Sunday 13 October 2013

A Weird Irony About Today's Consecration

Today Pope Francis consecrates the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

What is the chance of this consecration taking place on a day when in the Lectionary we are told of Naaman who is cured of leprosy by simply following Eliseus's instructions?

There's a weird irony about this, because those who argue that it is Russia in particular that the Pope and Catholic Bishops of the world need to consecrate to the Immaculate Heart of Mary say that, like Naaman, the Church's Popes and Hierarchy believe that 'minor details' like simply following the instructions given by Our Lady have been neglected. They also maintain that this neglect will have and already has had dreadful consequences for the World and the Church.

This is from one Fatima website:

Why should God place such importance on the Consecration of Russia? 

The answer, of course, is that God’s ways are not our ways, and it is not for us to question God’s ordinances as given through His prophets, no matter how strange they may seem to human wisdom.

The Bible offers an enlightening example in this regard. The Fourth Book of Kings tells the story of Naaman (see Chapter 5:1-15), the leader of the Syrian army, who went to the prophet Eliseus in Israel to seek a miraculous cure for his leprosy.

Without actually meeting him, Eliseus sent Naaman instructions to bathe seven times in the river Jordan, in order to be cured. Naaman was indignant that Eliseus did not come to administer his cure personally. Merely bathing in the Jordan, he felt, could not possibly be any better than bathing in one of Syria’s fine rivers. Rejecting the prophet’s instructions as trivial, Naaman prepared to depart; however, his advisers dissuaded him.
They argued that if the prophet had asked him to perform some arduous feat to be cured, Naaman would have done it unquestionably. So why not simply do the seemingly mundane task that had been asked instead? In effect, they said to him: What have you got to lose? Naaman agreed to give it a try on this basis and, sure enough, on his seventh washing in the Jordan, his leprosy disappeared.
[...] There is a striking parallel between this miraculous Biblical event and the attitude now being taken by certain Church officials regarding the Consecration of Russia. Like Naaman, these officials seem unable to believe that something as simple as a Consecration of Russia could deliver a benefit as momentous as genuine world peace. However, unlike Naaman’s advisers, they are telling their leader — in this case, the Pope — that he need not follow the prophet’s advice to the letter. And it appears they are so stubbornly unrepentant in their view of the matter that they will not even allow the remedy to be tried, despite repeated appeals over many decades from millions of the faithful, including thousands in the Catholic clergy.

So I found today's first reading a little eerie. The odds of that reading coming up today must be rather short...

6 comments:

Martina Katholik said...

We were told in the Lectionary of the "old mass":

Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. [12] For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. [13] Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. [14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, [15] And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:

[12] In the high places: or heavenly places. That is to say, in the air, the lowest of the celestial regions; in which God permits these wicked spirits or fallen angels to wander.

[16] In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. [17] And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).
Ephesians 6:10-17

Very fitting, isn´t it?

Anonymous said...

Even more eerie, given that the Pope used the word 'leprosy' recently in the context of the 'cleansing' of the Curia? Did he not?

Martina Katholik said...

All of what happened in the last 50 years regarding the so called "peace" without the proper consecration of Russia reminds me always of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Pope Francis:
The most elderly among us can remember well the era of the Encyclical Pacem in Terris at the peak of the “Cold War”. At the end of 1962 humanity was on the brink of an atomic world war and the Pope raised a dramatic and heart-rending appeal for peace, thus turning to all those in positions of power; saying: “With your hand on your conscience may each one hear the anguished cry which is raised to the skies from all parts of the earth, from the innocent children to the elderly, from the people of the communities: Peace, peace!” (Radio Message, 25 October 1962).

It was an appeal to men but it was also a petition to Heaven.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/october/documents/papa-francesco_20131003_50-pacem-in-terris_en.html

Jeremiah 8:11
[8]How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood. [9] The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them. [10] Therefore I will give their women to strangers, their fields to others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest, all deal deceitfully.
[11] And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying Peace, peace: when there was no peace.

Ezekiel 13:10-23
[10] Because they have deceived my people, saying: Peace, and there is no peace: and the people built up a wall, and they daubed it with dirt without straw.
http://www.drbo.org/chapter/31013.htm

Siobhan said...

This makes me so sad. Why is something so very, very easy, so very, very difficult? I'm afraid this final act of noncompliance will have dire consequences.

Lynda said...

There can be no peace on Earth without peace in the mother's womb.

Andrew said...

The hierarchy in Rome are just too liberal and left-wing to want to be seen doing anything in support of the traditional and socially conservative Russians at this time.

Which is a pity, because the counter-revolution against pro-homosexual issues and other progressive causes is something that should be applauded publicly.

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