{"id":28273,"date":"2018-01-19T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=22596"},"modified":"2019-02-24T23:11:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T05:11:51","slug":"striking-gods-anointed-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/striking-gods-anointed-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Striking God’s Anointed One","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Saul attacking David<\/span><\/em>, Guercino (1591-1666)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Regarding my article on <\/em>The Anti-Mercy<\/a>,\u00a0someone felt that I was not critical enough of Pope Francis. “Confusion is not from God,” they wrote.\u00a0No, confusion is not from God. But God can use confusion to sift and purify His Church. I think this is precisely what is happening at this hour. Francis’ pontificate is bringing into full light those clergymen and laymen who seemed as though waiting in the wings to promote a heterodox version of Catholic teaching <\/em>(cf. When the Weeds Begin to <\/a>Head)<\/a>. But it is also bringing to light those who have been bound up in legalism hiding behind a wall of orthodoxy. It is revealing those whose faith is genuinely in Christ, and those whose faith is in themselves; those who are humble and loyal, and those who aren’t.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So how do we approach this “Pope of surprises”, who seems to startle nearly everyone these days? The following was published on January 22nd, 2016 and has been updated today… The answer,\u00a0most certainly, is not with the\u00a0irreverent and crude criticism that has become a\u00a0staple of this generation. Here, David’s example is most relevant…<\/i><\/p>\n

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IN<\/b> today’s Mass readings (liturgical texts here<\/em><\/a>), King Saul was enraged with jealousy by all the admiration that was being given to David rather than to him. Despite all\u00a0promises to the contrary, Saul began hunting David in order to kill him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave, which he entered to relieve himself. David and his men were occupying the inmost recesses of the cave. David’s servants said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your grasp; do with him as you see fit.'”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So David “moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul’s mantle.” David didn’t kill, strike, or threaten the one intent on taking his life; he merely cut off a piece of his mantle. But then we read:<\/p>\n

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Afterward, however, David regretted that he had cut off\u00a0 an end of Saul\u2019s mantle. He said to his men, \u201cThe LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD\u2019s anointed, as to lay a hand on him, for he is the LORD\u2019s anointed.\u201d With these words David restrained his men and would not permit them to attack Saul.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

David is filled with regret, not because he particularly admires Saul, but because he knows that Saul was anointed by the prophet Samuel, under God’s direction, to be king. And even though David was tempted to strike God’s anointed, he humbled himself before the Lord’ choice,\u00a0<\/em>before God’s anointed one.<\/p>\n

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When Saul looked back, David bowed to the ground in homage and [said]… “I had some thought of killing you, but I took pity on you instead. I decided, \u2018I will not raise a hand against my lord, for he is the LORD\u2019s anointed and a father to me.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER<\/p>\n

The word “pope” is Italian for “papa”, or “father.” The Pope is essentially a father to the family of God. Jesus desired Peter to become the first “papa” of the Church when He gave him the “keys of the kingdom”, the power to “bind and loose”, and declared that he would be “rock”\u00a0(see The Chair of Rock<\/em>).<\/a> In Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus was drawing directly from the imagery of Isaiah 22 when Eliakim was set over the Davidic kingdom:<\/p>\n

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He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open. I will fix him as a peg in a firm place, a seat of honor for his ancestral house. (Isaiah 22:21-23)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"pfranc_Fotor\"This is all to say that Papa Francesco is, objectively and with certainty, God’s “anointed one.” Those who question the validity of his election are making a strange case. Not a single<\/em> Cardinal, including the bold, courageous, and fully orthodox African contingent, has even suggested that the papal election was invalid. And neither has Pope Emeritus Benedict hinted\u00a0that he\u00a0was forced from the Chair of Peter, and in fact, scolded those who persist with such nonsense (see\u00a0Barquing up the Wrong Tree<\/em><\/a>):<\/p>\n

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There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry. The only condition for the validity of my resignation is the complete freedom of my decision. Speculations regarding its validity are simply absurd\u2026 [My] last and final job [is] to support [Pope Francis\u2019] pontificate with prayer.<\/strong> \u2014POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI, Vatican City, Feb. 26th, 2014; Zenit.org<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So whether one likes Francis’ personality, style, mannerisms, direction, silence, boldness, weaknesses, strengths, hair style, lack of hair, accent, choices, commentary, disciplinary decisions, appointments, honorary award recipients and the like, does not matter: he is God’s anointed one. <\/em>Whether he is a good pope, bad pope, scandalous leader, brave leader, wise man or a fool makes no difference\u2014just as it made no difference to David,\u00a0in the final analysis, that Saul was not upright. Francis has been validly elected as the 266th Pope, in succession to St. Peter,\u00a0and is therefore God’s anointed one<\/em>, the “rock” on which Jesus Christ continues to build His Church.\u00a0The question then is not “What is the Pope doing?” but “What is Jesus doing?”[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Jesus, the Wise Builder<\/em><\/span><\/span>