Hello, hope your week went well.
Over the last few week I’ve written about what the saints and spiritual writers have said about Christianity. True Christianity is more than just buying a mark by “religious preference” when we go into the hospital.
The historian Tertullian in his “Apologies” (Which means defense of) on Christianity written about the year 197 c.e. tells us “See these Christians, how they love one another.” The lives of these early women and men lived in a community where all was held in common and no one was in want. To the pagan world, the way of life of these people was something unheard of.
These people were following the command of Jesus as is recorded in the Gospel of St. John in the 13th chapter vs35 where Jesus tells his followers “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”
This command has been the hallmark of the Christian community. St. Ignatius speaks of this in his writings as early as 107 c.e. He tells us, “We recognize a tree by its fruits, and we ought to be able to recognize a Christian by his actions. The fruit of faith should be evident in our lives, for being a Christian is more than making a sound profession of faith. It should reveal itself in practical and visible ways . Indeed it is better to keep quiet about our beliefs, and live then out, than to talk eloquently about what we believe, but fail to live by it.”
As we walk through this “ordinary time” we might want to take some time and begin to examen where I am in living out MY Christian faith. Is it just something that I do on a Saturday eve or on a Sunday? Would others with whom I live and work ever say of me, “Behold this Christian how he or she loves others?”
Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, osf
and theBros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.
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