A Sign of Contradiction, Part Eight

The deep aspect of the Church—called forth by Simeon during the presentation of the infant Christ in the Temple (Luke 2:34)—that so often becomes lost in the modern world, with its comfort, ease, tendency to go along to get along, and lack of easily perceived martyrs—though are not the millions of aborted babies such—yet as Pope John Paul II reminds us, the Church is surely a sign of contradiction in the world.

Over the next three days (first of ten posted on May 9th) I will continue to post excerpts from the final chapter of the first book published in English by John Paul—in 1979—Sign of Contradiction, which is a collection of talks then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla preached during the annual Lenten Retreat in March 1976 to his predecessor, Pope Paul VI.

A related series of reflections by Dr. John C. Rao, is available online at the Roman Forum, The War of the Words Against the Word, which examines in depth the ongoing war against the Church, as noted by Dr. Rao: “What, exactly, is the nature of this war? As various nineteenth century Catholic apologists were perhaps the first clearly to note, it is a conflict waged by those who fully accept the Way, the Truth and the Life brought into the world through the Incarnation against others who furiously reject it. That clash is rendered inevitable and permanent primarily due to the existence of the Mystical Body of Christ---the Church---as an organized, active agent of the Incarnation and its message. For the Church is a force which has proven to be a powerful, effective, rage-provoking “sign of contradiction” to all the many opponents of Christ.” (2nd para., 1st p.)

Excerpt from Sign of Contradiction.

“Then came words (“When the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child”) which are interpreted by P. Jankowski, a well-known expert on the book of Revelation and commentator of the Tyniec bible as referring to attacks by Satan on the Church: “The attack on the Messiah having been repulsed, Satan proceeds to turn his attack against the Church”.

“But the earth came to the help of the woman”: a highly metaphorical sentence which is followed by other words suggesting a subsequent battle in the sense foreseen in the book of Genesis: “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from its mouth. Then the dragon was enraged against the woman, and went to make war on the rest of her offspring, against those who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to the Gospel of Jesus” (Revelation 12:15-17).

“3. Signum magnum”

“The earth came to the help of the woman” is metaphorical. Perhaps these words are meant to convey that man, the human race, will instinctively resort to self-defence when evil shows itself more openly, when its destructive dimension becomes more evident. A few years after the Council the Holy Father recalled the words from Revelation which occur so often in the liturgy, especially on the feast of the Assumption: “Signum magnum apparuit in coelo”. Although the images in Revelation are metaphorical in character, these literary forms nonetheless express very simply and clearly what is a truth: the truth that there is a very close bond linking Mary, mother of the Messiah, and the Church. The “woman” in Revelation represents both Mary and the Church—as is agreed by biblical scholars, theologians and above all Christian tradition and the Church’s magisterium. That is why Vatican II, in line with this wonderful tradition, gave prominence to the truth that “the Mother of god is a figure of the Church, a type…in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. Indeed in the mystery of the Church, herself rightly called mother and virgin, the blessed Virgin Mary led the way, giving herself as a virgin and mother in a manner both eminent and special to herself” (Lumen gentium, n. 63).” (pp. 203-204)