2023/02/06

77. The Basilica of the Agony: Two Lives

When I came across Fergus Kerr's Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians, I got to know the term nuptial mysticism for the first time, and I was greatly impressed by the book. I was surprised to find that the image of marriage, inherited from the Old Testament, was planted like leaven in the Church's teachings, unexpectedly becoming theology over the course of two millennia. The Church has interpreted the Bible from the first page, where the family of Adam and Eve appears, to the last page, where the wedding feast of the Bride and the Lamb appears, linking Christ to the groom and the Church to the bride. They must have had an impression that the marital institution, placed in the man-created society as its foundation, was immortal. Although saying this image is an analogy, the Church has actually employed it as an expression and reflected it in the education of believers. However, when using the expressions groom and bride, or husband and wife, which presuppose sexual union between a man and a woman, the terms father and mother take on nothing but a secondary connotation. The theology of the Church has diverted from God's plan to unite God and man in a parent-child bond directly. 

In addition, the Church, which has incorporated the image of the marital institution directly linked to the patriarchal system, could not break free from the hotbed of power and authority. And the Church, accustomed to the image of marriage, continues to produce priests who cause sexual abuse issues and lay people like Jezebel (cf. blog №76), forming "the great harlot who is seated upon many waters" (Revelation 17:1). As a result, the Church in the 21st century is asked for a heavy price for the mistakes it has accumulated from the past. 

One example of this is that even now, there are lives within our Church and society that disappear without ever hearing their name. They are two lives in a very similar situation, namely, the Eucharist and the life of aborted children. They are lives that are too fragile to do anything on their own. The Eucharist is born in the Holy Communion but never hears his name, "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), from the mouths of the priests and lay people who receive him. That is because once the priest and the faithful proclaim his name in the presence of the Eucharist, the image of marriage would be dispelled, and the reality that the priest is not configured to Christ, the groom, and that the faithful are not Christ' bride would be revealed. There would appear the brothers, sisters, and the mother of Jesus invited to the Passover meal, where no status and no disparity exists. That is because they responded to the angel's words, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9), with "true words of God" (ibid.). 

Similarly, the life to be aborted never hears its own name called, even though born in the mother's womb. Abortion is preceded by pregnancy. In every pregnancy, a man who had sexual relations with the woman is involved. For the aborted life, the appearance of that man before it is a step towards salvation. Catholic clergy, who are men like them, must speak to and dialogue with them. They must listen to their words, elucidate the responsibility for the sexuality that God has asked men to reign in his word to the woman, "your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you" (Genesis 3:16), and for life and discover together the truth of the dignity and mission of men, and link it to education.

Maria K. M.