2022/10/03

59. Mystery of Babylon the Great

For Christians who pray "Our Father who art in heaven," it is well-known that God the Creator is the true parent, which the Church has consistently taught. At the same time, however, the traditional idea of likening the marital relationship, represented by the Song of Solomon, to the relationship between Christ and the Church has been carried on as if it were the genetic inheritance of our ancestors. Lumen Gentium, one of the texts of the Second Vatican Council, states: "Christ loves the Church as His bride, having become the model of a man loving his wife as his body" (Lumen Gentium, section 7). It says Christ, who gave birth to the Church as God, the true parent, loves it as his bride. It is hard not to see a contradiction and a feeling of ethical wrongness here. The above expression not only disregards gender differences and women's rights. It would also ignore the following words of Jesus to Philip, who said to him, "Lord, show us the Father" (John 14:8): "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works" (John 14:9-10). In addition, by bringing the image of marriage into the relationship between Christ and the Church, some faithful will seek spiritual union with Christ, just as a bride goes to sexual union with her bridegroom through marriage. Doing that is nothing more than one of the things that people all over the world, even non-Christians, seek: to train themselves aiming for union with a higher being, such as an individually intuited god or the universe; to achieve perfection by experiencing enlightenment; and to seek a good life by maintaining a balance between body and soul. Jesus says, "For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well" (Luke 12:30-31). Jesus bequeathed the Word, the Eucharist and the Apostles for the kingdom of God, which is he himself. And the Holy Spirit brings the Bible and the Mass and makes the kingdom of God appear on the earth, collaborating with Christians. Thus, the kingdom of God has become of Christians as Jesus had promised: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). A Christian who seeks the kingdom of God, if he decides, can enter into the daily routine of being nourished by the worldview of Jesus Christ and the spirituality of the Holy Spirit, connecting with the no information of God and going to the Mass. When we live this routine, the path we follow there becomes the beginning and the end that brings the last supper of Jesus to the "present" and makes the "remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19) a reality again. The path followed by Peter and John, sent by Jesus to prepare the Passover meal on that day, that is, the path that led them into the city where they met the man carrying a jar of water (the Holy Spirit) and the householder (the Father), appears there (cf. Luke 22:7-20).

Maria K. M.