Signs of the Times

Here is a comment that was posted on the Church Militant website the other day. I’m not 
sure if I should put the author’s name, but it was public comment, and I think it’s an excellent observation, so…credit where credit is due!

The article was about an interview given by Cardinal Müller that was intended to clarify some points about the upcoming Synod on the Family. The commenter said:

I try to hold onto a semblance of clarity in my own thinking. But, it is very difficult to understand what these clerics are saying while remembering the Scriptures which one revisits in the Liturgy of the Hours. The phrase that keeps echoing in my mind when I hear people talk about the "Kasper Proposal" or its like is from Psalm 49(50):

"But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips? You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you! When you see thieves, you befriend them; WITH ADULTERERS YOU THROW IN YOUR LOT. You give your mouth free rein for evil; you harness your tongue to deceit. You sit maligning your own kin, slandering the child of your own mother. When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you." (Psalms (NAB) (49)50:16-21.) (EMPHASIS added.)

When I looked into it a bit further, however, it got worse:

 "For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right. "BOTH PROPHET AND PRIEST ARE UNGODLY; even in my house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall; for I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the LORD." (Jeremiah (RSV) 23:10-12.) (EMPHASIS added.)

Even the Pope's notion that these questionable things might be justified by a hope of saving the children of adulterous unions seems naïve. After all, what version of the Faith can they discern, if "honor your father and your mother" is opposed to Christ's words about adultery? This seems to be a serious problem:

"But children of adulterers will not come to maturity, and the offspring of an unlawful union will perish. Even if they live long they will be held of no account, and finally their old age will be without honor. If they die young, they will have no hope and no consolation in the day of decision. For the end of an unrighteous generation is grievous." (Wisdom (RSV) 3:16-19.)

All of this is tempered by confidence that the impossible can be accomplished with God's help, however, the size of the task might suggest that it is not a topic for public debate or general policy statements.

Pax Christi semper nobiscum.

John Hiner

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.