Daily Retreat 04/09/08
2008 Apr 9 Wed: Easter Weekday
Acts 8: 1b-8/ Ps 65(66): 1-3a. 4-5. 6-7a/ Jn 6: 35-40
From today’s readings: “There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life....”
Fruit of Persecution
Far from dampening the Spirit’s work in the Church, the martyrdom of St. Stephen and the ensuing persecution actually contributed to the spread of the Faith - because the disciples “were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,” the sharing of Christian faith likewise was diffused over a ever-widening area. As Tertullian observed in the second century, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church!
Popes John Paul the Great and Benedict XVII have often reiterated how this is true in our own times as well! And not just in regards to those who have died for the Faith – remembering that “martyr” means “witness,” we too see that each one of us has a part to play in planting such seed. Against the backdrop of persecution, holiness of life and zeal in faith together form the most eloquent testimony to the truth of Christianity, and such witness is the seed of the Church as well!
Acts 8: 1b-8/ Ps 65(66): 1-3a. 4-5. 6-7a/ Jn 6: 35-40
From today’s readings: “There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life....”
Fruit of Persecution
Far from dampening the Spirit’s work in the Church, the martyrdom of St. Stephen and the ensuing persecution actually contributed to the spread of the Faith - because the disciples “were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,” the sharing of Christian faith likewise was diffused over a ever-widening area. As Tertullian observed in the second century, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church!
Popes John Paul the Great and Benedict XVII have often reiterated how this is true in our own times as well! And not just in regards to those who have died for the Faith – remembering that “martyr” means “witness,” we too see that each one of us has a part to play in planting such seed. Against the backdrop of persecution, holiness of life and zeal in faith together form the most eloquent testimony to the truth of Christianity, and such witness is the seed of the Church as well!
posted by FrPitstick | 4/07/2008
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