Saints with an Edge
I like the quizzes Chris of Maine Catholic posts. I found it predictable that St. James gets few votes among the apostles for intercessory purposes. It sort of reminds me of what I felt when I entered St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Church for the first time. His stern visage on an icon in the corner seemed to say, "what are you doing here? You couldn't fast your way out of a paper bag."
Commenter Nathan says of St. James, "He's too severe for our relativistic, cushy culture." Chris says "he was a tough bird, but that was what the early Church in Jerusalem needed at the time. He was kind of a Ratzinger to Peter's John Paul II."
This makes sense to me. There are not too many fans of Jeremiah either. And Christianity is certainly not a popularity contest. But I think Ratzinger is able to combine severity with a sweetness of heart which surely can be accomplished only by grace. Severity is easy. A crossless Christianity is also easy. But that elusive combination must be from God, just as only He can effect both justice and mercy. I think it was Kierkegaard who said, "First, severity. That is to say, the severity of the ideal. Then, mercy."
No comments:
Post a Comment