Overview

Christians are Easter People, and that fact animates every facet of their lives, as breath animates every cell in the body. In Jean Danielou’s book, Prayer: Mission of the Church we find these challenging words:

“The most difficult theological virtue is hope. In spite of the promises of Christ, how many Christians there are who haven’t the slightest certainty that they will one day enter into possession of the beatific vision and the overflowing joy of God! How many Christians there are who live without the conviction that they are moving toward this joy! And these people thus show little disposition to generosity because lacking certainty about what is to come, one would rather, as they say, get the most out of this life.”

ND Vision and the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy propose a 2008 Undergraduate Theological Symposium that will explore what it means to live as Resurrection people, in Resurrection hope.  Every facet of the Christian’s identity derives from the Paschal Mystery, which includes the incarnation, the death and Resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ. Immediately after the octave of Easter in March 2008 we propose a symposium of speakers to address the effects of the Resurrection on our individual and corporate lives. Not only an event in Palestine’s past, not only an event in the celestial heavens, the Resurrection should be an event in the heart of every Christian.

Early Christians made symbol of this eschatological hope by referring to their day of liturgical celebration as the “eighth day.” In six days God created, and on the seventh he rested, but when creation fell into sin God had to work again: an eighth day, which was a new creation, is the Day of Jesus’ Resurrection. Christians are a race grafted by the Paschal Mystery into eighth day existence. Baptismal fonts were often octagonal; Biblical symbols of eight were noticed (like the number of passengers on the ark, which saved from judgment); Sunday was called the eighth day, the first day, the day of days, the last day. Sacrosanctum Concilium notes, “By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal Mystery every eighth day; with good reason this, then, bears the name of the Lord's day or Sunday” [para 106].

Because death has been trampled down by death, and bestowed life on those in the tombs, Christians should be a peculiarly hopeful people.  And this hope should translate into concrete expressions in our spirit and in our actions.  The Resurrection lays upon us an evangelistic mission to present this hope to whatever society or culture in which we live - i.e., the very places this University is preparing undergraduates to go.  Living already in the dawn of a new heavens and a new earth, they will serve as both sign and instrument (as Vatican II says of the Church), of the transfiguration that Christ has begun.

This is the proposed topic of the 2008 Undergraduate Symposium. What does it mean to live as Eighth Day People? What if the Resurrection were true – how would we live differently?  We are focusing on two fronts where that difference would be recognizable.

Issues to be Addressed: A False Dichotomy

It is not difficult to observe an apparent disconnect between those who pray and those who act - that is, between the more comtemplative, reatreat oriented persons and those more inclined toward service and pursuing justice.  At times, it even seems as though there are two separate ways of living out the Christian life, ways that do not always seem compatible, let alone complementary.  This disconnection between prayer and service is, at times, readily apparent at Notre Dame because of the amount of energy and commitment undergraduate students give to the activities they deem most important.  Some are strongly devoted to retreat work, faith-sharing, and campus ministry, while others are deeply committed to service, advocacy, and social concerns.

The words of undergraduates themselves are indicative of this contrast.  On more than one occasion, a Notre Dame student has been heard saying, “I’m more of a ‘Matthew 25’ Catholic,” relaying, of course, a personal emphasis on the corporal works of mercy.  On the other side of the equation, students often self-identify or label others as “retreat junkies” or “campus ministry groupies.” 

The project of promoting the symbiotic growth of these two perceived poles is not to attenuate the commitments of the students, or to diminish the work of the organizations that primarily promote either prayerful contemplation or service to justice. Rather this symposium would like to bolster both these efforts while recognizing and furthering the inherent connection between them.  This connection is the very source of each, which is the hope of the Resurrection.

In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI writes eloquently about this fundamental complementarity.  First, he acknowledges the importance of actively relating with other human beings: “Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me” [para 18].  Next, he professes the true value of all service: “Practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ” [para 34].  Finally, a defense of prayer itself is given: “People who pray are not wasting their time, even though the situation appears desperate and seems to call for action alone” [para 36].  Summarily, service is necessary and important, but only truly effective if it is rooted in the rich soil of a prayerful life, wherein one communicates with the living God of Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, there is no contest between spirituality and social justice; there is no antagonism between Mary and Martha, between interior prayer and exterior service; there is no contradiction between liturgical life and life laid down for our neighbor. The faith, hope, and love that come from the risen Christ animates them both.

Speakers

The intention of the Undergraduate Symposia is to bring internationally known academic and pastoral theologians to campus for the specific purpose of speaking to undergraduates about matters of existential relevance to their lives.

On the one hand, the Christian spiritual life is deeply rooted in Resurrection faith. Each Christian’s mystical life is intertwined with Christ’s life that animates his body, the church, through the Holy Spirit. Christian prayer, meditation, and contemplation derive from this, and one talk would unpack with students the consequences of the Resurrection on their spiritual prayer life. Christian spirituality is characterized by coming from the Holy Spirit, whom the risen Christ has sent. Christian spirituality reflects the joy and peace of last things already fulfilled. On the other hand, the Christian life of service is deeply rooted in Resurrection faith. As Danielou notes, because we know the end of the story, our behavior during the unfolding of the story is different from those who think this is all there is. Christian generosity comes from our confidence in history’s eschatological fulfillment.

We propose to invite one speaker who exemplifies the spiritual, interior, prayerful vocation, and a second speaker who exemplifies the active, social justice, service vocation, and a third speaker who can trace both of these to their source in Resurrection hope.

Audience to be Addressed & Sponsoring Agencies

This is, again, a symposium intended primarily for undergraduates. Although graduate students, faculty, and members of the community are welcome to attend, the speakers will be invited to gear their presentations to undergrads, and the speakers’ reason for being here is the undergrad. We will make special invitation to students who participate in Campus Ministry retreat events, and to students who participate in the Center for Social Concerns.

The presenters of this symposium are ND Vision (Leonard DeLorenzo) and ND Center for Liturgy (David Fagerberg), with co-sponsorship from Campus Ministry, Center for Social Concerns, Institute for Church Life, College of Arts & Letters, and Department of Theology.