2022/12/05

68. Let There Be Light!

At the end of the memoir of Daniel Pittet, who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was a child, is a record of an interview conducted by Morerod, the Bishop of the diocese, and Mr Lepon, the collaborator of the memoir, with the perpetrator, Father Allaz, the year before its publication. Father Allaz, considering he was 76 years old at the time of the interview, must have been a man who, as we discussed in the previous issue, had himself knelt before priests at communion with lips open and tongue out, and after he was ordained, he would have been one of the priests who would have given the Eucharist to such people. The fact that such a grave crime could remain uncovered for so long is the effect of a combination of great power and authority. And the continued practice of communion in that manner risked making priests dependent on authority and turning them toward acts that would gratify their lust for control (cf. blog №67). In addition, the priests must have recited the words of the centurion with the congregation just before communion at every Mass (cf. Matthew 8:8).

As discussed in blog №66, the centurion's human humility may be more oriented toward stirring up the desire for domination than keeping people away from it. The analogy he drew of his interactions with his subordinate soldiers (cf. Matthew 8:9) shows that his humility stems from the attitude of one who is under the human authority and submits to that authority. So, he could automatically believe that his son (servant) would be healed if Jesus, who was under exceptional authority, commanded. And Jesus' words, "[B]e it done for you as you have believed" (Matthew 8:13), was fulfilled. But he did not return to Jesus to thank him and praise God after his son's (servant's) recovery. That was because, like all people of that time, it never occurred to him that Jesus was God. He must have thought of Jesus as one of the authoritative prophets like Elijah and Jeremiah, just like the people of his time (cf. John 16:13-14). If believers continue to recite these centurion-derived words before the Eucharist at every Mass, there will be a danger of unconsciously falling into a state of "It never occurred to him that Jesus was God," and losing the basis for believing that the Eucharist is Jesus himself.

In the above interview transcript, Father Allaz, who had been forbidden from the priestly ministry and said he had no lingering attachment for liturgy or rituals, asks himself, "Who is God?" "What have I done, O God?" "Who am I?" "Why didn't God stop me?" but he never realized the answer for them. Like the centurion, he could not break through the state of "It never occurred to him that Jesus was God." It was the words of the Heavenly Father given to Peter that broke through this state (cf. Matthew 6:13-20). The words that the priest and the congregation should chant together in the presence of the Eucharist after the priest's words, "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb," are Peter's confession of faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). The Lamb of God "who takes away the sins of the world" suggests the Son of the living God, the Christ. Therefore, "Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb" (cf. Revelation 19:9). Hence, Peter's confession of faith is "true words of God" (Revelation 19:9).

Maria K. M.