INTRODUCTION

In a brief note Mr. RB shared with us his initial impressions about a book published in the year 2007 by Joseph Ratzinger - "Jesús de Nazaret". It became obvious to us that said book amply confirmed all that we have published about Ratzinger and his function in the End of These Times. Therefore, we asked Mr. RB to prepare a document evaluating the book for the benefit of the Faithful. Following, the reader may read the fruit of that request.






PURPOSE

"Jesús de Nazaret", a book authored by Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI – was positioned as a best-seller upon its release in the year 2007. Coming from someone who claimed to be legitimately occupying the Chair of Peter (2), this new way of communication is indeed novel. A book prepared for mass consumption in which the author boasts of his personal title, "Pope Benedict XVI", prominent on the cover, in order to reach world wide diffusion for the book and, at the same time, he detaches from his "Pope" title when he announces in the prologue that "it is not a magisterial act" and that "anyone is free to contradict me". (3)

In said book, we found words that cause scandal, considering that the words comes from the one who claims to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. The purpose of this document is to expose that scandal and not to leave the Faithful in the dark before the question which, for Joseph Ratzinger, still is a mystery.


DETAILS

The message delivered by J. Ratzinger in his book which caught our attention is: "...the question that will come with us along all the book" (that is, for him it is not an accessory question, but a central one). Here we quote some extracts where his message is clearly made patent (we quote literally (1); ours are the notes between brackets as well as the highlighting by boldface/underline):


May we not forget that Mr. Ratzinger gave us a preview of his thinking with the words he uttered on May 28th, 2006, when he visited the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau (4):


Is not the trail of Christ presence "brilliant enough"? How dare he! That God was silent? What a blasphemy! Is the "silence" of God a "mystery"? Of course it is, for those who do not have eyes to See! (5) As Jesus told us:


What is that "sign of Jonas" about? The answer is given also by Jesus:


That is, to those who ask for more than the sign of the Resurrection, nothing more will be granted, because, in their daring, they do not consider "bright" enough the Presence and Resurrection of the Son of God. And that man, who sits on the self proclaimed highest chair of Earth and who considers himself the wisest among the wisest, that one, who judges that "Christ did not leave a trail brilliant enough of his presence", that one, is truly defining himself (4).


God has raised His Voice repeatedly

The message that J. Ratzinger is delivering, over and over again, is nothing but a reproach to God, a daring to the Most High, the same challenge which satan directed to Christ by saying "If you are the Son of God, command for this stones to become breads." Witnessing the suffering of mankind, in scenarios such as the Second World War and the marginalization of Third World, J. Ratzinger asserts that God kept silent, that is, that He did nothing. (Although he presents it as a question, he makes it an assertion, in saying "this is a mystery" or "God was silent").

The answer to this "mystery" is so easy and so clear that it can be expressed in only a few paragraphs (thus there is no justification J. Ratzinger for not to answer the question immediately). Following we explain it for our readers.

In reality, He is Omnipotent and by "snapping His fingers" He could transform the world (in the way we tempt Him to do), but the concept that escapes Ratzinger is that: (a) God has chosen our collaboration (6); (b) He has chosen to respect our free will as an untouchable part of His Plan of Salvation; and (c) Faced with the disastrous failure of man in his collaboration with the Divine Plan, God has intervened repeatedly, raising His Voice – even to the sending of His Own Son! And yet someone ask Him to speak louder!?

The process is always the same. God granted free will to man since the very moment of his creation – "made in His image and semblance". That free will entails a responsibility: to collaborate with God. Man fails in this responsibility. God, in His Mercy, intervenes to give him another opportunity. When, time after time, man becomes irresponsible and blind, God respects him in his free decision of acting alone. The result is that man, by his own daring, increase his own suffering. God allows this when His creature drifts away from Him, and even so, He does not cease to give opportunities to minimize that suffering:


His Divine Plan for mankind will be accomplished on Earth, whether we collaborate or not, but at the same time we are who, according to our degree of collaboration, decide the degree of suffering which will carry us the fulfilling of His Plan. He desires the minimal suffering for us, that is, our maximum collaboration. So, in asking "Your Will be done on Earth" we are asking Him for assistance in our mission and we are opening to His participation in those things in which He has chosen to depend on our consent.

Suffering under the hands of our fellow men? (11) Suffering under natural disasters? (12) All makes sense and responds to the Plan of God, in which God does not cause suffering, but only allows it for man's benefit. It is like men building a giant screen on the sky to block the light of Sun (13), giver of life. At the end, the absence of light lead to nowhere but suffering. And to blame God for not to build mirrors in order to bring us light dodging our big screen is nothing but a daring.






En Español:  El silencio de Dios que proclama Joseph Ratzinger

Document dedicated to the Virgin Mary on September 8th, 2007, day in which is celebrated Her Birthday • Translation to English completed on February 2nd, 2008, day in which is celebrated Her Purification • Published English version on Ash Wednesday 2008