Daily Retreat 05/05/09
2009 May 5 Tue:Easter Weekday
Acts 11:19-26/ Ps 86(87):1b-3. 4-5. 6-7/ Jn 10:22-30
From today’s readings: “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.... Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.... I told you and you do not believe.”
Calling Christians
The Acts of the Apostles recalls that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” The verse (11:26) marks a milestone of familiarity for all who rejoice in the honor of being called “Christian.” Antioch was a huge city of over half a million - the only cities larger at the time were Alexandria and Rome. No wonder that Antioch soon passed Jerusalem and briefly reigned as the most populated city of Christianity (with St. Peter as Bishop!) until surpassed itself by Rome in the latter half of the first century.
It seems the disciples were called “Christians” before they started calling themselves with that title. In other words, witness to their faith in the risen “Christ” must have been their most prominent characteristic in word and deed. Some sneering abs refuse to acknowledge Catholics as “Christians,” referring to us instead as “papists” to insinuate that our religion is pope-centered, instead of Christ-centered. But that’s no better than dismissing such believers as “biblicists,” intimating that they are bible-centered, instead of Christ-centered! Neither the papacy nor the bible is professed in the Apostle’s Creed as the object of our faith.
The point is, Christian faith is centered on the person of Christ, and He has given the definitive revelation of the person of God the Father and the person of God the Holy Spirit. Every other aspect of faith must be ordered under that and must support, but not surpass, focus on the Holy Trinity. So if a person has misplaced his primary zeal in the papacy, the bible, social justice, Marian devotions, or any other major yet necessarily ancillary element of our faith, the text of Acts is a reminder to live up to our most noble title, the name of “Christian!”
Acts 11:19-26/ Ps 86(87):1b-3. 4-5. 6-7/ Jn 10:22-30
From today’s readings: “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.... Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.... I told you and you do not believe.”
Calling Christians
The Acts of the Apostles recalls that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” The verse (11:26) marks a milestone of familiarity for all who rejoice in the honor of being called “Christian.” Antioch was a huge city of over half a million - the only cities larger at the time were Alexandria and Rome. No wonder that Antioch soon passed Jerusalem and briefly reigned as the most populated city of Christianity (with St. Peter as Bishop!) until surpassed itself by Rome in the latter half of the first century.
It seems the disciples were called “Christians” before they started calling themselves with that title. In other words, witness to their faith in the risen “Christ” must have been their most prominent characteristic in word and deed. Some sneering abs refuse to acknowledge Catholics as “Christians,” referring to us instead as “papists” to insinuate that our religion is pope-centered, instead of Christ-centered. But that’s no better than dismissing such believers as “biblicists,” intimating that they are bible-centered, instead of Christ-centered! Neither the papacy nor the bible is professed in the Apostle’s Creed as the object of our faith.
The point is, Christian faith is centered on the person of Christ, and He has given the definitive revelation of the person of God the Father and the person of God the Holy Spirit. Every other aspect of faith must be ordered under that and must support, but not surpass, focus on the Holy Trinity. So if a person has misplaced his primary zeal in the papacy, the bible, social justice, Marian devotions, or any other major yet necessarily ancillary element of our faith, the text of Acts is a reminder to live up to our most noble title, the name of “Christian!”
posted by FrPitstick | 5/04/2009
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