From the Heart of the Shepherd

From the bulletin for The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 Aug 17)

The Eschatological Adventure, Part 14: “He will exalt himself and set himself up in God’s temple to be worshipped”

Jolianna’s prison cell was clean and well-lit. Excessively well-lit. She could appreciate every fiber of the white pillowcase that enveloped the thin, lumpy pillow that lay on her right, at the head of the bed on which she sat. The harsh light from the ceiling laid bare every contour of her confines. It was an immodest light, she thought. 

She had no way to reckon the time that had transpired since she first woke up in this cell. The lights were never turned off. Her sustenance seemed to be delivered at odd intervals. But it had certainly been a long time. Weeks, she felt. 

At present, Jolianna found herself deeply disturbed–unnerved was the word that came to mind–about what had just transpired. A video image had appeared on the wall opposite her bed. The “outgoing” Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church (whether it had been the man of flesh and blood, or his digitized “prolongation,” she could not tell) had “visited” her to exhort her (command her, really) to agree to what was being proposed by her captors. It was a very fair offer, he assured her, completely in line with Catholic teaching, and crucial, moreover, for the success of the Covenant of Peace that was to be inaugurated at the upcoming ceremonies in Rome. 

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for Mother Church, my child,” the likeness of the Holy Father had said to her. “Trust me: this is a prophetic moment for us and for all the world. The time of fulfillment is at hand. God’s servant, Shomolon Scuritas, our time’s Cyrus, is the providential instrument of the Great Reconciliation. So confident am I of his divinely-appointed role that, as you know, I will be resigning my office of Supreme Shepherd in just a few days so that, with the consent of the college of cardinals, Mr. Scuritas may be elected to serve not just as the bishop of Rome, but World Overseer and head of all religions. He will take his rightful place in the House of God. And he shall be our peace.

“True, my child, we Catholics acknowledge one God and one Lord. But we are also called to see Christ in our neighbor, and whatever we do for our neighbor, we do for Christ. It is not offensive, therefore, to our Christian sensibilities to partake in the worship that will be offered at the Enthronement Ceremony. What or who Mr. Scuritas represents will be the true object of the worship that will be rendered. On that day, when Mr. Scuritas is revealed as the Father of All Nations, it will be the Power at work in him that we shall worship and adore. And really: what other power could work such awesome signs as we have seen in recent years, with the ending of wars, the reconciliation of enemies, and the world-wide coming together of the nations for the sake of the glory of man… which we know is what brings glory to our God? No, I do not think it too much to proclaim this man another Christ, a second Savior. If Jesus saved our souls, is it not fitting that another would come and save our bodies, too? So be at peace about all this, my daughter” the Holy Father concluded, “and join me, select members of your parish community, and all of Holy Church in recognizing the finger of God and the power at work in this brother of ours, in whom all the nations have found a blessing.”

The exhortation concluded with a long pause in which Jolianna felt some response was desired from her. But she could not bring herself to make any movement, much less make sense of all that she had just heard. At the parish where she had been living these past several years, word of the Holy Father’s arrest and presumed execution had arrived years ago. This image of him, however, had seemed real enough. 

How could the young woman have known that all the other Christians who had been taken captive along with her had already either acceded to the terms of release–namely, that they be present at and participate in the Enthronement Ceremony as official representatives of the “intransigent, self-styled Catholic communities”–or been forcibly “digitized”? Indeed, she was entirely unaware that any one else had been taken captive. Cognitively, she was at an utter loss as to what she should make of all this. Inwardly, she was only aware of a tremendous revulsion and a deep sadness. 

Desperately, her heart surged towards God in a wordless posture of supplication and dismay. Just then, however, her solitude was spoiled by the sudden opening of her cell door. And in walked the unassuming frame of the most powerful man in the world.

From the Heart of the Shepherd: The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time