 2101
Subject and key words: SDB General GC26 Evangelisation
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2101