2022/10/17

61. "I AM."

The Catholic Church scandal, sparked by a January 2002 report by the United States newspaper, The Boston Globe, quickly spread around the world, uncovering years of concealment. Its flames show no sign of abating even now, more than 20 years later. Revelation 18 seems as if it prophesied this current state of the Church in the 21st century: "As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. Since in her heart she says, 'A queen I sit, I am no widow, mourning I shall never see,' so shall her plagues come in a single day, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she shall be burned with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who judges her" (Revelation 18:7-8). For some time, I have sensed in the cases of sexual abuse by clergy a kind of problem of spirituality coming from the depths of history. Eventually, I encountered the training of Revelation and, while practising it, blindly started writing this blog, encouraged by the angel's words, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near" (Revelation 22:10). In the process, I realised that, unexpectedly, this book is looking at the root of the problems of the contemporary society. I have read a memoir by Daniel Pittet, published in 2017, for which Pope Francis wrote a foreword. It states that around 1968, when he was being sexually abused by a priest, the Church and the state in the area where he lived were united as one, so the Church had immense power, and people lived according to the rules set by the Church. The fact that these spectacular tragedies could be covered up for so long must surely be because of the great power and authority connected to each other. But this is not the only problem. There seems to be a cognitive distortion lurking in these problems. In the Gospel of John, we find the arguments between Jesus and the Jews who believed in him (cf. John 8:31-47). Here, in the presence of Jesus, who speaks to them with truth, it is revealed that the Jews recognised two objects, Abraham and God, as their father at the same time. In addition, they also had a spirituality that viewed God as their spouse while saying God was their father. The Church has inherited this spirituality as a tradition. She calls out to God, "Our Father who art in heaven", and at the same time says that Christ, who gave birth to the Church as God, the true Parent, loves her as his bride (cf. blog № 59). The contradictions and ethical discrepancies here will cause stress over the years, even unconsciously, and eventually, run the risk of causing cognitive distortions. The above arguments between Jesus and the Jews who believed in him ended in a way as follows: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple" (John 8:58-59).

Maria K. M.

[Notice] The expression "God of no information" in № 59 was an error for "the no information of God," which I have already corrected.