TRILOGY: Bk I, Ch 28 (Jackass for the Hour)

Let us pray for the unbelieving Jews

“My dear Cardinal Froben,” said Rabbi Shelomoh, “the only possible way to be justified is by way of child sacrifice.”

“What?!” cried the Cardinal. “I thought you were trying to say that…”

“I was, in fact, saying that the murder of someone, having the pretense that such is pleasing to the bloodthirsty gods – a kind of bribery of appeasement – is straight out of hell. Placating some god with one’s supposed ‘generosity’ and ‘submission’ is not religion, but blasphemy, a self-deluding congratulation of self…”

“But you just now said that the only way to be justified is by…” Cardinal Froben interrupted, only to have the same done to him.

“A merely human child, because of Adam’s sin, your Eminence, is not worthy to be a sacrifice of vicarious atonement. Instead, the Messiah, the Suffering Servant – and I speak as a Jew – must be innocent of all consequences of Adam’s sin, and then freely take on those consequences, so that, taking our places before the judgment of the Most High, taking upon Himself the justice which awaits us as sons of Adam, and offering our Heavenly Father communion in Charity, in innocence, in goodness, He then has the right in justice, so to speak, to have mercy on us, to ask God the Father that we be forgiven. This Child-Sacrifice – fulfilling all righteousness – makes true religion possible. Our violence is a sin, but His Sacrifice reveals what religion is. The would-be sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham pointed to this truth emphatically. Since we are to be children of God, the Suffering Servant must be God, as Genesis 3,15…”

“What you say, Rabbi…” began the Cardinal, only to stop dead, so exasperated was he. Gaining his composure, knowing that the world was watching, he continued. “What you say, Rabbi, has absolutely nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with anything that we’ve been doing over at the Pontifical Council for…”

“And do you really think I could care less what you do over there?” asked the Rabbi. “If you cannot listen to what I, a Rabbi, am saying to you – with you being the one who is the expert in listening as you dialogue – then may I suggest that you listen to Father Alexámenos. We agree on all these things. In fact…”

“But Rabbi, I think I have listened, and listened well. To prove it, let me ask you this: Is not your own work of assent to the Faith also your justification?”

“So, with that question you’re trying to win points with both Jews and Protestants, aren’t you? Very clever.”

“Thank you,” Cardinal Froben replied.

“I didn’t mean that as a compliment, your Eminence. Please, do not insult us Jews.”

“I did not intend that anyone should feel insulted. I am sorry,” said the Cardinal.

“You ‘did not intend that anyone should feel insulted,’ your Eminence? Are you joking? Before we go on, tell me, why are you sorry?”

The Cardinal just looked at him, flabbergasted.

“Are you sorry because you think I feel badly about something which you regret to have said only because you think it makes me feel badly?” asked the Rabbi. “Do you feel guilty because you had something to do with what you are guessing about feelings? I’m sick of the emotionalism of blinded consciences. You should apologise because you said something wrong!” Many in the crowd applauded, those who had also heard this kind of apology-by-way-of-accusation, by way of belittlement of the supposed over-sensitivity and lack of intelligence of the other.

This reprimand was a new experience for the Cardinal. No one in his office had the bravery to correct him when he attacked them for his own inadequacy, and then insulted them further with the unbounded condescension of blaming them for the ‘bad feelings’ he guessed they had.

“I only meant to say,” the Cardinal continued, “that it was after Abraham believed that his belief was credited to him as righteousness by God. This mere declaration of God about Abraham’s work of righteousness was only an affirmation of what Abraham already did on his own. Abraham was justified long before any would-be sacrifice of Isaac, or any Suffering Servant.”

“You are, perhaps, only a victim of circumstance,” said the Rabbi, somewhat sharply, “but the fact of the matter is that Abraham’s capacity to believe was a God-given, supernatural capacity, which enabled him to cooperate with this grace of Faith. I repeat… Abraham’s assent to the Faith is credited to him as righteousness only inasmuch as he cooperated with the grace given to him to do just this. The text makes it clear, at great length, chapter after chapter, that this wasn’t his own ‘faith’, but the Faith which was gratuitously given to him, and by which he then made his assent. Since you Catholics make some helpful distinctions such as prevenient, actual and sanctifying grace, please, do not make Abraham an apologist for your heretic Pelagius!”

“I did not mean to…” interrupted Cardinal Froben, beginning to apologise once again.

“That is what some Muslims and Protestants do!” interrupted the Rabbi. The Rabbi now spoke with some venom, for some Protestants – besides some Catholics – had been responsible for so much of the Shoah. “Protestants cut themselves off from Tradition, demanding Scripture alone, justifying themselves by clever works. They congratulate themselves that their brains work up some kind of theology, and they call their theological work ‘insight’, ‘faith alone’, identifying this as the very Word of God, making themselves, in their own minds, even holier than the Jewish prophets, justifying themselves by putting their brains into action, justifying themselves by ripping the Scriptures to shreds, throwing out this phrase and that, burning whole books, burning the truth. They do not understand that Tradition, Faith – to use the terminology you should be using – is for belief, while Scripture is for our assent. That assent is made possible by that Faith, by that belief. The Protestants imagined at the time of the ‘Reformation’ that they could figuratively kill the Jewish prophets – as many of our own Jews had done – by throwing out seven books of our Greek Scriptures and, then, many more from your New Testament, showing just how fraudulent is their claim of ‘Scripture alone’. These ‘reformers’ pretended to be arbiters of the Faith, which was, for them, no longer a Family Tradition uniting us with God in this grace, but merely an ever changing theology requiring the relativism of the individuals who were cut off from the Family of Faith. They imagined that they were praying with their ‘private interpretations’. Now look at them. We all sin… but they have made a determined policy of it, calling good what the Bible condemns. Their doctrine and morality changes by the minute. It is a free-for-all anarchy, which makes the most horrendous violence of Sodom and Gomorrah possible.”

“You do yourself no service in exaggerating on these points, Rabbi. I am of a mind that…”

“That’s the difference between us, your Eminence. I do not seek to do any service to myself. There is only One whom I serve, Blessed be the Name! And that is the only reason why you think I exaggerate.”

“I did not mean to insinuate…” began the Cardinal, once again, though the Rabbi simply talked over him.

“If you Catholics,” said the Rabbi strongly, “would just follow your own doctrine about Revelation being Scripture and Tradition, there would be less sin in the Church and more respect for the fact that ‘salvation is from the Jews.’ There would be much less risk of anti-Semitism, much less risk of another Shoah. Do not think you will be justified by following your own whims of theology, instigating another Reformation, this time from within the Church, just like Erasmus. Don’t forget, Erasmus, not the brightest spark around, simply gave up on learning Hebrew, and would have been pleased to burn the Jewish Scriptures outside of the Psalms. We’ve had enough to do with burning at Auschwitz!”

Cardinal Froben was trying to gasp, but couldn’t. Father Alexámenos thought that the Prelate was going to have a heart attack right then and there.

“It is God’s grace,” continued the Rabbi, going in for the kill, “His actual Revelation, by which He lifts us up to Himself, which will justify us, which will save us, which will bring us to heaven, which will give us some chance, even on this earth, of fulfilling the cry, ‘Never again!’ which so many so glibly shout, but do not understand in the least, putting the Jews in mortal danger. We know – six million times over – that you have no strength to follow up on your own good intentions. As soon as you say, ‘We are all nice! We are better than those in the past!’ this is precisely when we die. Please, for our sake, do not depend on yourselves, on your own ‘niceness’, your own pretended placement of yourselves before God, but, instead, depend on the grace of God.”

“So… you are saying that Father Alexámenos has not offended you, is that right?” asked Cardinal Froben weakly. He was ashen, shaken. The Rabbi’s speech had been incisive, as if cutting his heart open.

“That is correct. Father Alexámenos and I are good friends,” replied the Rabbi.

The Cardinal collected his thoughts for a full minute, under enormous pressure from the cameras. The Paul VI Audience Hall was packed, but one could have heard pencilled letters dropping from a page, if they could. Wiping his forehead with a handkerchief, Cardinal Froben then said: “I wonder if you are really correct. Rabbi, you are about to see your good friend betray you, right in front of you.” Turning to Father Alexámenos, he said, “I know for a fact that you use the Tridentine Missal, Father.”

“I prefer to call it the Missal of Blessed John XXIII, your Eminence. You might know that it was used throughout the Second Vatican Council. It is the Mass of the Council, the Mass of Nostra aetate!” Cardinal Froben stared at Father Alexámenos, but was clearly drawing a blank. He became as red as what he, as a Cardinal, was wearing. Father Alexámenos continued: “I hope you also appreciate the heavily Jewish setting of the Roman Canon as much as I do.”

This made Rabbi Shelomoh chuckle, but this seemed to give the Cardinal a determined strength. Cardinal Froben said: “Tell us all, Father, for what do you pray on behalf of the Jews when you pray for them on Good Friday?”

“I pray that they might see the light,” said Father Alexámenos.

“Could you repeat that, please?” requested the Cardinal, not expecting this answer. “What about the veil? Aren’t you one of those who insists on the veil being lifted from their hearts? Don’t you insist on blindness?”

“The revision is clear enough, even clearer, if you ask me, especially if it is understood with its references to Saint Paul, your Eminence. Saint Paul really is very consistent. However, if I was given the option, I wouldn’t hesitate for an instant to use the 1962 version, or even the previous edition. Is that what you wanted to hear? I can recite it for you by heart.”

“I don’t need to hear anything coming from before the Council!” exclaimed the Cardinal.

“Oremus et pro perfidis Iudaeis!” cried Father Alexámenos, laughing. “Let’s also pray for the unbelieving Jews!” he repeated. “Let’s pray they believe in Christ!”

Cardinal Froben took a step back, as if he had been hit. He shook his head, looking at the Rabbi, trying to apologise to him on behalf of the inexcusably rude defendant, but the Rabbi was not offended in the least. The Cardinal, turning again to Father Alexámenos, ran to authority, saying, “The New Mass of the 1970’s not only does not pray for any conversion of the Jews, but prays that the Jews will not become Christian, begging God that they will remain faithful to God’s covenant with Abraham and, in that way, come to the fullness of Redemption. We make that prayer by way of Christ, but that does not mean that they need to acknowledge Christ to come to the fullness of Redemption as faithful children of Abraham, sharing with us, as they do, the Faith of Abraham. Also, we’re not saying that any one of them should do anything individually about anything. We’re taking about All Israel here. It’s where the soteriological comes together with the eschatological, where the fullness of redemption comes together with the end things simply because it is at the end, when all the children of Abraham will have been counted by God.”

“I’ll admit, your Eminence,” Father Alexámenos replied, “that this ultra-modern prayer is rather confusing, even horrifically misleading, as you yourself demonstrate. That’s why I prefer the 2008 prayer, or that of 1962, or any other besides that of 1970. Nevertheless, I think that your 1970 prayer can be read with more generosity that you have provided. For instance, the covenant with Abraham referred to the fulfilment of Redemption wrought by the Messiah, who fulfils the would-be child-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Moreover, All Israel is made up of individuals throughout time. I couldn’t care less what the intention of the author or authors of the 1970 prayer was, or that of any of the other prayers. I’m interested in praying that all people, including the Jews, will know and love the One I know to be God, who is love. It’s a matter of love of God and neighbour, your Eminence.”

“You don’t seem to grasp the gravity of the insult inherent in the phrase: ‘Oremus et pro perfidis Iudaeis’, said Cardinal Froben.

“If the Church prays ‘pro perfidis Iudaeis,’ replied Father Alexámenos, “it is not because we are saying that no faith had ever been given to them, but because some of them do not now assent to what has been given to them to believe, namely, that Christ Jesus is, in fact, the Suffering Servant, the Messiah. In this sense, they are ‘faithless’. It’s only because the phrase ‘Oremus et pro perfidis Iudaeis’ began to be misunderstood that this phrase was modified. There is, however, nothing wrong with the usage of the word in the context in which it is found. One must understand all this from the point of view of charity, from the point of view of the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus. It is much the same as John the Evangelist using the word Jew as synonymous with a non-believer, someone who is faithless in the sense that do not yet assent to belief in Jesus as the Messiah.”

“In order to prove to you that ‘Oremus et pro perfidis Iudaeis’ is an insult,” replied Cardinal Froben, “I will give you another case current when the word perfidus was in fashion. Tell me what can be read on the Church facing the Synagogue and the Jewish Ghetto here in Rome. They are verses of hatred, are they not?”

“You mean the newly renovated Church that was built long after that prayer first appeared?” asked Father Alexámenos incredulously, “with the citation of Isaiah 65,2-3?”

“Exactly. You can’t tell me that that mention of your preferred phrase is not an insult, unless, of course, you want to be known as a negazionista,” said Cardinal Froben.

The Rabbi leaned forward, intently listening. He read these in-your-face words daily. It was unavoidable.

A man in the crowd took advantage of the momentary silence and stood up, shouting, “Anyone who is a Christian today is guilty of the Shoah, even if he was born after the Shoah. Anyone who blames the Jews for Christ’s death should die!” His were pain-filled words, often repeated by professors in many Catholic universities and institutes in Rome and the Holy Land. After some seconds, he broke down in tears, asking in anguish, “Why did God remain silent? Why did He tolerate this?”

“But God was never silent. He never tolerates anything. He will never be mocked,” said Father Alexámenos. “He eternally speaks the Word, His Son, who, in His human nature, was silent, hanging dead on the Cross, lying dead in the tomb, like a lamb led to the slaughter, opening not His mouth, a Jewish lamb, who knew first hand the horrors of the death camps. His silence was the most eloquent enunciation of Never Again! that the world can know. God is just that intolerant of anyone mocking life, desiring to lay down His own Life as the Suffering Servant who, in this way, provides mankind with the grace, the mercy, to come to life in all justice. It is the Cross by which…”

“If the Cross weighs upon us all…” began the man again, but he could not go on, sobbing as he was, leaving most in the crowd stricken.

Finally, Father Alexámenos replied to Cardinal Froben with a soft-spoken intensity that was well carried by the microphones: “The real negationists, your Eminence, are those who will not learn from the past. They scream, ‘Never again!’ but are unwittingly preparing to repeat the same mistakes. They want to cover over the past so that they can repeat it.”

“Again, I ask you, just whom are you accusing?” asked Cardinal Froben.

“Those verses inscribed on the façade of that church,” continued Father Alexámenos, may well have been misunderstood out of context; on the façade of that church, they surely carried the weight of the memory of Pope Paul IV’s establishment of the Ghetto in 1555 with his decree Cum nimis absurdum, as well as the memory of the forced preaching to the Jews begun a few years later in that very church under Pope Gregory XIII. Those were sad days of the counter-Reformation, when, it seems, with patent absurdity, that Pope Paul IV – so nervous about the new Protestants continuing to rampage through Europe, sacking souls and properties, churches, monasteries and libraries – it seems that Pope wanted desperately to come up with a way to feel good as a Catholic. It appears that his methodology was to put others down, thinking that, in this way, he was lifting himself up. Even though he was the Pope of the Inquisition, he could not effectively point the finger at the new Protestants; he was having trouble reforming the abuses of the Catholic hierarchy. The idea seems to have come to him that if he could put blame for Christ’s crucifixion on the Jews – especially the Jews in Rome, who were an easy target – then he could congratulate himself before God as being a Pontiff who was doing his job well. One could get the impression that the Jews were sacrificed to his own hypocrisy…”

“So, you are putting down Pope Paul IV so as to build yourself up?” asked the Cardinal.

“None of us are better than Pope Paul IV if we are without the grace of God, your Eminence.”

“But we are better today! We’ve made so much progress! We’re the people of Nostra aetate!” exclaimed the Cardinal, proud of Our Age, a document of the Second Vatican Council.

“Anyone thinking he is better than anyone in the past cannot learn from the past, and is on a fast track to bringing the Jews to Auschwitz again,” continued Father Alexámenos. “The genocides of the past century continue into our day, but it is just your kind which says, ‘We are better! We would never do that! We’re nice!’ That’s just the kind of person in the Roman Curia, who, within five years of 16 October, 1943 – the day that the Nazis started deporting the Jews from the Jewish Ghetto in Rome to their death – said that the Hebrew Scriptures had to be adapted to the understandings of a less developed humanity. Who adapted what, your Eminence? We need to wake up, and wake up now!

Cardinal Froben responded without an answer, saying: “I am aware of recent history.”

“Are you?” asked Father Alexámenos, taking charge once again. “Tell me, your Eminence, what is the language used for presenting those verses of Isaiah 65,2-3 inscribed on the church facing the Ghetto to this day?”

“Hebrew,” said the Cardinal with confidence. “After all, the citation is directed at the Jews, very few of whom knew Latin.”

“You condemn yourself out of your own mouth,” said Father Alexámenos.

“What?!” said the Cardinal. “Everyone thinks of those words as an insult.”

“Your Eminence, the Hebrew speaks of stubbornness in not assenting to the Faith which was, in fact, given to the Jews, and lived by the many. Stubbornness is an entirely different thing than faithlessness. Is there any other language used to present those verses?”

“Latin… the language of the Vatican bureaucracy at the time,” said the Cardinal.

“According to your logic,” Father Alexámenos replied, “those verses are aimed at the Catholic Church, and, indeed, they are for the benefit of all those to whom our Lord has given the gift of Faith. It’s not the Hebrew, but only the Latin which speaks of your faithlessness, your Eminence, as in populus incredulus. You cannot accept this because you think you’re so nice without the Lord’s rebuke, but we are all the Israel of Faith. You insult our Jewish friends.”

“I am not on trial!” exclaimed the Cardinal.

“Certainly, forcing anything down anyone’s throat is imprudent – and many will say that many Jews became Catholic just to get out of being harassed – and the citation may well have been used arrogantly, as if only Jews were sinners and not all the rest of us as well,” said Father Alexámenos, “but if anyone is ever going to say anything worthwhile to our Jewish friends, those verses – in the way that they are cited in both Hebrew and Latin on that church – are the best way to start. Those verses say that we are all sinners, that there is one Redeemer of all. That church should be the centre for Jewish-Christian relations, a place of Penance and Conversion from sin for all. What a blessing it is that the renovation of the façade didn’t destroy the inscriptions.”

The Rabbi leaned back in his chair, content with Father Alexámenos’ answer. Cardinal Froben did not see this, and simply continued his attack: “You don’t seem to understand the full gist of what I am saying, Father. I am nice to everyone, saying that God loves without demands, without distinction. God is love! That is something even you cannot contradict.”

“God certainly is Charity,” replied Father Alexámenos thoughtfully, “but it does no favour to anyone to forget that the many are saved, not all, that mercy and justice are one in God, who will not be mocked, whether by Jew or Gentile. Don’t fool yourself, your Eminence.”

“Apparently,” said the Cardinal, “you don’t know that pro multis is not to be understood as for the many, but for all, regardless of what any new pedantic liturgical translations have. Christ gave Himself for all, not just this one or that one. That’s what Paul’s letter to Timothy says, and that is even what Isaiah says!”

But Cardinal Froben was speaking from the ignorance of giving credence to manipulative scholars, and Father Alexámenos let him know this, however respectfully: “Your Eminence, the key word with Saint Paul is desire, as in, God desires that all men be saved, proving this by Christ giving Himself as a ransom for all, but that does not mean that all will be justified. Christ said that His Blood is poured out for the many, pro multis, who will be justified. In Isaiah, there is a distinction between merely seeing the salvation of God and being justified. All, kōl, see this salvation much the same way that this is described by John in the Apocalypse: Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; all the tribes of the earth will be cut to the quick because of Him.’ Seeing salvation isn’t the same as being justified in salvation. Isaiah reserves that only for the many, lārabbîm, not for all. The words, repeated again and again and again, are extremely clear. In fact, the context is so incisively clear, repeated again and again and again, that it seems one would have to be malicious to misinterpret it. So, I insist, it does no one any favour to forget the justice of God, your Eminence; in doing so, one obscures the Lord’s mercy. We cannot obtain His mercy if we do not recognise His justice. Woe to the man who obstructs with niceness the Jew’s Way to mercy.”

“But the Greek and Latin…” began the Cardinal.

“…have exactly the same thing,” finished Father Alexámenos. “Exactly the same as what is found in the Gospels, whether in Greek or Latin, or, get this, even in modern Semitic translations. Even the Aramaic agrees perfectly, both ancient and modern. It’s all extremely clear.”

“Anyway,” replied the Cardinal after some seconds, “the Scriptures are unimportant. We want a Liturgy that people can understand. We cut the Liturgy off from revelation and adjust it to the times in which we live. What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s important to be immersed in the liturgical tradition, your Eminence, but this must be done in continuity with the Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. We rejoice that Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and that to which Revelation points, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are all absolutely consistent with one another.”

“The point is that, just as our Lord, we desire the salvation of all,” asserted the Cardinal. That’s what people understand. Please, do not be discourteous to your fellow human beings!”

“Your Eminence… The Lord predestines for the salvation of justification those whom He desires. His Redemption is there for all, but not all want it. Our Lord knows that it is discourteous to force anyone to do anything. He doesn’t force people to go to heaven. He is most gracious. The only reason why some, say, from the Pio Decimo Centre, have gone out of their way to give an in your face erroneous translation of for the many as for all is because of the way another heresy about original sin was being pushed at the time.”

“What!?” cried the Cardinal. “You must be joking!” But, at this point, sweat started running down his face and he had to continually use his handkerchief.

“People were, and still are saying, that there is no original sin, that we are all conceived immaculately. Then there are two options. Either all those who are just conceived sin in the womb, unduly upset with the world of broken relationships that their souls encounter, or, after they are born, they fall into sin at the first chance, deterministically. In either case, such sin is not sin at all, the Redemption is meaningless, and not only can we say that there is no Limbo, but we can say that there is no hell.”

“But we do dare to believe that hell is empty and that all are saved!” exclaimed the Cardinal. “And this is why the Good Friday prayers for the Jews insist on group salvation in the end.”

“We’ve been over that, your Eminence. They don’t restrict anyone’s coming to know and love the Lord as your words would imply.”

“Look, Father Alexámenos, what I am saying is that you are incapable of saying even one nice thing about the Jews.”

“If I started, I am afraid I could not stop,” said Father Alexámenos.

“Just give me one example,” the Cardinal insisted, thinking that he could not do it.

“As Saint Paul says,” replied Father Alexámenos, repeating what he had said on the plane, “it is they who are Israelites, to whom belongs the Sonship, the Glory, the Covenants, the Law, the Worship, the Promises, the Patriarchs and, according to the flesh, the very Christ of God…”

“Narrow it all down to one thing,” insisted the Cardinal again, trying to save face.

“I could say something about their hospitality, if you like,” ventured Father Alexámenos.

“We know about your good Jewish warden at San Lorenzo in fonte; that’s anecdotal,” said the Prelate.

“I speak of hospitality in the Faith,” said Father Alexámenos, “their Eucharistic hospitality.”

“I never quite follow you, but that should be interesting,” said the Cardinal. “Please, go on.”

“When one reads the Hebrew Scriptures,” said Father Alexámenos, “it is like being invited into the Family of Faith, into the Household of Faith. An enormous Banquet is being prepared. All the servants and cooks and family members are busy preparing the banquet, speaking of it in fine detail. The aromas of the fatted calf roasting on the fire, and of all the spices and perfumes fill the air with delight. There is music and singing and dancing. The atmosphere of friendship that can only be had with those who profoundly share the same Faith, and who are all working toward the same end, is overwhelmingly good. The more that is spoken about the Truth and Charity that this banquet is, the more that one becomes hungry. One longs for this banquet to begin, especially when one sees this Truth and Charity confirmed by mercy, even the sacrificing of oneself unto death for one’s friends as the great Jewish prophets have done for us. As one gathers to sit down at the banquet, all dressed in wedding garments for this, the wedding of God with those whom He calls, one realises that truly, in this very eager longing, the banquet has already begun in grace. There are many, many saints before Christ came.”

“But you spoke of Eucharistic hospitality,” the Cardinal objected. “Didn’t you mean to say that you want Jews to receive Holy Communion without becoming Catholic?”

“The Hebrew Scriptures and the Faith given to them, your Eminence, had them look forward with longing to the Passover Banquet we call the Last Supper. The Paschal Lamb, who took the place of Isaac in Child-Sacrifice, is a Jew, the Messiah, the Saviour, Christ Jesus. The Jews could not be more hospitable than to offer Him to the whole world with His Incarnation and with the Jewish Apostles. We come to the banquet which they have diligently prepared with Charity and Truth, giving their own lives to do so. I long for them to kneel down with us before the Blessed Sacrament, the veil having been lifted, seeing with Faith. Until then, I am in anguish.”

“So, you believe that Jews would be better off as Christians?” asked Cardinal Froben.

“You forget, your Eminence,” he answered, “that the surprise for you in the New Testament is that the Faith is offered to the Gentiles, even while it is taken for granted that salvation is from the Jews. Everyone would be better off having a profound friendship with the Jewish God-man, Christ Jesus, who loves us all so very much. How could I not rejoice in their knowing Christ?”

“As I said,” added the Rabbi before the Cardinal could make any answer, “I respect what Father Alexámenos has to say about Faith and justification, about Faith and Scripture, about Child-Sacrifice and who the Messiah must be as the Suffering Servant, and about the Key of Knowledge being mercy. I couldn’t agree more with what he says about Sodom and Gomorrah. I lament that some of our own seminaries have gone the way of Sodom. Moreover, I am most pleased that Father Alexámenos wants the veil to be lifted from my eyes, from our eyes, to know the fulness of Faith. It means that Father Alexámenos loves the Jews as much as he loves himself. He does not exclude us. An invitation means respect. We can always refuse, but that is to be our option, not yours, your Eminence. I despise those who would hide the highest expression of love that they know from us. Instead of wanting us to know what they should know to be the fulness of Truth in Charity, they want us in Auschwitz again, your Eminence.”

“You are very severe, Rabbi…” interjected the Cardinal, involuntarily taking a step backward.

“With due respect, your Eminence,” concluded the Rabbi, “you must stop dividing Tradition and Scripture. Otherwise, you will effectively sacrifice our prophets, and us. You reject the Faith so as to be left with a Book, into which you must read your own private, individual, non-family interpretations, giving you full permission to kill off the image of God in others. Like the creature with the forked tongue, you firstly look to the children of Abraham even if just to drive a knife into the heart of the reality all the more. You must repent before we die. The more you think without the purification of Faith, the more we die, as one of your philosophers once inferred with his ‘I think, therefore, I am;’ ‘Cogito, ergo sum.’ Go ahead and seek understanding with the aid of reason, your Eminence, but firstly believe. Otherwise, with your non-family, private interpretation, you will put us to death. We died in Auschwitz. I agree with Father Alexámenos that when Tradition is replaced with self, you will be an example of what you say you hate.”

“Thank you, Rabbi…” said the Cardinal, returning to his seat. “I am learning.” He did not know what to think. He determined to arrange for an appropriate special prosecutor for the next session, someone more adept than he in having Father Alexámenos admit to his ‘crimes’ in Haïti.

•••—•••—•••

“Don’t celebrate until you can hit him every time,” Ermenagildo commanded flatly. He was the leader of a Roman based terrorist cell. “We have one chance only. Practise costs us nothing.”

The Italian teenager, Ernesto, a recent convert to Islam, replied, “I know our couriers from Plum Island were eliminated, and I know I’m the next in line to die as a martyr. I’ll get it right. I’m the best. I have the best arm in Italy.”

Ernesto jumped a hurdle, wildly ran up the side of small hill as if he were being chased, and threw another tennis ball at a tiny open window halfway up a nearby apartment building, some dozens of metres away. It was a perfect throw. He did it again, and yet again.

==================

Chapter 29 coming soon…

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© 2007-2008 Renzo di Lorenzo — All rights reserved

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