"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
In our Advent study this week, we touched on the subject of priesthood and I asked my favourite trick question: how many priests are there in the Catholic Church? Fr. Mike answers this question in the rather oddly-titled video “Why we don’t drink coffee at Mass”…
#TeaForLife
When the flag is flying above Windsor Castle, we know that the Queen is in residence. Likewise, the light by the tabernacle lets us know that the King is present there; all is well.
– Anonymous, One of my old prayer journals.
Last week I published a post in which I examined the different roles of Adam, as part of my In The Beginning series. I demonstrated from the Scriptures how Adam was a son of God, bridegroom, priest, prophet and king.
I explained that it’s important to understand these different roles of Adam because in understanding Adam, we come to understand the blueprint, God’s original design, the original state of affairs before everything started going all askew. Salvation History is the story of our redemption and the return to that original state of affairs.
In today’s post I’d like to look at how Adam’s various roles are taken up once more…
The creation accounts found in the first and second chapters of Genesis are portions of the Bible with which most Catholics are typically pretty familiar. We actually had a portion read at Mass a couple of weeks ago and we’ll hear a further extract at the Easter Vigil in a couple of weeks’ time.
In today’s post I’d like to draw out a few things we learn about Adam in Genesis. In particular, I’d like to look at the five roles essential to Adam’s identity…
The following is the parable of the King and the Maiden by Soren Kierkegaard:
Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist – no one dared resist him. But would she love him?
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know for sure? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.
The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her. Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise – the king took on a totally new identity – He had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.
I was going to wait until the Feast of Christ the King to post this, but it’s just too good to sit on until November! So, to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension…
