So consider Genesis 2:15
"And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it."
God created Adam and told him to "dress and keep" the Garden of Eden. The "dress" part is tend, cultivate, or "work" it – all these words have been applied here. But the "keeping" part is defense. Adam was to defend the garden. But from what? "What" soon showed up in the form of a Dragon (the Hebrew word translated as "serpent" can also mean "dragon", much like the Old English word "worm", as Tolkien used it of Smaug). Adam DID NOT do his job, but instead apparently ran off an hid. (C'mon, we're to believe he was out in the "back 40" somewhere just when the Devil showed up?)
But isn't this also any pope's job? Tend and Keep? Our Most Blessed Lord said to Peter that he was to "strengthen his brothers" in the keeping of the Faith. (Luke 22:32)
A pope doesn't have to be a great theologian to do his job, but he has to believe the revelation of Christ. Leo XIII and Benedict XVI were serious theologians (whether we agree with all of B16's ideas or not), but Pius X was just as important a pope because he, like they, defended the deposit of Faith. All of them did, the recent ones at least, until now, of course. By that I mean earlier popes often were lukewarm in defense of the Faith, usually due to political pressure (as occurred during the Arian heresy, but not a man jack of them (certainly not Alexander VI) ever suggested adultery could perhaps be OK, or even God's will.)
A pope doesn't have to be a great evangelist, either, still less a "rock star" like JP2 and Our Friend Bergoglio. (El Bergo being a rock star is apropos because he is narcissistic enough for ten rockers.)
But a pope has to believe, which is another way of saying: he must not be ashamed of Christ. See St. Luke 9:26: "For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels." Or St. Matthew 11:6 "And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." It's the idea behind the famous, "And they were scandalized in his regard. But Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house." (Matthew again: 13:57)
How eerily spot on. He is certainly without much "honour" in today's Church, what with gay orgies, banal worship, and heretical teaching. The moving of the Tabernacle off center in most churches is just the tip of the ice-berg. ("If they knew what was in it they'd know where to put it," as Msgr Frank Lane related an observation of an Irish priest friend of his.) Is telling people they can receive Our Lord Jesus Himself in the Blessed Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist when they are in a state of mortal sin – is that "honoring" Him? What did St. Paul say in First Corinthians 11?
27 So then, whoever eats the
bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine
themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those
who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment
on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of
you have fallen asleep.
So it seems Jorge Bergoglio is a typology of Adam, and in more ways than one.
An Préachán
No comments:
Post a Comment