It's not the first time, of course. That as Paul VI pointed out in his prophetic words, was in the Garden of Eden. God spoke His terms of love. Adam and Eve had all they needed, but they would not obey one directive and sought divinity on their terms, rejecting the Divinity which created them. God makes covenant with His Creatures. He has made made covenants over and over since that fateful and willful choice of mankind to take the knowledge of good and evil and attempt to usurp and deceive the Creator. And then, finally, He sent Salvation itself. He gave us the Church and told us what we needed to do. He laid Hands on the Apostles and they, given authority under God, laid hands on men for two thousand years to be our teachers, our preachers, and those consecrated to be the instrument for the Presence of the Eucharist, which Catholics believe IS God Himself giving us Grace to do His Will.
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Pope Paul VI called it "the smoke of Satan". In his disguise as a snake, Satan merely talks to Eve. He tells her that something is good--pleasurable, a special knowledge--which is not good for her, or for her husband. His message is kind of the original "Why not?". No need for limitation, though of course, humans are limited. No need for obedience. Who is this God anyway, telling you what to do? And He probably doesn't mean it anyway. Satan insinuates. He cajoles. And Eve begins to see no obligation to obey, in love. And then Eve insinuates, quietly, her husband. And then, well, "All hell breaks loose!"
Somehow, in a disguise of unimpeded modernity, convincing man of a unilateral power he can never have, Satan directed his smoke not only at the laity of the Church--half of whom routinely dismiss the precepts of the Church which have never changed--but at those who were consecrated as representatives of Christ, those who were given the authority to bind and loose. I can only imagine what it was like when he did his dirty work from and after the beginning of time, but I will tell you, it must have felt like the smoke after a fire thrower was unleashed. Because that's what it feels like now.
Some of them didn't just sin--which all of us do even though today we don't acknowledge that such a quaint idea--they did so in some cases while committing soul murder on innocents or on those who were otherwise vulnerable. I know they are a small portion of those who are otherwise selfless and like you and me trying to live by God's laws. But they have given Satan quite a lot to insinuate now.
"Well, look at your priests and bishops. While you were struggling with the what they told you were God's sayings, they knew that none of it was true. They were having parties and unbridled pleasure and nothing happened to them. Nothing is going to happen to them. You might as well just give up this Church thing. It has no meaning. There is only now. There is no eternity."
What these men did makes us so angry. It should. Leaving makes sense, no?
It makes sense if I don't believe in the heart of the teachings. If I believe that God is in the Transubstantiated Host and if I believe that God offers us, with the help of the Church's teachings, an individual choice to accept the Salvation offered by the Cross and Resurrection, then to leave is spiritual suicide.
The history of mankind and his relationship with God, inside and outside the Catholic Church, has been a see saw of faith and faithlessness. To say that I am leaving the Church because of the sins of men and women is to pretend that somewhere there are men and women that don't sin. In fact, I go to the Church because I believe what some think is a cliche, that it is a hospital for sinners. Some of us get better. Some of us do not. But if not there, where shall I go?
Either I believe the Truth is in the heart of Catholicism, or I don't. It looked pretty dark when Christ was crucified. Many people, who had followed Him, walked away from His teachings. Some did not.
It has always been hard not to be afraid and to stand firm. It's no different now than it was 2000 years ago. I don't want to be one who walks. I pray not to be afraid. And to stand firm.
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