Innocence and Sophistry

 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (Jn 14:1)

While I was made aware of it dropping like a nuke in Rockefeller center yesterday, I'm not going to join the chorus and write about Fiducia Supplicans here. All I will say is that the DDF and the Holy Father's timing is impeccable. One has to give credit where credit is due.

I should also say that yesterday was one of the worst days I had had in a while for various but unrelated reasons. When I texted my friend Kevin Wells: "Got time for a pep talk?" I was unaware that he thought I was referring to the aforementioned document that was released just in time for Christmas. So getting the run down on what was going on in the world was kind of the shiny bow on an especially dour twenty four hours.

Truth be told, this time of year I always long to be in a cave somewhere rather than working, scuttling between stores, or being immersed in the overall frantic spirit around me. But the news of the document--which gives explicit approval for priest's to impart a blessing on same-sex couples and those in "irregular situations"--was, ironically, just what I needed to snap me out of the depressed and frazzled state I found myself in.  

As a father, I feel that one of my primary jobs is guarding and preserving the innocence of my children for as long as I am able, to give them an innocent childhood and a solid foundation for when they do go out into a world full of wolves. When my five year old lays down next to my wife and I in bed and falls asleep, I find myself just looking at him, kissing his head while he sleeps and running the back of my hand along his cheeks as he breathes quietly between us. These are the moments that day by day slip away, until they inevitably one day become a memory; and so I try to spend those late-night hours just listening, watching, and gazing over him as he sleeps.

And so I was especially repulsed when my inadvertent naivety of yesterday's current events popped my bubble. Not only because of the distraction from what should be an anticipatory spiritual season of waiting and gazing with this nefarious pastoral pronouncement, but because of the nature--the subject matter--inherent in the pronouncement itself. While "the Heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps 19:2), and the Virgin Mother's Magnificat magnifies the Lord who looks down on His lowly servant (Lk 1:46-55), the sins that cry to Heaven (Gen 18:20-21) instead mute with such crude force what should be a quiet, guarded innocence of gazing on the Christ child in his manger among the Holy Family and the shepherds that had come to worship him. They were amazed (Lk 2:18), while Mary treasured all these things and and pondered them in her heart (Lk 2:19).

In the stable, awe and innocence--of Mary, Joseph, the Christ child, and the shepherds--is replete in that Holy Night. There is no news, no communication from outside that setting, that defiles that scene. And yet, here we are in late December of 2023 and the defecation of impurity has resounded not from the pagan nation of Herod's Rome, but from the throne of the Christ Child's future Bride, the Church. Simply defined, sophistry is the "use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving." Can any description of what came out of Rome yesterday be more fitting? And just days before Christians worldwide seek to sit at the foot of the manger and simply gaze, worship, and be filled with awe that a child--God himself made incarnate in innocence--would redeem us from this fallen world. For "He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly" and has scattered the proud in their conceit (Lk 1:52, 51). 

If I am urging you to keep your gaze focused on the innocent Christ lying helpless in a manger this season, it is only because it is taking everything in myself to do the same. Just when you think your back can't bear anymore weight, that your spirit will collapse under the weight of sin from our shepherds, the hand of the Church adds another kilo to the stack. It's enough to make one buckle.

Which is why the timing of the Ember days this week are opportune as well--to bring us back in a focused spirit of poverty, hunger, and penance. While we should not let them go to waste, and recognize as those in the Christian East do that "Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first," also let yourself grieve for the death of innocence that the Vatican has subjected us to during this season at the most inopportune time. Feel it, be disgusted by its disgrace, and realize at this point it is almost impossible to bear this weight of sorrow under your own strength. 

It is a weight too strong for even the most stoic of men most days--but for the babe in the manger before you who will bear the weight of sin and the world on his shoulders--"he will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone" (Ps 91:12).  And remember the true nature of blessing in the Canticle of the Three Youths in the book of Daniel:

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord;

Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord;

You heavens, bless the Lord;

All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.

All you hosts of the Lord; bless the Lord.

Sun and moon, bless the Lord;

Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

All you winds, bless the Lord.

Fire and heat, bless the Lord;

Cold and chill, bless the Lord.

Dew and rain, bless the Lord;

Frost and cold, bless the Lord.

Ice and snow, bless the Lord;

Nights and days, bless the Lord.

Light and darkness bless the Lord;

Lightning and clouds, bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the Lord;

Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Mountains and hills, bless the Lord

Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.

You springs, bless the Lord;

Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.

You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord;

All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.

All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord;

Praise and exalt him above all forever.

You sons of men, bless the Lord;

O Israel, bless the Lord.

Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord;

Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.

Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;

Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.

Ananias, Azarias, Misael, bless the Lord;

Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Let us bless the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost;

Let us praise and exalt God above all forever.

Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven;

Praiseworthy and glorious forever.