| Fr Don’s Blog: Lion-Lamb (& Patrick)
The lion and lamb are also symbols for Christ. Saint Augustine described the dual nature of Jesus’ humble sacrifice and powerful resurrection this way: “He endured death as a lamb and devoured it as a lion.” Hebrew Scriptures inform the world that the Messiah will come from the House of David and Lineage of Judah. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, also known as Israel, who described this son as a lion before whom others would bow and from whom royalty would emerge. The lion symbolizes strength, authority, and fearlessness. C. S. Lewis and others further developed this image of Christ in their writings. |
| At the same time, Jesus is a lamb, identified in faith-tradition as the ultimate, perfect sacrifice. John the Baptist, who roared out in the desert like a lion as he prepared the way of the Lord, told his followers to behold the Lamb of God as he pointed to Jesus. In doing so, he pointed to the manifestation of love. Yet, as Fydor Dostoevsky scribed in The Brothers Karamazov, love is a harsh and dreadful reality that is shrouded with sacrifice and suffering, not like love in dreams; or as Graham Greene wrote in The Power and the Glory, if we encountered the kind of love that God is—love that is so intense, overwhelming, and transformative—it would terrify us so much that we would want to run away from it. Lamb was the sacrificial offering of Jewish ancestors at Passover. Every household or grouping of people brought one to Jerusalem’s temple on the holy mountain. The slaughter caused the aqueduct system to flow with blood so that, from a distance, it looked like the entire city was drowning in the blood-soaked sorrow of God’s kind of love. |
| It’s a powerful and distressing image to take with us through Lent but it is what lies at the center of our faith: if there’s no pain then there can be no gain, no cross then no crown, no suffering, then no salvation, no crucifixion then no resurrection. If there is no lamb, there can be no lion. Christ endured death as a lamb; then He devoured it as a lion. Welcome, then, not only to March’s tug-of-war from atmospheric pulls but to Lent’s spiritual storm that lies in the path of those willing to follow Him all the way to the cross. |
| Finally, I’ll mention Saint Patrick, whose feast day is at the center of the month. As a teenager living sometime in the fourth or early fifth century somewhere in the Roman Empire, he was captured by Celtic raiders and forced into slavery in Ireland. While imprisoned, he was a herdsman or shepherd for about six years before escaping. During his time of enslavement among sheep and lambs, he was pulled to the mystery of God and developed a deep faith so that when he returned home, he studied Christianity and was ordained to the priesthood. Through a strange letter, dream, and “the voice of Ireland,” he was called back to the Erin Isle and consecrated as its bishop. He served as shepherd once again, this time converting natives to Christian ways of living as he guided his Irish flock from doubt to faith, despair to hope, fear to courage, hatred to love. As spiritual leader, Patrick was like the lion of Isaiah’s prophecy that cared for the lambs. |
| If you’re not doing anything on Tuesday morning, March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day, join me at O’Neill’s (95th and Mission) for one of our city’s great holy day traditions. Mass will be celebrated in the parking lot at 8AM and iconic Celtic drinks and food will be available before you head out to the parade or other feast day activities. It will be a great way to start the day (March weather permitting, of course).L |
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