The Church is a Bride, not a Widow

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | August 16, 2012 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[NYer]

The readings from the Feast of the Assumption still echo in my mind. I am particularly mindful of their announcement of victory:

I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed One. Rev (12:10)

Then comes the end, when [Christ] hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for “he subjected everything under his feet.” (1 Cor 15:25-27)

He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.” (Lk 1:55-59)

Earlier this week we meditated on the need to cultivate serenity in the midst of the great cultural battle that is being waged all about us, and in which we are engaged. And one of the sources of that serenity must be the knowledge, revealed by God, that we have the victory.

This does not mean that we sit back and do not engage the fight for truth and God’s Kingdom. But it does mean that we engage the battle with the serene confidence that, even despite setbacks and times of diminishment, the battle is the Lord’s and that he has already won, only the news has not yet leaked out to some.

The Church is a Bride, not a widow. Her spouse Jesus lives, and, as the text above from First Corinthians says, he is putting every enemy under his feet, yes, every authority, sovereignty and power. And indeed the Church, his Bride has thus far outlived everyone of her opponents, from the Judaizers, to Caesar, from Napoleon to the USSR.

Many today shout doom for the Church, declare her outdated, irrelevant, and boldly (and foolishly) declare, like many before, that they will see her buried. “Ah!” they gleefully scoff, “Your day is over!” Yet long after the reductionism, materialism, atheism and confused moral vision of the modern scoffers has run its course, the Church will still be here proposing the Gospel and praising the Lord.

She is a living bride, espoused to the sovereign Lord of History. Persecute her, and she only grows stronger, command her silence, and still she sings with wedded bliss, looking always to her glorious spouse. Yes, she sings:

Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;
Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.

Yes, still she sings:

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
His reign shall know no end, and round His piercèd feet
Fair flowers of paradise extend their fragrance ever sweet.

And even in a time of persecution and seeming decline, we ought never forget that the victory is our in Christ Jesus. The Bride’s victory is well attested by God himself:

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. (Rev 20:2-6)

It is done, the victory is certain and it is ours in Christ Jesus.

The Church is a Bride, not a widow, though you might never know it walking into some Catholic parishes where the Mass seems more like a funeral than a wedding. A quick look might yield an impression other than a wedding: sour faced saints, bored believers with a kind of “tedium delirium” look. Yes, “the frozen chosen” look. Where is the joy, the zeal, the happiness of the Bride who is loved, and has been saved by her groom from other bad suitors? Always remember that the Mass is the great wedding feast of the Lamb. And the Church, joyful to be with her victorious groom, rejoices to hear his voice, and share sweet communion with him in the Holy Eucharist.

Yes, a bride, not a widow.

Do you live this way? Are you and I confident even in the midst of conflict and setbacks? Do we engage the battle with a serene confidence that comes from knowing the ultimate victory is ours? Or does anger and vengeance in us bespeak more of a fearful striking out? Do people see a joy and confidence in us that is increasingly unassailable, or are we an easy target to unsettle with fear?

It is a very different thing to engage the battle with joy, confident of the ultimate outcome, than to engage the battle fearful, and insistent on present victory. If present victory is the only measure of success, then the cross, seen only in its present moment, was a failure. But clearly it was not. Thus, we engage the battle, not to win every present fight, but knowing that even momentary losses are often paradoxical victories. Why? Because Jesus is the Lord of History. He can make a way out of no way, and write straight with crooked lines. He can draw life from death, and victory from defeat. He has the power to do whatever he wills. And even as the sinful world laughs, he is treading underfoot all error and sin. The boastful cannot stand their ground before the Lord.

The Church is a Bride, and the joyful mother of us all. Have confidence, and be of good cheer. The world as we know it may be passing away, but the Lord has conquered, and the Church, by his grace and promise, will remain always, and share in the ultimate victory of Jesus, when He, having placed all his enemies under his feet he hands over the Kingdom to his Father.

[NYer]

Ping!

[Tax-chick]

Where is the joy, the zeal, the happiness of the Bride who is loved, and has been saved by her groom from other bad suitors?

At my parish, for one.

[NYer]

At mine, as well. However, I do appreciate how disgruntled some catholics have become with their less than devout liturgies and oversized communities.

[Tax-chick]

I sympathize, too, with those who are in very difficult church situations. The way I see it, though, is that every time you can come to the Blessed Sacrament is an occasion to be joy-filled, even if others haven’t noticed. No human community or institution is going to satisfy everyone, but Jesus is always there and always perfect.

[Uri’el-2012]

Then comes the end, when [Christ] hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for “he subjected everything under his feet.” (1 Cor 15:25-27)

This seem to be Roman "church" commentary
as it is not the literal citation of scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15:25-27 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
25 For He must reign (A)until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be (B)abolished is death.
27 For (C)He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “(D)All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

Cross references:
1 Corinthians 15:25 : Ps 110:1; Matt 22:44
1 Corinthians 15:26 : 2 Tim 1:10; Rev 20:14; 21:4
1 Corinthians 15:27 : Ps 8:6
1 Corinthians 15:27 : Matt 11:27; 28:18; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:8

The Roman commentary denies that Yah'shua is YHvH !!!!

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[NYer]

This seem to be Roman "church" commentary as it is not the literal citation of scriptures.

Is the Bible the sole "teaching from God?" No. The Bible Itself states that there are "oral" teachings and traditions that are to be carried on to the present-day (2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Timothy 2:2; Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:24-25). These teachings are what the Catholic Church considers "Sacred Apostolic Tradition." This type of "Tradition" never changes because it was passed down by the Apostles themselves. It is not the same as the man-made traditions condemned in Scripture. The man-made traditions condemned in Scripture were those of the Jewish Pharisees. In fact, as Christians, we are supposed to disassociate ourselves from persons who do not follow Apostolic Tradition (2 Thessalonians 3:6). If oral tradition is not to be followed, why did St. Paul state Christ said something that is not recorded in the Gospels (Acts 20:35)? St. Paul must have "heard" this saying, not read it from any Gospel or "Scripture," thereby, proving that some things Christ said were not recorded in the Gospels (John 21:25) and were passed on orally among His disciples instead, but were just as valid as anything written since St. Paul himself used one of these oral passages in one of his own epistles.

Is the Bible to be taken literally - "word for word?" No. The Bible doesn't state anywhere that It should be taken literally. The Bible was written by different authors with different literary styles at different times in history and in different languages. Therefore, the writings should be interpreted with these circumstances in mind. The Bible is a religious book, not a scientific or a history "textbook."

[Salvation]

Likewise at my church — growing beyond our walls — the enthusiasm and joy IS there.

[Tax-chick]

I believe poster Uri’el-2012 is challenging the inclusion of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians in Sacred Scripture, because it seems to say something that contradicts his personal belief. The only problem with the author’s original article, on this point, is that he cited his quote as beginning at verse 25, when it actually begins at verse 24.

[Campion]

This seem to be Roman "church" commentary as it is not the literal citation of scriptures.

No, it's not a commentary. As Tax-chick notes, the citation was slightly off. Beginning at 1 Cor 15:24, not 15:25, we read:

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. -- KJV

then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. -- NASB

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. -- ESV

Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. -- ASV

Care to claim that all of those Protestant translations deny that "Yah'shua is YHvH"?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Reality is wasted on the obtuse.