{"id":9619,"date":"2014-06-03T15:14:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T19:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=9619"},"modified":"2014-06-03T15:18:50","modified_gmt":"2014-06-03T19:18:50","slug":"christs-loyal-widows-pope-francis-bookclub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/06\/christs-loyal-widows-pope-francis-bookclub.html","title":{"rendered":"Christ’s Loyal Widows [Pope Francis Bookclub]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus<\/a>. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you\u2019re welcome to\u00a0peruse them all<\/a>\u00a0and\/or read along.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s chapter of\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart<\/em>, Pope Francis braids together three moments in Christ\u2019s ministry: his discoverty by the Magi, his baptism, and the wedding at Cana. \u00a0As Francis tells it, these stories are all about Christ inviting us forward to find Him, be healed by Him, and wholly united to Him, as spouses are to each other.<\/p>\n

Falling right after the Ascension, when Jesus leaves his disciples for the last time, the thing that struck me most about this passage wasn\u2019t just Francis\u2019s discussion of the Church (and its people) as bride, but as widow. \u00a0Because Christ leaves after the wedding, the Church is left to keep the faith and to honor its marriage alone.<\/p>\n

The loneliness isn\u2019t indefinite. \u00a0But in each moment it occurs (the span between the Ascension and Penetcost, between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, between sinning and Confession) we do exist as widows. \u00a0As a result, Pope Francis says, adultery against an earthly spouse is an even more serious business than just a betrayal of your beloved.<\/p>\n

Because adultery symbolizes idolatry, it is seen as an offence against God\u2019s union with his people and against Christ\u2019s union with his Church (Hosea 1-3; Jer 3:3-9; Ezekiel 16; Isa 50:1). \u00a0The fleeting delight of our private celebrations and the fascination of our personal plans of salvation end up devoid of eschatological joy, they are evidence of widowhood without hope, without children, without a spouse who will return\u2013an utterly sterile state (Jer 7:34; 16:9; Apoc 18:23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pope Francis is fairly grim when he talks about the temptations toward adultery and its consequences, but I still found the chapter fairly cheering. \u00a0For one thing, the nice thing about being in danger of adultery is that it means you have a bond that is powerful enough to be able to be profaned. \u00a0(You can\u2019t betray a colleague in the same way you can a spouse).<\/p>\n

For another, it suggests that we are all strengthened by honoring marriages, even if we don\u2019t participate in them ourselves. \u00a0If the marital dynamic is an essential part of my relationship with Christ, then I can strengthen it by being a guest at the wedding feast, even if I\u2019m not the bride or by providing aid to the widow and the orphan, even if I am childless and have no earthy husband to be widowed by.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today is the seventh day of my\u00a0Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0and you\u2019re welcome to join in.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you\u2019re welcome to\u00a0peruse them all\u00a0and\/or read along. In this week\u2019s chapter of\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart, Pope Francis braids together three moments in Christ\u2019s ministry: his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":9623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,177],"tags":[227],"class_list":["post-9619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage-2","category-spiritual-practice","tag-pope-francis-bookclub"],"yoast_head":"\nChrist's Loyal Widows [Pope Francis Bookclub]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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