Hello. Hope your week is going along well.
If you were to read the history of our church, you might be kind of surprised the way Christians treated the pagans they encountered as they attempted to spread the Roman Empire.
I remember reading that it was a matter of either convert or die. So, we see that there were many conversions openly, but many of these people kept their pagan practices to themselves.
How do you think we got the tradition of Halloween, of putting a Christmas tree in our homes, and other seemly little traditions that were handled down to us through the centuries.
We know in the earliest days of Christianity, much was done in dark catacombs beneath the city. It was not until the year 381 that Christians were allowed to practice their faith openly. Some might say that was the worst day of the Church. That statement is made because it was then that the Church took on the trappings of the Emperor and began to rule with some of the same power as the Emperor. It was at this time that the idea of the “Holy Roman Emperor” came about with the coronations of Charlemagne, and others, by the pope. There are some historians who feel that it was during this time, the Church began to change it message to the world.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, (b. c23 – d. c108) tells us “Christianity is not a matter of persuading people of particular ideas, but of inviting them to share in the greatness of Christ. So pray that I may never fall into the trap of impressing people with clever speech, but instead I may speak with humility, desiring to impress people with Christ Himself.”
Today, we may have to begin to look back to our earliest days, and get back to the original message that the Lord came to proclaim.
As I write this, I cannot help but to get the feeling that which was, has a way of coming back to us in another time and space. Maybe it is our time to start to put into practice with true humility that which St. Ignatius said, to impress others by the way we live, rather than what we say.
Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, osf and the
Bros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.