I see where he was going with this one, but still...
The kind of thinking Pope Francis ascribes to Mary is internal dialogue with God where she expresses her doubt about the execution of His plan.
Certainly this would be consistent with human saints. But Mary was not just a human saint. She is the haindmaden of Our Lord and as such, was formed with all of the tools necessary to navigate beyond human emotions.
Mary was human and certainly felt emotions.
She felt sorrow and joy.
But an expression to God about lies and feeling cheated is the fruit of selfish desires and the emotion of anger directed towards God.
This contradicts her Divinely gifted nature as it is a low-level transgression against the First Commandment.
There is a hierarchy of transgressions against each Commandment.
For instance, take the Fifth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Let's a few levels in the order of their seriousness:
1. Stealing a person's joy and well-being with rage.
2. Killing a person's physical body.
3. Slaying a person's soul with heresy and apostasy.
There may be other transgressions in between but each manifests itself in thoughts and behaviors that are transgressions.
Visiting the First Commandment:
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a graven image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth;
you shall not bow down to them or serve them;
for I the LORD your God am a jealous God
For the Mother of God to be visited by an Angel and mystically carry the Son of God in her womb - and at any point in her life to return to God to complain that she is being cheated, in the mystical world is the fruit of sin which places oneself before God. It is low-hanging fruit on the hierarchy of transgressions against that particular commandment but it is on the ladder - which IMO - makes it impossible for the Blessed Mother to have thought or discussed intimately with God.
The attributes of the Mother of God were controlled with intimate communication between the mind, soul and intellect of her Spouse, the Holy Spirit.
Unlike every other human saint, this intimate union prevented her from having such thoughts and emotions.
Theologically and quite literally, she is the handmaiden of the Holy Spirit. At all times, in all places and in all situations, carries out His Will. Her soul magnifies the Holy Spirit.
There is a lot of learn from Pope Francis.
Me thinks theology is not going to be one of them.
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty,
hath done great things to me;
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations,
to them that fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm:
he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant,
being mindful of his mercy:
As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
4 comments:
Yes a world class theologian he is not. most definitely. That comment was actually painful to listen to, like nails on a blackboard, though I know what he was probably trying to say.
Hopefully he will talk a little less going forward.
It's beyond ironic that the Jesuit order once had the reputation for solid intellectual training...and now has the reputation for solid psuedo-intellectual free-lancing.
Let's not forget that if another Jesuit were elected as Pope, that man would have likely said something similar as Francis.
Besides, it's always to assume what anyone is thinking or feeling in the midst of grief, beyond the obvious. After all, if your son were crucified publicly, how would you feel?
I meant to say that it's always wrong to assume what anyone is thinking of feeling in the midst of grief....
Christ told the Apostles that He would rise again. He surely told his mother. But regardless, as others have pointed out, Mary knew ahead of time that her heart was going to be pierced by a sword, and she accepted that. It didn't come upon her like some utter shock that led her to despair and wail "lies!" to God. Mary was impeccable. No sin in her. No inclination to sin. I read that comment and felt like that little fact had been forgotten.
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