Father Perricone cleverly connects Homer’s legendary Odysseus and the classic Catholic today, both caught in a “Morton’s Fork” dilemma. Navigating the Straits of Messina, Odysseus was threatened on one side by a carnivorous monster, Scylla and, on the other, by a deadly whirlpool, Charybdis. Now sailing along in the barque of a modernist “Synoding“ church, Father writes, “there are those who relegate papal teaching to only opinion and live an à la carte Catholicism. On the other hand, there are those Catholics who embrace the equally erroneous position that every word uttered by the Roman Pontiff binds in conscience.”
But there’s more to the story. After shipwreck, Odysseus survived Charybdis by clinging to a fig tree until the whirlpool spat out planks from his ship, one of which he used to swim and survive. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the fig tree to teach about the necessity of bearing spiritual fruit; it’s a symbol of renewal, restoration of God’s favor. What’s so interesting is Jesus positing the metaphorical fig tree as a harbinger of the End Times and the nearness of His return. We should carefully watch what’s happening:
“As its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near” (Matthew 24:32). Inversely, the barren fig tree is cursed as a sign of outward religiosity that lacks genuine faith, good works, piety, obedience to the Ten Commandments: “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Father Perricone cleverly connects Homer’s legendary Odysseus and the classic Catholic today, both caught in a “Morton’s Fork” dilemma. Navigating the Straits of Messina, Odysseus was threatened on one side by a carnivorous monster, Scylla and, on the other, by a deadly whirlpool, Charybdis. Now sailing along in the barque of a modernist “Synoding“ church, Father writes, “there are those who relegate papal teaching to only opinion and live an à la carte Catholicism. On the other hand, there are those Catholics who embrace the equally erroneous position that every word uttered by the Roman Pontiff binds in conscience.”
But there’s more to the story. After shipwreck, Odysseus survived Charybdis by clinging to a fig tree until the whirlpool spat out planks from his ship, one of which he used to swim and survive. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the fig tree to teach about the necessity of bearing spiritual fruit; it’s a symbol of renewal, restoration of God’s favor. What’s so interesting is Jesus positing the metaphorical fig tree as a harbinger of the End Times and the nearness of His return. We should carefully watch what’s happening:
“As its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near” (Matthew 24:32). Inversely, the barren fig tree is cursed as a sign of outward religiosity that lacks genuine faith, good works, piety, obedience to the Ten Commandments: “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”