It’s January 2016 and I’m looking back at 2015. What’s gone wrong with the world? In particular, what’s gone wrong with the people of God? Find out in my column in this week’s Scottish Catholic Observer.
What is our response to all the diversions on the road to Heaven? The Year of Marcy? I wonder.
Get your copy this weekend at a parish near you. Check back here next weekend.
Rome and Persecution
In this series of articles we have looked at how the early church began with practicing Jews who also met and offered sacrifice with bread and wine as Jesus had told them to. They thought of themselves as Jews. They carried on life as Jews, viewing Christ’s teaching as a continuation of what they already believed. For them Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jewish people. Paul even described himself as a Pharisee.
It was Paul who went to Rome as part of his mission to the pagans and brought Christianity to the heart of the Roman Empire which ruled much of the known world at that time. This gave the new religion a way to spread over the world. We all know that Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire and wonder how it survived.
The Romans were actually quite used to absorbing religions from places they conquered. It accommodated new cults and philosophies from different cultures, such as the Persian cult of Mithraism, the Egyptian cult of Isis and Neoplatonism, a Greek philosophical religion. These were tolerated as long as they posed no threat to order or conflicted with the worship of the emperor as a god.
Persecution of Christians began with Emperor Nero about the year 64AD. Historians believe Nero set fire to Rome and blamed the Christians to divert suspicion from himself. It was during this persecution that Peter and Paul were martyred. Nero’s brutal treatment of the Christians, he set fire to some and used them as human candles, prompted some sympathy for the persecuted people.
Historians record ten periods of persecution of Christians. There were long periods when there was no persecution and some periods of persecution were times when Christianity was illegal but did not involve searching out Christians to punish. Where Christians refused to recognise the Emperor as a deity and make sacrifices to him they were open to the suspicion of treason. Moreover, many believed that the gods protected Rome and that refusing to give sacrifice was to look for the destruction of Rome.
There were also misunderstandings about what Christians believed. Christians were often accused of cannibalism because the professed to eat Christ’s body. The practice of Agape, or love feast was thought to be about incest. Christian apologists tried to explain the true meaning of these practices and allay the fears of the Romans.
The final persecution was under Emperor Diocletian in the years 303 – 324. This is sometimes called the Great Persecution. It was extremely violent and resulted in the destruction of churches and the deaths of many Christians.
Persecution ended when the Emperor Constantine became a convert. Historians have problems with this conversion because Constantine did not rule in a particularly Christian way. He seemed to cling to some of the ways of the old religions while also being a Christian. Was he unaware of Christianity’s demand to be the only true religion or was he hedging his bets?
I remember visiting the home of a tribal chief in Ghana. The family had converted to Christianity but there was a peculiar structure at the entrance. On enquiring I was told that this was where animal sacrifices to the pagan gods were carried out. Apparently it was common for one member of the family to remain in the old religion and offer sacrifice, just in case. This was a bit of the best of both worlds I suspect. How easy is it to just throw away old beliefs? Many superstitions which still survive are rooted in old pagan beliefs.
However strong or otherwise Constantine’s Christian faith was he made it possible for Christians to exist and for the religion to grow and spread throughout the empire. Persecution seems to occur when Christian values seem to be opposed to the values of the ruling authorities. Some commentators would say that more Christians have died under persecution in the last decades than died under Roman persecutions. The current violence in the Middle East has resulted in many Christians being executed, some in a barbaric manner, and many more fleeing the persecution.
Those years of persecution didn’t stop the growth of the Church. Today we seem to be seeing a drop off in numbers of active Christians. This morning I listened to someone on the radio who wants to put a stop to Christian based assemblies in schools because less than 50% of people are believers. We might be forgiven for thinking the move away from Christian values is accelerating. After all, if we banned everything that less than 50% of the people were involved in there wouldn’t be much left, including democratic elections.
Why are people being put off religion? Perhaps it has been given an aura of negativism. Some may blame the media for inaccurate reporting others may look at the Church and hoe it projects itself. How many people grew up being told not to do this or that or they would go to the ‘Bad Fire’? Were many of us taught that our role here was to escape going to Hell? I think many people have the wrong idea about the Church. Just as the Romans did not understand what Christian teaching meant I think many Catholics today don’t understand what the Church is saying.
The Church’s message is really quite simple. Christ set up the Church to save mankind, not to condemn them. The guidelines the Church must follow were set by Jesus when he said “Love God and love your neighbour.” That can not be construed as being negative. The Church must work for the good of mankind. That means Christians and all those who are not Christians. It’s all about bringing everyone safely to Heaven, not Hell.
This month the Church has opened a new Holy Year. This is the Year of Mercy. That doesn’t seem difficult to accept but it might prove difficult to put into practice. We start by recognising God’s mercy towards us. When we look at the great gifts God has given us and recognise the mercy he shows to us sinners we see an example of what is expected of us.
That’s the difficult part. Not only do we need to give thanks for God’s mercy to us but we must be merciful to others. That’s not a problem with those we love or even just like a bit. The difficult part is being merciful and forgiving to those who harm us or even hate us. How can we forgive those who have hurt us? How can we bring ourselves to forgive those who mean us harm? That’s not normal human behaviour.
We will need to start trying to behave a bit more like God than man. It’s obviously impossible for us to do that unaided. Where can we look for that help? Our only recourse is in prayer. When we are faced with a difficult situation we can turn to God and try to explain our problem. Don’t expect a voice booming out of a bush, a phone call or even an email from God. God doesn’t work like that. But that is real prayer, not reciting words that we say without thinking but telling God what we are thinking. Since I’m not God I can’t explain how this works but that is our path to finding real mercy in our own hearts.
My December column will be published in the Scottish Catholic Observer in the Christmas and New Year edition. This will be available in a parish near you this weekend.
In this series we have had a look at the trials of the early Church and we conclude with a look at where we are today and the Year of Mercy.
Full text here next week.
Happy Christmas one and all.
Saint Paul had a hard time.
Last month we looked at how Paul was spreading the gospel to the pagans. When he arrived in a place he always spoke to the Jews in the Temple before talking to the pagans. This always caused problems. Some would listen to him and be converted while most opposed what he said and threatened him with violence.
Some people listened and thought about what he said while others were angered at him for attempting to bring about a change in their ways. We see a good example of this opposition when Paul reached Ephesus on his way back to Jerusalem. In Ephesus there was a thriving trade in silver shrines of the goddess Diana. A silversmith called Demetrius called a meeting of his employees and other silversmiths and warned them against Paul.
He told the meeting that Paul’s teaching discredited Diana, threatening to render her unimportant and, more importantly, destroying the trade that made them their fortunes. He whipped the crowd into a fury and the meeting ended in uproar. It seems obvious to us that these men objected to Paul for reasons that had nothing to do with religion. We would never behave like that, or would we?
We too can be resistant to change for reasons that are not based in the Gospel. Often people resist change in the Church because they are happy to be where they are and see no reason to change something they have always believed to be good. I remember debating with my grandfather who saw no reason to have the Mass in the vernacular. He argued that the Latin Mass allowed you to go to Mass anywhere in the world and it would always be the same. I argued that it allowed you to go anywhere in the world and still not understand what was being said.
When Paul eventually arrived in Jerusalem he went to the Temple to be purified. His seven days of purification were nearly over when some of the Jews from Asia recognized him and stirred up the crowd against him. The crowd seized Paul and a riot ensued. The Roman tribune heard there was a riot and sent soldiers to quell the riot. He arrested Paul and took him in chains to the fortress. Paul asked permission to address the crowd and explain who he was and how he had come to be a believer in Jesus.
When they heard his story the Jews demanded he be killed. The tribune ordered Paul to be questioned under the lash. As they strapped him down Paul asked if it was legal to flog a Roman citizen without a trial first. Realizing what he had done the tribune released Paul.
The next day Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin to state his case. He realized that the Sanhedrin was made up of Pharisees like himself and Sadducees. Paul claimed that the Sadducees opposed him for preaching resurrection which the Pharisees believed in but the Sadducees did not. This split the meeting and feelings were running high. The tribune, afraid the Paul would be harmed sent troops in to bring to the fortress.
The Jews plotted to kill Paul but the tribune learned of the plot. He sent Paul under guard to Caesarea to be examined by the Governor, Felix. Felix listened to both sides but did not come to a decision. He kept Paul for two years until he was replaced by a new governor, Porcius Festus.
Festus listened to the complaints against Paul and asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there. Paul asserted his right, as a Roman citizen, to be tried by Caesar. Festus had little choice but to send Paul to Rome. The journey to Rome was no simple affair. The best route was by ship.
These ships were not the large liners we might sail across the Mediterranean in. They were small and did not make the journey in one go. Paul had to sail from one port to another, each time finding another ship to take him nearer to Rome. On the third leg of this journey the ship was struck by a violent storm and was forced to drift before the wind. As the storm raged on the next day the crew were forced to jettison the cargo and on the third day they had to throw the boat’s gear overboard.
The ship was caught in the storm for fourteen days and they had been unable to take any food. Paul reassured them that God had promised they would all survive as Paul was destined to go before Caesar. They all ate some food and at daybreak the found themselves at Malta where the ship ran aground. The soldiers determined to kill Paul and his companions to stop them escaping but the centurion stopped them as he was determined to deliver Paul to Rome.
It was three months before better weather allowed them to continue their journey to Rome. Paul made contact with the Jews in Rome and continued to spread the Gospel message. Paul remained there for two years.
As we can see from his story, Paul faced trials in court and the dangers involved in travelling on long journeys in those early times. He faced both sorts of trials in the same way. He placed all his trust in God. God had chosen him to complete a mission and Paul knew that he would survive until his mission was completed. He was proved to be correct. Now we might think it was ok for Paul who had heard God speak directly to him and had appeared to him. God is unlikely to appear to any of us with a message of reassurance. How can we hope to behave like Paul with such confidence?
This is really because we do not understand God and how he deals with us. Each of us has a mission; it may not be as dramatic as Paul’s but it is why we are here. We find it difficult to recognise the important mission we have and distinguish it from the normal problems of everyday life. We worry about trivia and get dispirited when our plans don’t seem to work out. My plan to win the Euromillions and sort out poverty in Africa has come to nothing. I wonder why God doesn’t help out. The reason is that it is my plan, not God’s. It’s not my place to sort out world poverty single handed. That’s not in God’s plan.
I remember speaking to some primary school pupils about the work of Holy Childhood. One wee boy asked me what we would do when we sorted out all the poverty and there were no poor people any more. I can’t remember the daft answer I must have given him but he made me think. What would we do? How would we be able to live out our Christian calling to feed the hungry cloth the naked and help the sick if there were no poor? They are our road to salvation in God’s plan.
Paul was a great orator and converted many people with his preaching. He converted many more by his example of curing the sick, acting justly and devoting his life for the benefit of others. Surely we could all do a bit of that. We don’t need to be orators. We can lead the world to God by our good example.
Saint Paul had a hard time.
Saint Paul had a difficult time after his conversion. His earlier life as a major rooter out of these new Christians put quite a few people off him. After his conversion the Jews hated him as a turncoat. Life is not easy when nobody loves you.
That didn’t stop Paul. Why should it stop you?
Read my latest column in the Scottish Catholic Observer this weekend. Full text here next week for those who sleep in.
Last month we saw how the Apostles came to understand that the Good News of the Gospel was meant for all mankind, not just for the Jews. Now Saul, or Paul as he is now being called, set off with Barnabas to bring the word to the pagans. On their journey they reached Antioch. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue and after the lesson had been read they were invited to address the congregation with some “words of encouragement”. Paul’s address to the congregation was a complete explanation of how Jesus was the fulfilment of God’s promise to the Jews. So impressed were the congregation that Paul was invited to return the next Sabbath to give another talk.
The following week almost the whole town turned out to hear Paul, pagans as well as Jews. Seeing the large crowds and being jealous of his popularity, the Jews contradicted Paul, shouting him down. Paul replied that, as a Jew, he had wanted to proclaim the word to the Jews first but as they had rejected it and so he would now go on to proclaim the word to the pagans as Jesus had commanded when he said
“I have made you a light for the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
This made the pagans happy but it did not go down well with the leading men of the city. Paul and Barnabas were expelled from the territory. They shook the dust from their feet and moved on.
It is worth remembering that the early Christians were also Jews. They attended the synagogue before their meetings to break bread together. They didn’t think of themselves as a separate religion. It is not surprising that some of these early Christians were unhappy about Paul’s conversion of pagans. Some of them who were Pharisees objected. Paul had to convince them that this was part of God’s plan that all mankind were to be saved.
Paul’s mission was now one of bringing the Gospel message to the pagans. He travelled across what we now know as the Middle East, preaching to the Jews there but also converting pagans. He met with opposition from Jews and from pagans but pressed on.
Paul made journeys of hundreds of miles. Most of these distances he travelled were on foot. There was no transport system other than boats. Even journeys by sea must have been very dangerous undertakings. Paul’s life had become a journey, a journey to bring the Gospel to the world. I can’t help thinking that this is a kind of model for our own lives. Our lives are a journey, a spiritual journey. We walk, not along the dusty roads of Syria and Greece as Paul did, but in the everyday tasks we perform in our lives. Paul walked in barren wilderness. We often walk in a spiritual wilderness where Gospel values are not upheld.
Paul often found himself arguing with Jews and pagans who could not accept his teaching. He put himself in danger, angering powerful people. There are many stories of Paul escaping who opposed him. We don’t often find ourselves standing in the marketplace preaching the Gospel. We still have to bring the Gospel message into our society by the way we live. By living the Gospel we keep the message alive for others to find.
I remember being told by a missionary in Africa that the missionaries did not bring God to Africa. God was already there, the missionaries brought the Gospel. We see that in the stories of Paul’s travels. He would speak to people in a market place or a synagogue and some people were filled with the Holy Spirit and believed. Others did not have the Spirit. I’m not sure whether that is because some are chosen and others not or because some people are just not open to receiving the Spirit.
Whatever the danger he put himself in, Paul always argued his point and because he was guided by the Holy Spirit he was an eloquent debater. Often those who could not beat him in debate were frustrated and resorted to other means to defeat him. Despite the danger he put himself in Paul never wavered from his course.
That should be a model for us. In our ordinary lives we find our Gospel values being challenged. Like Paul, we must argue our cause. It is becoming increasingly unfashionable to hold Christian values and we have to accept that. As a bishop once told me, we are being told that the basic human value is equality. If we don’t believe that everyone is equal and all ideas are equal we are at fault. He insisted that the real basic value is truth. Some ideas are not true. We must be defenders of the truth.
As European Christians we could be regarded as followers of Paul. It was Paul who took the Faith to the pagans and we are the spiritual descendants of those pagans who converted. The Christians who are the descendants of the early church are those in the Middle East such as the Coptic Church. These Christians are the ones who are facing the same dangers that Paul faced. They are keeping their faith alive in the face of death threats.
The Christian population of the Middle East is falling rapidly as extremists kill some and others flee to safety. Even after fleeing Syria many Christians are unable to shelter in the refugee camps for fear of attack by other refugees.
We live in safety with no threat of violence for holding Christian beliefs. Some may suffer when the law of the land is changed in ways which contradict Christian teaching. The laws on abortion and same sex marriage bring some into conflict with the state. As we saw in the case of the midwives who did not want to have anything to do with abortion, standing by our beliefs can cost us dear.
The recent case of a Christian official in America who refused to licence same sex marriages and was jailed shows that sometimes we have to stand up for what we believe and put ourselves in danger. What would Paul have done? As we can see from his story he was jailed from time to time. He never allowed this to deflect him from his course.
Paul’s legal battles brought him to Rome eventually and brought the Gospel to the heart of the Roman Empire. It just goes to show that even when things look black and we think the fight is lost the tide can be turned. Paul never lost sight of the fact that it was the Holy Spirit who was leading him in his travels. Paul was just an instrument. So too, we are merely instruments in the Spirits work of evangelisation. We might not understand what is really happening but we know from the events in the early Church, the Spirit will not be diverted from his work. We must take Paul as our model and run the race to the end.
Keep the Faith.
Why did Paul preach to the pagans? Why did he annoy so many people? Why did they want to kill him wherever he went? Given all that, is Paul a suitable model for us?
Read my article in this week’s Scottish Catholic Observer. Is the Truth there? Is the Truth important? If you can’t get a copy this week you can find the full text here next week.
My September column is published today in the Scottish Catholic Observer. What was Peter doing in the early days of the Church? What part do miracles play in the Gospel?
Get your copy this weekend or see the full text here next Friday
Saint Stephen
In our ponderings so far we have seen that the Church was growing rapidly after Pentecost. The Apostles were preaching, working miracles and converting many people. This might seem to us to be something that was only in the past, in the early days when wonderful things were being done in the name of Jesus. Today we see numbers falling. What is wrong?
The first thing that is wrong is that we are looking too close to home. In Europe and America the church might seem to be in decline but it is growing rapidly in Africa, Asia and South America. There is a different feel to the Church there. Hold that thought. I’ll come back to it.
After Pentecost the church was growing so quickly that there was too much for the apostles to manage. They recognised that extra help was needed just to deal with the day to day running of things. They decided to select seven men to deal with the distribution of food to let them get on with the work of spreading the Gospel.
Seven good men were selected, Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholaus of Antioch. This can be seen as the institution of the Diaconate. These men came forward as servants to the people of the Church. The Permanent Deacons today are following in their footsteps.
Stephen seems to have stood out from the others. It seems he was filled with grace and power. He began to work miracles and produced many signs that influenced people. Some of the Jewish authorities, concerned by the effect Stephen was having on people, came to debate with him. They were surprised to find that although he did not have their education or experience they could not get the better of him in these debates. What they did not understand was that Stephen was prompted in his replies by the Holy Spirit. They were not debating with a simple man but with God and the outcome of that was not in question.
Frustrated in their attempts to discredit his arguments they decided to undermine him. The persuaded some men to say that they had heard Stephen using blasphemous language against Moses and against God. In this way they turned people against him. This seems to be a familiar tactic when you can’t defeat the argument then attack the man. I’m sure you can recognise this approach to debate today.
Since Stephen was casing quite a stir with his preaching and working miracles. The Sanhedrin was concerned that he was undermining their authority and had him arrested. He was brought before the council and questioned. He was asked if it was true that he had blasphemed and was confronted by other false accusations that had been made about him.. Rather than give a simple answer Stephen gave a full account of the history of God’s involvement with the Jewish people.
He recounted the development of the relationship starting with Abraham and recounted the occasions throughout their history when the Jews had turned away from God. He pointed out the times when the prophets had been persecuted and how God had repeatedly forgiven them. He explained how God had promised a messiah to save the people. Jesus was that messiah he told them. Now he explained how they had refused to accept Jesus despite his miraculous works. The Sanhedrin was enraged and condemned Stephen to death.
This might see to be an extreme response to us. Seen in the context of the time it would not be unusual. Even today in the Middle East crimes which seem to us to be trivial can result in a public execution. In our own history we can see examples of harsh punishments. Australia started out as a penal colony for criminals whose crime might have been a simple theft of a dress or a pair of gloves. That does not compare well with the punishments given to financiers who steal millions today.
It is worth comparing the situation that the early Church found itself in with the circumstances we find ourselves in today. The rapid changes we have seen in laws in the western world, moving from rules based on Christian teaching towards a secular world have alarmed many Christians of all denominations. There has been an increased feeling of Christianity being under threat. The bakers in Northern Ireland who refused to produce a cake promoting single sex marriage and the midwives in Scotland who lost their case attempting to have a conscience clause over abortions illustrate the concerns.
It should be noted that we are not yet being threatened with execution. Not in the west, at any rate. In the Middle East the situation is different. The spread of ISIS and the brutal execution of Christians who refuse to give up their faith is causing real alarm. How many of us would be willing to face decapitation rather than give up their faith? In a church where people stop going to mass because they don’t like the new priest they have what chance is there of resisting threats of execution?
Stephen was taken out and stoned to death by the crowd. The organizer of the stoning, the man who held the jackets as it were was Saul. Saul was a radical Jew who saw it as his duty to stamp out this new group who threatened the authority of the Jewish religion. His very name struck fear into the members of the infant church. You could say he was the ISIS of his day.
Stephen was the first of the Christian martyrs. He challenges each of us by his life and by the manner of his death. He didn’t die, kicking and shouting at his oppressors. He had simply stated the truth, a truth that the authorities found unacceptable. He accepted his death as a price worth paying for spreading the gospel.
What are we willing to accept as a price worth paying for our faith? Have we kidded ourselves into thinking that we are real Christians? We send missionaries into the third world to hand on our faith and see ourselves as the Church spreading the faith. In reality the church in the third world displays a much stronger faith than we show here. People walk for hours to get to mass and mass are not a forty minutes or shorter version. In Africa the congregation is totally involved in the mass. You don’t find people sitting having a chat; nobody complains that it is “boring”. Perhaps it would be interesting to find out what would happen here if ISIS appeared on our shores and gave us the choice of convert or die.
The bible is not simply a history book that shows where our Church came from. It is a guide to how we should live today. What can we learn from Stephen? Why was his faith so strong even in persecution? What can we learn about how we should deal with our internal problems and the threat from ISIS? The Jews brought trouble on themselves when they abandoned their covenant with God. Are we in danger of doing the same by moving away from our basic teachings to be seduced by the world’s modern values?
Trouble With The Sanhedrin
Last month I was looking at the account of Pentecost and how the apostles lost their fear and by preaching the good news they made many conversions. The apostles were seen as men who spoke with authority and seemed to possess a strange power. Their message was one of repentance. They told the Jews that they had rejected the Messiah and if they wanted to be saved they must repent and turn to the risen Christ.
These early converts remained Jews. They went to the Temple every day and met in their houses afterwards to celebrate the breaking of bread. They shared everything they had with each other so that nobody should go without. It is a source of great wonder to me that people could live like that. What stops us from living in the way they did? Perhaps, like the rich young man who wished to follow Jesus, we have too much. Who could sell all he possesses today and give it all to the poor?
Two thousand years ago people had very little. Mostly they only had one set of clothes. That was normal. In many of the poorest areas of the world it is still normal. In Scotland it is not normal and people are expected to change clothes regularly. Many people give away their old clothes to charity shops when they buy new ones, so I suppose the intent is still there.
They went to the Temple as a group and we learn that one day Peter found a lame man begging at the ‘Beautiful Gate’. Peter cured the man and sent him off walking, then proceeded into the Temple to preach. While they were preaching the Temple priests with the Captain of the Temple and the Sadducees approached them. They were angry that the apostles were preaching resurrection from the dead and arrested them.
The apostles were held overnight and brought before the Sanhedrin in the morning. When they were interrogated they proudly declared that the miracles they performed were done in Jesus name and by the power of God. The authorities were taken aback and concerned that the people had been convinced by the miracle and thought the apostles were working with God’s power.
I must admit I have some sympathy for the Jewish authorities. None of this conformed to what they had been taught to believe. As the religious leaders they felt responsible for upholding the Jewish teaching. What were they to do? The apostles had done nothing wrong and seemed to have worked a miracle witnessed by many people. They didn’t claim any power for themselves but attributed everything to God and the risen Christ.
In the end they let them go with a warning not to continue to preach about Jesus. The apostles declined to give up preaching and the Jews warned them again. When they returned to the community they were welcomed with great joy. The Christian community prayed with them. This, however was only the beginning. Soon they were arrested again and put in jail. That night an angel opened the gates and led them out. He told them to go back to the temple and preach.
Next morning the High priest and his supporters arrived and opened the jail to fetch them. They were astounded to find that, although the gates were locked the apostles were gone. They were even more astounded to hear that the apostles were preaching at the temple. When they were re-arrested the apostles showed no contrition but accused the Sanhedrin of putting Jesus to Death.
The Sanhedrin wanted to do the same with the apostles but one member, Gamaliel, pointed out that this sort of thing had happened in the past and had faded away. He suggested that the apostles be dismissed. If they were false prophets it would all go away, but if they were truly moved by God then nothing could be done anyway. Who wants to be fighting against God? His advice was adopted, the apostles flogged and released. They continued to preach in the Temple happy to have suffered for God.
How hard it must have been for the Jewish authorities to see things from a different perspective. They couldn’t easily go along with the apostles because their teaching seemed to undermine their teaching and, probably more importantly, their authority. If the apostles were right then they would lose their status and power in Jewish society. We live in a society where we can have any religious beliefs we choose without being jailed. Nobody is forcing us to accept their teaching or forcing us to deny our beliefs. Why is it then, that we are not having the impact that the apostles had?
Catholics in Scotland have the advantage of religious education in our schools. Why do so many of us demonstrate such poor understanding of the Church’s teaching? The apostles were poor, uneducated men, yet they seem to have understood Jesus’ good news far better than we do. Perhaps we had our religious teaching as children and could only understand as children. Now as adults in an adult world we might find that education doesn’t help us to understand at an adult level.
How many of us think we know it all about our religion? It’s a simple thing, get to Mass on Sundays, don’t commit mortal sin, get to confession, occasionally, and keep out of trouble. We don’t agree with some of the Church’s rules although we don’t really know what they are. How different is that from the apostles? They were poorly educated, if at all. They learned the Good News by listening to Jesus and following what he did. They learned as adults.
Sometimes we hear of a conflict between science and religion. In the past I’ve pointed out the similarities between the two. There is one great difference between some Christians and good scientists. Some of us think we know it all and the best scientists know they don’t. They keep searching for a better understanding of things while some of us are happy to sit back and not think too hard about God. We know He is there (or is She there?) and that’s fine.
That’s a bit like the Sanhedrin. They knew what they believed and didn’t fancy having to make any changes. Unfortunately the Good News is all about changes. We are all called to change. We have to change the world and we start by changing ourselves. When we go to Mass on Sunday do we come out a changed person? If Jesus was standing up there I’m sure we would all come out changed. Yet we meet Jesus in the Eucharist. Why do we not come out walking on air? Personally, I think the fault lies with me. I know I’m meeting Jesus but it’s too much for my puny brain to cope with.
My only hope is in prayer. I know I can talk to Jesus in the Eucharist and be heard. I don’t hear a voice in my head making any reply but I know I’m being heard and no prayer goes unanswered. It’s up to me to ask for help in changing. With Jesus’ help I can change me and, who knows, if it is God’s will, change a little bit of the world to. So can you.
Joseph McGrath
Window On My World 