Anticipatory Atonementmature

A Catholic priest and his confidentiality is a tough vocation.Many died when the powers that be of different sorts wanted to know each others’ secrets.Nowadays,priests can participate in final acts of desperation – and have no power to alter the course of them.What is more powerful – the lives of many or an oath?Who can tell if a person is a madman or not?What to do if one wants absolution before anything happens?A priest needs to be prepared for all kinds of scenarios – rarely does one encounter a clergyman that is capable of viewing the greater scheme of things.How many times a conversation like the one below occurred before a cataclysmic event and could have been prevented by a priest?Narrow-mindedness is a lethal weapon if one does not understand who is the ‘confessee.’

‘Father,forgive me,for I will have sinned.’

‘Son,you do know that your sin is about to be committed.It is not my place to grant you absolution if something has not happened yet.’

‘Father,I need this to occur now.If you knew what I am about to do,you would grant me the absolution.’

‘Tell me about the sin,then,son.I want to know what is that you consider as such.’

‘I am tired of boredom and the way this society operates.It is so superficial,father – there is no fun going around.I decided to change this once and for all.I want to kill people;not out of revenge but to wake them.Wake them up before everyone goes to sleep in the materialistic slumber that dictates what is sane and what is insane.’

‘Tell me more about your plan,son.’

‘I can’t you’d tip someone off.’

‘I can’t do that,son,I think you know it.I’m a priest and I’m here to understand.It’s not my place to judge you.The almighty will decide what is the nature of your actions.’

‘I will create what I wanted to create,just as I created you and God,father.’

‘Son,that is blasphemy…’

‘No,father,that is what I call an open-mind.’

‘I’ll not grant you absolution for something you haven’t committed.’

‘Then I don’t care,I came here for fun only.You’ll see what I’m about to do.And then you’ll suffer as your puny moral imperative won’t allow you to do anything about it – now or in the future.And there’ll be more of me coming,because,you see,I’m alive and you’re a God’s drone.’

‘Expiate your sins by acts of penance before it’s too late!’

‘Oh yes.And you’re the first on my list to witness the genesis of the sin.’