To philosophise in Mary

 

 

 

“For between the vocation of the Blessed Virgin and the vocation of true philosophy

there is a deep harmony. Just as the Virgin was called to offer herself entirely as

human being and as woman that God's Word might take flesh and come among us,

so too philosophy is called to offer its rational and critical resources that theology,

as the understanding of faith, may be fruitful and creative”.

 

Pope St. John Paul II

 

  

 

 

At: jp2forum.org/tag/mary/page/2 one reads on this subject:

 

REFLECTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHER POPE

 

Karol Wojtyla was a philosopher and poet. He was a priest and bishop. He was called by God to serve many years as Pope John Paul II. The legacy of his life, his thought, and his papacy provides us with great insight and wisdom.

 

Philosophize in Mary

 

John Paul invokes the Seat of Wisdom in the concluding section of Fides et ratio and exhorts the reader to philosophize in Mary (“Philosophari in Maria.” §108) He considers the life of Mary “a true parable illuminating the reflection contained in these pages.” Mary lost none of her humanity is giving assent to Gabriel’s word; so too “when philosophy heeds the summons of the Gospel's truth its autonomy is in no way impaired.” All the more do its enquiries “rise to their highest expression.”

 

We know of John Paul's devotion to Mary, through the "True Devotion" of St Louis de Montford and the motto "Totus tuus." So it is not surprising to see this exhortation. But what more does it mean? St Louis provides a meditation for doing all things "by Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary." He says that in Mary we discover "the true terrestrial paradise of the new Adam." In this paradise, he says, there is the true tree of life, which has borne Jesus Christ, the fruit of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which has given light to the world." (§261)

 

Earlier in Fides et ratio John Paul talks about the cross ("the true tree of life") as the authentic critique of those seek self-sufficiency. (§23) The cross is a challenge to reason - but "reason cannot eliminate the mystery of love which the cross represents, while the cross can give to reason the ultimate answer which it seeks." Mary stood at the foot of the cross. To philosophize in Mary and with Mary is to stand there also to consider the meaning of the sacrifice.

"Only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. . . . Christ fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear." (Gaudium et spes, §22) ....

 

108. I turn in the end to the woman whom the prayer of the Church invokes as Seat of Wisdom, and whose life itself is a true parable illuminating the reflection contained in these pages. For between the vocation of the Blessed Virgin and the vocation of true philosophy there is a deep harmony. Just as the Virgin was called to offer herself entirely as human being and as woman that God's Word might take flesh and come among us, so too philosophy is called to offer its rational and critical resources that theology, as the understanding of faith, may be fruitful and creative. And just as in giving her assent to Gabriel's word, Mary lost nothing of her true humanity and freedom, so too when philosophy heeds the summons of the Gospel's truth its autonomy is in no way impaired. Indeed, it is then that philosophy sees all its enquiries rise to their highest expression. This was a truth which the holy monks of Christian antiquity understood well when they called Mary “the table at which faith sits in thought”. (132)

 

In her they saw a lucid image of true philosophy and they were convinced of the need to philosophari in Maria.

 

 

 

May Mary, Seat of Wisdom, be a sure haven for all who devote their lives to the search for wisdom. May their journey into wisdom, sure and final goal of all true knowing, be freed of every hindrance by the intercession of the one who, in giving birth to the Truth and treasuring it in her heart, has shared it forever with all the world.

 

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 14 September, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, in the year 1998, the twentieth of my Pontificate.