There are several versions of the cautionary tale of the “tender woman” and the “snake.” Sometimes it’s a young boy who is trying to prove himself in the wilderness. One version has a turtle giving a ride across a river to a large scorpion. The story goes something like this: A young Indian boy is on his Vision Quest.
During this he will prove his prowess at survival. Perhaps he will find his spirit guide as well. By journey’s end, he returns to the tribe no longer a boy, but a man. During his journey, he nearly dies of thirst, but he encounters a rattlesnake who claims to be dying as well. The snake tells the boy he knows where there is water and food, but will need to be carried in order to show the way. The boy is naturally reluctant to agree, but since the snake has solemnly promised that he will not bite, the boy’s hunger and thirst overcomes his sense of danger. Thus the unlikely pair set out to a mountain in the distance. The snake keeps his promise, and they arrive at a beautiful valley where there is a cool, refreshing spring and plenty of game for the boy to hunt and eat. That night, in celebration, the boy dances around his campfire in joy for having survived the worst part of his trek and for having found his spirit guide (the rattlesnake). The snake, also rejuvenated, joins the dance. They whirl faster and faster, the boy singing a song of triumph, the snake weaving and bobbing its head to the quiet rhythm of moccasioned feet.
Suddenly, with no warning, the snake leaps, burying his fangs deep in the young boy’s neck. The boy falls to the side of the fire, exhausted and horrified, for he knows that there is nothing that he can do to remove the venom. “Why?” he cries out to the snake. “I carried you to water and food. I helped you survive. You promised you would not hurt me! Now I am going to die.”
The snake grins and declares, “You knew damn well I was a snake before you picked me up.”
That is the way each version of the story ends. The moral: Sooner or later everyone and everything acts according to its nature. The nature of the snake, or scorpion, is to strike. Befriend them at your peril.
Perhaps Pope Francis never heard a version of this story. He has oft befriended an older gentlemen named Eugenio Scalfari, a co-founder of the left-wing Italian newspaper, La Republicca. They meet occasionally and talk, and like the sun rising in the East, there appears a by-lined article in which the pope is quoted saying something not just controversial, but heretical. It happened again during Holy Week when an article had Pope Francis telling Scalfari that, while Heaven exists for those who accept salvation, Hell does not exist. In fact, he was quoted, those who are not saved will simply cease to exist.
How convenient for Signori Scalfari, since non-existence is what atheists expect at the time of death. Had Pope Francis actually said such a thing, it would be heresy. Since the pope has on several occasions discussed the dangers of Hell, we can safely assume that Scalfari, who takes no notes in his interviews, reinterpreted their conversation to reflect at least 50 percent of his belief (he believes good people also cease to exist when they die). Scalfari is no theologian, but he knows how to sell newspapers.
The obvious question is why Pope Francis grants “interviews” to this man who has bit him not once, but at least three times in recent years. Each time the secular world has most definitely noticed. This time it obscured the pope’s own message and ministry during Holy Week. At a time when Christians should be proclaiming the Good News of the Resurrection, we are having to answer silly Facebook and Twitter posts and listen to the laughter of those who are not friends of the Church.
Yes, it will all die down, but it will not completely go away. For those of us involved in ministry and teaching, it is one more piece of noise with which we will have to contend. I do not mind contending – after all, that’s what we are called to do. I am less than overjoyed that this noise comes from upstairs, so to speak. I find it hard to imagine St. Pope John Paul II ever falling into this trap, or Pope Emeritus Benedict, so I guess what I am really saying is that I’m spoiled. Most of my adult life we had popes that were media savvy, and less apt to take risks with their words.
Yet I cannot throw stones. (Plenty of others are eager to do so, sadly.) How many times have my own clumsy words come back to haunt me! Oh, how many hurt feelings have I engendered while trying to be clever, or incisive! And then there are those times when I said something hurtful on purpose, in pride or anger or to justify my standing. If I am brutally honest, I can see something similar happening to me as happened with the pope. The difference is that the world would not know of it, or mock it.
But someone would, and I suppose the object lesson to be taken is to be careful, for even the loss of one human soul who rejects the teachings of Christ is a tragedy, an incalculable one. For all of us are loved infinitely by the Eternal, and He desires the salvation of each of us so much that He sent His Son to suffer and die so that we might have the gift of Eternal Life.
Christ’s teaching has not changed, nor will it. Scripture and nearly 2,000 years of tradition affirms that there is a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth, where the flame never quenches and the worm never dies. Jesus spoke of Hell eloquently and often. Saints and sinners alike have been given mystical glimpses of the infernal regions and have written of their visions. Just as Colton Burpo’s story, “Heaven is For Real” captivated millions a few years ago, so too should the depictions and warnings of eternal punishment guide our thoughts and conduct today. Hell is for real, too.
I’ve experienced moments in life when it was tempting to yearn for non-existence. That is but another of the Evil One’s seductions. It is a dangerous belief, especially for those who are contemplating suicide, for the supernatural reality is that there are but two ultimate destinations, and this present reality merely a proving ground, a temporal place where we bear our crosses as patiently as each is able, and learn to be overcomers.
It is worth repeating the Fatima prayer: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, and save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.”
Amen.
After the Gold Rush 