Emmanuel
FROM THE EDITOR
When I was in the final year of studies before ordination — more years
ago than I care to admit — the esteemed Karl Rahner came to the
south side of Chicago to deliver an address on the inscrutability of God
according to Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas. Having spent long
hours laboring over his writings in A Rahner Reader, one of the staples
of our seminary education, I attended Rahner’s lecture, awestruck to
be in his presence.
I do not pretend to have grasped the subtleties of Rahner’s thought,
but to this day I still have a great appreciation of his core teachings,
deepened by books like Harvey D. Egan’s Karl Rahner: The Mystic of
Everyday Life (1998) and Rahner’s last work, Prayers for a Lifetime,
published in 1989, five years after his death. I return to them often.
In Prayers for a Lifetime, Rahner pens a series of brief reflections on
the Seven Last Words of Christ. I found the section on the first word,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34),
especially powerful. Speaking to the crucified Christ, Rahner says:
A feeling of despair at the sight of such wickedness comes
over you, a feeling more terrible than all the pain in your
body. Are there men capable of such wickedness? Do you
have anything in common with such men as this? Can one
man torture another to death like this? Torture him to death
with lies, wickedness, treachery, hypocrisy, and malice, and
yet keep up the appearance of righteousness, the air of
innocence, the pose of impartial judges? Does God let this
happen in his world?” (49)
The response of the Savior is so different from what we would expect
of any human being. “But you said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.’ You are really a myst