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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Supposedly, Marie Antoinette, when she heard that the peasants
had no bread, said "Let them eat cake!"

There is another overused expression which speaks of people who
want to "have their cake and eat it too."

One newscast editorial observed that there are those who fear
that the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope will alienate
the "progressive" Catholics. My reaction, when I heard that
remark, is that, in reality, it is the "progressive" Catholics
who alienate themselves.

The one of the most important things which the Roman Catholic
Church possesses is its doctrinal and liturgical unity around
the world amongst one billion Catholics. On any given day of
the year, in any Catholic Church in the world, the same
scriptures are being read and the same Mass is being celebrated.
The wisest thing that the Cardinals could have done, and did do,
was to elect Cardinal Ratzinger who is their best hope for
maintaining the continuity and unity of the Roman Catholic
Church.

What is a sacrament? What is the significance of symbolism in
religion? Fire is sacred to Hindus and to Zoroastrians.
What is the substitute for fire? Obviously, there can be no
substite for fire, there is nothing else which resembles a flame.
If you went to some religious ceremony, and instead of fire,
there were light bulbs, you would be shocked.

Christ said, "Take this, all of you, and eat of it. This is my
Body. Drink this all of you. This is my blood, the blood of the
new covenant, which has been shed for many, for the remission
of sins."

Why must it be bread? Why must it be wine? Suppose you were a
Christian, and you went to a church, and communion was offered,
and the celebrant said "Eat this all of you, this is my peanut butter. Drink
this, all of you, this is my soda." You would
be shocked. You would say, "No, wait, it is not supposed to be
peanut butter and cola! It is supposed to be bread and wine."
Why would you resist such a change? Why is tradition important?

Bread? Let them eat cake? St. Augustine, in the 4th century, said "Believe and
you have already eaten." If you believe, then
why is ritual necessary? Why is corporate congregational
worship necessary? Why do we need a leader, a pastor, a Pope,
a King. Is it not really the blind leading the blind? The
greatest of leaders is only a man, with human frailty and
fallibility. Are we not in fact rendered weaker by our
dependency upon all of these outward things? When we desperately
seek the guaranteed assurance of our forgiveness and salvation,
then we weaken our resolve to change and reform.

Those "progressive" Catholics who seek change, who seek priestly
ordination for women and divorce and abortion and physician
assisted death and same sex unions, are people who want to
"have their cake and eat it too." They want to be Catholic in
name only, but to do that, they must change the Catholic church
from what it is. Yet, if they are successful, they will simply
rob others of the opportunity to participate in the Roman
Catholic Church as it has been for centuries. And why do they
seek this change? There are such a wealth of different churches
from which to choose . They may become Episcopalians or
Unitarians or Scientologists.

Let them eat cake! Let them have their cake and eat it too.

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