I am a long time fan of Fr. Richard Rohr’s writings and am a subscriber to his blog. I’ve quoted it here several times. His reflection this morning gave me such a burst of Hope that I could not wait to share it. If the terrible pain and sadness I am feeling as I view what seems to be the rejection of all that the Council promised is in fact part of a tremendous dying to self that the entire Body of Christ must pass through in order to lay the foundations of the Church of the 3rd millennium then perhaps things are not so bad after all.
“We all see the two steps backward: the violence, the war, the genocide, the repetitive stupidity, the injustice of it all. We see, for example, the Roman Church, circling its largely self-constructed mental wagons around itself, as if it alone and apart was the world Jesus loved and died for (John 12:47). Refusing to die to itself, it remains “just a single grain of wheat” (John 12:24), and becomes much more Roman than Catholic. And yet it was doing this same thing in the first part of the last century—in spades—and the courage of the Second Vatican Council came out of nowhere. Where did this high level and enlightened thinking come from? Now it stands forever as a Council of the Church, and no elderly Pope or young priest can put this toothpaste back into any tube. If we reject this Council, then we can reject the other twenty also. It stands, like the Gospel, and will finally win out.”
Amen.
Jim Philipps (3rd millennium pilgrim)
(I am a Catholic theologian and catechist with much experience in conducting retreats, parish days of recollection and adult faith formation classes in a variety of areas but most particularly the Scriptures. You can contact me at: jimphilipps@juno.com)
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