Catholic Thought discussion
Come Rack! Come Rope!
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Part 1, Chapters 5 thru 9
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The struggle of conscience looms large in this chapter. I loved the descriptions of Robin’s discernment of spirits. God is rarely so straightforward, and Robin struggles with his decision to ultimately become a priest. “His mind, then, was fluent and distracted; it formed images before him, which dissolved as soon as formed; it whirled in little eddies; it threw up obscuring foam; it ran clear one instant, and the next broke itself in rapids. He could neither ease it, nor dam it altogether, and he did not know what to do.”
He did not know what to do. This is me sometimes. This is when we just throw ourselves upon God’s grace, much as St. Monica did with her son. God will grant us the answer when we strive to listen. Robin’s struggle parallels his father’s; Robin makes the right decision.
I think it's important to consider Msgr. Benson's contrast of Holy Mass with the Cranmer rite in Chapter VI, II. Keeping in mind that he wrote this in 1912, his descriptions are informative and I think help to enlighten what we're now calling the Liturgy Wars.The second paragraph begins with,
The church was as most were in those days. It was but a little place, yet it had had in old days great treasures of beauty. There had been, until some ten or twelve years ago, a carved screen that ran across the chancel arch, with the Rood upon it, and St. Mary and St. John on this side and that. The high-altar, it was remembered, had been of stone throughout, surrounded with curtains on the three sides, hanging between posts that had each a carven angel, all gilt. Now all was gone, excepting only the painted windows (since glass was costly). The chancel was as bare as a barn...
That most Protestants are iconoclasts is something we all know very well, but, especially reading Msgr. Benson's description from this early in the 20th century, it forces us to look at the iconoclasm that swept through the Church in the late '60s and early '70s. How many of our churches today fit the description which Msgr. Benson gives of a repurposed church, modified for the use of a "new liturgy?" When we add to this the sheer courage that Msgr. Benson shows, considering that his own father was "Archbishop of Canterbury," in refuting the schismatic errors of Anglicanism and pointing out what Catholics went through during the English Persecution, he certainly prompts us to take another look at what we believe and how we live and to what extent that is in conformity with what Christ and the Church teach us. It strikes me that a reminder of how the Church has been persecuted is key to the US bishops' plans for the Eucharistic Revival and also a key to the New Evangelization.
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Yet here he sat—a man feared and even loved by some—the first of his line to yield to circumstance, and to make peace with his times. Not a man of all who looked on him believed him certainly to be that which his actions professed him to be; some doubted, especially those who themselves inclined to the old ways or secretly followed them; and the hearts of these grew sick as they watched.
Here is the scene when Mr. Audrey takes the Protestant communion. He seems a bit hesitant at first, but then stoically and quickly, as if to get it over with, takes it. What is remarkable here, is that the pastor, Mr. Barton, hesitates before offering the bread and cup. With everyone watching, it seems everyone present knows what is happening here is just an imitation, done for theatric's skake.
For a moment the minister stood before the seat, as if doubtful what to do. He held the plate in his left hand and a fragment of bread in his fingers. Then, as he began the words he had to say, one thing at least the people saw, and that was that a great flush dyed the old man's face, though he sat quiet. Then, as the minister held out the bread, the squire seemed to recover himself; he put out his fingers quickly, took the bread sharply and put it into his mouth; and so sat again, until the minister brought the cup; and this, too, he drank of quickly, and gave it back. Then, as the communicants, one by one, took the bread and wine and went back to their seats, man after man glanced up at the squire. But the squire sat there, motionless and upright, like a figure cut of stone.
I wonder if Mr. Audrey's abrupt manner isn't just a cover to hide the immense tension he is buckling under. A person doesn't do an about-face like this out of nowhere. Perhaps he pushes Robin so relentlessly so as to gain an ally, that his apostasy isn't as glaring to the life-long friends he is turning his back to.
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The drawing of Audrey's character is the one aspect of the novel I think weak.
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It was a strange and an inspiriting sight that the young priest (for it was Mr. Simpson who was saying the mass) looked upon as he turned round after the gospel to make his little sermon. From end to end the tiny chapel was full, packed so that few could kneel and none sit down. The two doors were open, and here two faces peered in; and behind, rank after rank down the steps and along the little passage, the folk stood or knelt, out of sight of both priest and altar, and almost out of sound. The sanctuary was full of children—whose round-eyed, solemn faces looked up at him—children who knew little or nothing of what was passing, except that they were there to worship God, but who, for all that, received impressions and associations that could never thereafter wholly leave them. The chapel was still completely dark, for the faint light of dawn was excluded by the heavy hangings over the windows; and there was but the light of the two tapers to show the people to one another and the priest to them all.
It was an inspiriting sight to him then—and one which well rewarded him for his labours, since there was not a class from gentlemen to labourers who was not represented there. The FitzHerberts, the Babingtons, the Fentons—these, with their servants and guests, accounted for perhaps half of the folk. From the shadow by the door peeped out the faces of John Merton and his wife and son; beneath the window was the solemn face of Mr. Manners the lawyer, with his daughter beside him, Robin Audrey beside her, and Dick his servant behind him. Surely, thought the young priest, the Faith could not be in its final decay, with such a gathering as this.
His little sermon was plain enough for the most foolish there. He spoke of Christ’s Resurrection; of how death had no power to hold Him, nor pains nor prison to detain Him; and he spoke, too, of that mystical life of His which He yet lived in His body, which was the Church; of how Death, too, stretched forth his hands against Him there, and yet had no more force to hold Him than in His natural life lived on earth near sixteen hundred years ago; how a Resurrection awaited Him here in England as in Jerusalem, if His friends would be constant and courageous, not faithless, but believing.
“Even here,” he said, “in this upper chamber, where we are gathered for fear of the Jews, comes Jesus and stands in the midst, the doors being shut. Upon this altar He will be presently, the Lamb slain yet the Lamb victorious, to give us all that peace which the world can neither give nor take away.”
And he added a few words of exhortation and encouragement, bidding them fear nothing whatever might come upon them in the future; to hold fast to the faith once delivered to the saints, and so to attain the heavenly crown. He was not eloquent, for he was but a young man newly come from college, with no great gifts. Yet not a soul there looked upon him, on his innocent, wondering eyes and his quivering lips, but was moved by what he saw and heard.
The priest signed himself with the cross, and turned again to continue the mass.
Aeterna Press. Kindle Edition. (pp. 67-68)
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I think that’s inspired, Kerstin. Beautiful.
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Robin is a version of Robert, and it means “fame” and “bright”. How this will unfold in our narrative has yet to be revealed.
Marjorie is a version of Margaret, and it is the Greek word for pearl. There is a lot of Christian symbolism to unpack here.
Pearls are formed in various species of shells and have always been very precious, as they are very rare in nature. For pearls to form they need the shell, no shells, no pearls.
The shell is a symbol of the Virgin Mary because she carried Jesus, the precious pearl, in her womb. So Jesus is identified with the pearl. The shell also became a symbol of Christ’s sepulchre and of the Resurrection in the Middle Ages. In art when Jesus gets baptized the water is often poured from a shell. Many priests use shells during baptisms. Baptismal fonts are often shaped in the form of a shell or have them as ornamentation.
Jesus reminds us to safeguard what is holy in Matthew 7:6
Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.Dogs in Jewish culture were largely stray scavengers, and swine considered unclean. In other words, the Gospel should not be profaned.
Then Jesus compares the Kingdom of God with a pearl in Matthew 13: 45-46
”Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it”And the last quote, in Revelation 21:21 when the New Jerusalem is described,
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.Now what does it mean for our story that Marjorie is a living pearl, what does she represent?
Kerstin, I love that. The true heroes of the faith and saints are the humble, ordinary folk who follow their faith to the best of their abilities in their everyday lives. You don’t have to join a religious to become a saint-you simply need to bring Christ into every moment of your own life. He will do the rest.
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Summary
Marjorie’s parents learn of Robin and Marjorie’s love and intent to marry, and they learn of Robin’s father’s intent to apostasy. When Mr. Manners questions Marjorie, the daughter confesses but insists that Robin may not ask her to marry despite his love, and this confuses the parents. Marjorie doesn’t tell them that she fears Robin will become a priest instead.
On Easter Sunday we see Mr. Audrey attend the Protestant services and partake of Protestant communion. He is picked up by his servant Dick and brought back home, where the rest of the servants notice a difference in their master.
At the same time the Catholic Easter services take place at Padley, where an Easter Mass is celebrated by Mr. Simpson. In attendance are all the Catholic families and their servants. Robin and Marjorie have time after the Mass to speak privately where Robin reveals he has not made up his mind about the priesthood. Robin gets angry when he suspects Marjorie is pushing him away, though it’s more a reaction to the stress than to really believing Marjorie wants him gone. He apologizes.
Mr. Simpson, the priest, reads a letter from a friend who witnessed the execution of two Catholics in London by being hung, drawn, and quartered. One was a priest, which was sad but not surprising, and the other was a layman which surprised and sent shivers down the congregation. It seems as if the persecution of Catholics had returned. Queen Elizabeth had not initially returned to the persecutions that were common under Henry VIII, but now it seemed circumstances had changed.
A week later Robin returns home where another confrontation with his father takes place. Babington tells Robin of Mr. Audrey’s anger beforehand. The father’s verbal attack then on Robin is merciless, belying any fatherly love for his son. The father refuses to pay the Catholic tax the son would owe and gives him until Pentecost to leave. In a dream, Robin receives a singular grace to be a priest and accepts it and wakes his father to tell him and that he is leaving for Rheims.
That same night, Marjorie also has a grace, an insight that Robin has chosen the priesthood. She wakes her mother to tell her, and she cries at her feet. Two days later Robin rides to Marjorie to tell her. On telling her, it puts an end to their relationship. He kisses her goodbye.