...un semplice e umile lavoratore nella vigna del Signore
Besides describing himself as simple and humble, the new Pope adds in his "Urbi et Orbi" address that he is a laborer in the Vineyard of the Lord. While the news media have focused on and questioned the former Cardinal Ratzinger's description of himself as simple and humble, I think they've missed an important message within Pope Benedict's address: What did he mean by calling himself a worker in the Lord's Vineyard?
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardner. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.... Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
- John 15: 1~6
This is what John records as what Jesus has said. Now Pope Benedict identifies himself as a worker who aids the gardner, God the Father, who cuts off those who don't remain in Christ. It's been said that the Church is the body of Christ, and since Jesus calls himself the vine, the people of the church, the body of Christ, are the vine's branches. And it has been the Church's duty to teach us how to remain in Christ.
Could the Pope have meant that the distractors and critics of the Catholic church's teachings - those who hope for women priests, married priests, contraception usage, acceptance of homosexuals - are the branches that bear no fruit, easily thrown into the fire and burned? Was his message a warning to the Catholics of Europe and North America to toe the line? I believe this pope has set a strong, unequivocal theme to his papacy: all Catholics must obey, or face the consequences!
Hmm. I can't but be reminded of an old Sunday School lesson: after King Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne. The whole assembly of Israel went to the new king and asked the "heavy yoke" King Solomon placed on them to be made lighter. King Rehoboam rejected the people's demand and promised a heavier yoke. If you want to know what happened to Israel, read 1 King 12.
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