“The Lord God works the Salvation Mysteries of Humanity in silence, occult to Satan….”
My friends, this is one of the wonderful expressions found in the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the Apostolic Fathers, who died in martyrdom around the year 110 AD. His seven letters, authentic to the majority of scholars, have also arrived to us to-day. They are there to help us reflect and meditate our times.
When the world seems to be catching at a speed without a clear destination, surrounded by many “ego-tripping prophets”, surely not in line with the Prophets found in the Sacred Scriptures…. the Ones that were inspired by the Holy Spirit, we come to a point to put forward a serious reflection on our Faith, our mission and again our destination. In what sense?
If we’ve got a mission to do – and everyone has been blessed by the Lord to live his proper mission – Faith becomes our courage to move ahead towards the Christ. In believing what the Lord has said in the Holy Scriptures and try to do our utmost to live it…fully, even if subject (ourselves) to errors, we can discern post-modern mentality, attracted by power, afraid of sacrifices and difficulties, and through the teaching of Christ the Redeemer, in the Church’s expression, following our true leaders in the Church – and we firmly believe that they were chosen by the Holy Spirit – we come to realise where our destination really is!
The Lord God works in silence. It is His grace that heals us and encourages us to see the true Light where there is darkness – by the way, this is also Franciscan Spirituality!
God Almighty will enlighten our hearts to see Jesus in the one who is suffering, not by choosing the ones we like, or those that are familiar with us, or the ones that have always been near, but everyone. God created man to his image we read in the Bible. Everyone needs our love as explained by Jesus Himself.
Now, the journey that takes us to our destination has got several tasks e.g. to be near Jesus when we sustain the sufferings we can see in our neighbour who is afraid of life, encouraging him and explaining to him that he is not alone; to bring the Lord’s smile to the ones who are sad and make them feel comfortable and not afraid with our “supposed to be” power or power searchers; to bring THE TRUE LIGHT to the ones who are suffering injustice, illness….. to be real “prophets” to those who feel lonely and deserve consolation and kindness… and so on.
See the difference between “ego-tripping prophets” and the “fishermen of men”. That is one of the invitations Jesus is offering to us to-day. These are words of the Gospel!
Our fathers passed this vision to us because they were loyal to their call and their vocation. Let’s continue this task seriously, without divisions, through the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ that was crucified, died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day.
Let us continue to be authentic Catholics and Pilgrims in the Church, living the Gospel and follow the teachings of the Pope ( the Magisterium) and the Bishops that are in union with the Pontiff.
May the Lord give you peace!
fr. Sandro