Continuing a
tribute to B16 seven years on, here is another insight inspired by Professor
Ratzinger in his book Introduction to
Christianity, Part II, Excursus: Christian Structures.
The law of
disguise relates to the idea of Christian paradox expressed in an interesting
way. The Alpha of the universe appears as the Omega; the last letter in the
alphabet of creation.
Ø First there is the Earth, a mere
nothing in the cosmos, which was to be the point of divine activity.
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| The Earth |
Ø Then comes Israel, a cipher among the
powers of the world which was to be the point of His appearance in the world.
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| Ancient Israel |
Ø Then Nazareth, again a cipher within
Israel, which was to be the point of His definitive arrival.
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| Nazareth |
Ø Then the Cross on which a man was to
hang whose life had been a failure. A sure sign someone was NOT the messiah was
if his enemies were to hang him on a tree; it only makes sense in light of the
resurrection. God has come so near to us that we can kill Him and thereby, so
it seems, ceases to be God for us.
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| The Cross |
Ø Finally there is the Church with its
questionable history and the claim to be the abiding site of His revelation. Precisely
when the Church believed, in all the glory of the Renaissance princedom, that
she could cast off this hiddenness and be directly the “gate of heaven”, the
“house of God”, she became God’s disguise, with God scarcely to be found behind
it.
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| The Church |
Like a
clever warrior, God slips behind enemy lines in disguise; a divine camouflage
so good that the secular eye sees nothing special. The spiritual eye can see
only if it is awake and unhindered.
God seems to keep disappearing more and more and, precisely in this way,
becomes more and more manifest as Himself.
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| The Law of Disguise |
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