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| Pope St Callistus established the first Christian cemeteries. |
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness
through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...
In his wonderful book, The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschl describes Jewish spirituality as located in time rather than place. Although Jerusalem is a holy place, the Sabbath is a holier time. It is a holy edifice, God's dwelling place, built in that fourth dimension which ineluctibly moves forward. Seekers always find God in this holy time no matter where they live.
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| Pictures from the Picnic MSF 2013 |
Saint Paul, the self-described "slave of Christ Jesus," understood that concept of time. His understanding of Jesus was rooted in the History of Salvation. The Savior had appeared at last, as was "promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures." No one could expect to understand Jesus if he could not see the sweep of history from Adam to Abraham, Moses and David until the End Time.
The Christian today finds herself swept along in time. We are acutely aware of rapid change. Every year introduces technological changes we could not foresee the year before. Even those who have the money and try to keep up can barely do so. Governments, universities, churches, armed services, business and every other field of human activity struggles to keep its head above water in this rush of change.
In this disorienting flood the Christian may lose her footing. A worker, described in Robert Bellah's Habits of the Heart, told of working for the same company for forty years as he married three different women, moved through several neighborhoods, and lost touch with his children. The company was his anchor. But that book appeared in 1985. The fellow's company was probably bought out by corporate pirates during the 1990's -- and he was set adrift.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision; Make it plain upon tablets, so that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is a witness for the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.
See, the rash have no integrity;but the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live. (Habakkuk 2)
Because he was rooted in time and not in a place, Saint Paul could announce to anyone in the world the good news of Jesus. They didn't have to worship a foreign god, travel to some distant place or speak a particular language. They had only to hear the announcement and welcome that historical event into their own personal history.
Pope Francis points to this mystery when he cites Hebrews 11. The patriarchs and prophets "died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth."
They were not strangers and aliens in time. Even when centuries stretch into millennia they felt perfectly at home. They knew where they were going. The horizon glowed with the Kingdom of God.
Ours was never a mythological religion rooted in the stories of a place or time that never was. Our Bible did not appear under a rock or drop down out of the sky. No bible story begins with "Once upon a time in a kingdom faraway..." Our salvation and its history occur in a very specific time and place.
it will surely come; it will not be late.
I ponder about what is my anchor? I think of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I find comfort, continuity and stability at Mass. But why? Why am I continually drawn? I have surrender to the attraction and I can't go back.
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