In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.
This opening song from Saint Paul's letter to the Ephesians describes with amazing clarity the Church as it appears in Saint Luke's Acts of the Apostles. We have the word of truth and the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance.
Reading the Acts, we catch that contagious spirit, which is so confident and free and inexhaustibly joyous. There are conflicts, of course, but they're resolved as the disciples heed the Holy Spirit. They listen as attentively to the Spirit as they listened to Jesus before his death and resurrection. There is a nearly seamless passage from that earlier stage to this one. The only difference is that the formerly confused and perplexed disciples are now confident, energized and moving out.
The French priests who came to North America and were martyred demonstrated that enthusiasm. They knew there was mortal danger. The Iroquois were a warlike tribe and when the French missionaries approached them they entered a world far beyond the protections of European legal systems. The natives suffered terribly with the recently-imported European diseases. Though neither race knew why they were so vulnerable, the Indians suspected treachery and blamed the missionaries.
But the Jesuits were equally warlike in their readiness to suffer torture and death; they had every confidence in the Lord who had sent them. They trusted in the Saint Peter's teaching,
The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ [Jesus] will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. (I Peter 5:10)So long as there are martyrs among us, willing even to surrender their lives for the sake of the Gospel, we are assured that the Spirit of our Crucified Lord abides among us. If you or I cannot imagine making such a sacrifice, it's only because we're not presently called to it in this particular social, political environment. But we live by the Spirit and always heed Saint Peter's advice:
Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. (I Peter 5:8-9)
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.