Forgive the sin that we have wrought; | Increase the good that we have sought

Laxa malum, quod fecimus,

Auge bonum, quod poscimus. . . .

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;

Increase the good that we have sought. . . .

Undo the bad that we have wrought;

Increase the good that we have sought. . . .

     Ex more docti mystico.

Prayer renders one objective

"If you were still to ask me now before I go, and finally go, whether I know of a magic key to open the final door to wisdom, I would answer you:  'Yes, indeed!'  And the magic key is not reflection, as you might expect to hear from a philosopher, but prayer.  [Prayer, understood as ultimate surrender, renders [one] still, renders [one] childlike, renders [one] objective.  For me, a man grows deeper and deeper into the expans[iveness] of humanity (I don't mean humanism) to the extent that he is able to pray, provided only that the right [kind of] prayer is meant.  Prayer characterizes all ultimate 'humility' of mind.]  The great things of existence are only given to praying [minds].  [But one learns to pray best in suffering.]"

     Peter Wust, Abschiedswort (18 December 1939), as translated in Peter Seewald, Benedict XVI:  a life, vol. 1:  youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, trans. Dinah Livingstone (London:  Bloomsbury Continuum, 2020), 164.  I have filled the Livingstone translation out on the basis of the Peter-Wust-Gesellschaft German below, translating Geist somewhat riskily as mind.

"Und wenn Sie mich nun noch fragen sollten, bevor ich jetzt gehe und endgültig gehe, ob ich nicht einen Zauberschlüssel kenne, der einem das letzte Tor zur Weisheit des Lebens erschließen könne, dann würde ich Ihnen antworten: 'Jawohl'. - Und zwar ist dieser Zauberschlüssel nicht die Reflexion, wie Sie es von einem Philosophen vielleicht erwarten möchten, sondern das Gebet. Das Gebet, als letzte Hingabe gefaßt, macht still, macht kindlich, macht objektiv. Ein Mensch wächst für mich in dem Maße immer tiefer hinein in den Raum der Humanität - nicht des Humanismus -, wie er zu beten imstande ist, wofern nur das rechte Beten gemeint ist. Gebet kennzeichnet alle letzte 'Humilitas' des Geistes. Die großen Dinge des Daseins werden nur den betenden Geistern geschenkt. Beten lernen aber kann man am besten im Leiden."

     Peter Wust, Abschiedswort (18 December 1939) =Gesammelte Werke 7 (1966), 339-340, as quoted on the last page of Werner Schüßler, "Peter Wust - eine biographische Skizze," under "Biographie," under "Peter Wust," at http://www.peter-wust-gesellschaft.de/ (Peter-Wust-Gesellschaft).

"Sensibility to the truth"

"The danger for the western world—to speak only of this—is that today, precisely because of the greatness of his knowledge and power, man will fail to face up to the question of the truth. This would mean at the same time that reason would ultimately bow to the pressure of interests and the attraction of utility, constrained to recognize this as the ultimate criterion. To put it from the point of view of the structure of the university: there is a danger that philosophy, no longer considering itself capable of its true task, will degenerate into positivism; and that theology, with its message addressed to reason, will be limited to the private sphere of a more or less numerous group. Yet if reason, out of concern for its alleged purity, becomes deaf to the great message that comes to it from Christian faith and wisdom, then it withers like a tree whose roots can no longer reach the waters that give it life. It loses the courage for truth and thus becomes not greater but smaller. Applied to our European culture, this means: if our culture seeks only to build itself on the basis of the circle of its own argumentation, on what convinces it at the time, and if—anxious to preserve its secularism—it detaches itself from its life-giving roots, then it will not become more reasonable or purer, but will fall apart and disintegrate."

     Pope Benedict XVI, Lecture by the Holy Father Benedict XVI at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" scheduled for 17 January 2008 but undelivered.  "Jürgen Habermas articulates a vast consensus of contemporary thought when he says that the legitimacy of a constitutional charter, as a basis for what is legal, derives from two sources: from the equal participation of all citizens in the political process and from the reasonable manner in which political disputes are resolved. With regard to this “reasonable manner”, he notes that it cannot simply be a fight for arithmetical majorities, but must have the character of a 'process of argumentation sensitive to the truth' (wahrheitssensibles Argumentationsverfahren). The point is well made, but it is far from easy to put it into practice politically. The representatives of that public 'process of argumentation” are – as we know – principally political parties, inasmuch as these are responsible for the formation of political will. De facto, they will always aim to achieve majorities and hence will almost inevitably attend to interests that they promise to satisfy, even though these interests are often particular and do not truly serve the whole. Sensibility to the truth is repeatedly subordinated to sensibility to interests. I find it significant that Habermas speaks of sensibility to the truth as a necessary element in the process of political argument, thereby reintroducing the concept of truth into philosophical and political debate."

God's Rotweiler

"He kept the teddy from the small [Marktl] shop opposite, which he had wanted so much.  Ultimately, it came to Rome and sat on a chair in the papal apartments."

     Peter Seewald, Benedict XVI:  a life, vol. 1:  youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, 1927-1965, trans. Dinah Livingstone (London:  Bloomsbury, 2020), 17.  Cf. p. 4.  My thanks to Colin Lewis for putting me onto this (earlier) photograph, which I have not, however, authenticated.  Ratzinger was just over two when the family left Marktl for Tittmoning.
     "The professor went on excursions with his students and invited them to supper.  'There was an old-fashioned sofa in his living room with a teddy bear,' Roman Angulanza recalled.  'Ratzinger went up to it and said:  'May I introduce you:  Teddy, this is Mr Angulanza.  Mr Angulanza, this is my Teddy, who has been with me since my childhood days.'  Then all my nervousness was blown away" (322).

"But what shall men do who cannot find anything wise to say, because they are interpreting foolish things?"

     "Sed quid faciant homines, qui, cum res stultas interpretantur, non inueniunt quid sapienter dicatur?"

     St. Augustine, City of God VII.19, trans. Dods =CSEL 40.1, p. 328, ll. 19-20.

"here a man is so mutilated that he is neither changed into a woman nor remains a man."

"hic ita amputatur uirilitas, ut nec conuertatur in feminam nec uir relinquatur."

      St. Augustine on "the famous mysteries of Tellus and the Great Mother," City of God VII.24, trans. Dods =CSEL 40.1, p. 338, ll. 5-6.