Saturninus the proconsul said: We too are religious, and our religion is simple, and we swear by the genius of our lord the Emperor, and pray for his welfare, as you also ought to do.
Speratus said: If you will peaceably lend me your ears, I can tell you the mystery of simplicity.
Saturninus said: I will not lend mine ears to you, when you begin to speak evil things of our sacred rites; but rather swear by the genius of our lord the Emperor.
Speratus said: The empire of this world I know not; but rather I serve that God, whom no man has seen, nor with these eyes can see. I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax; because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations.
Saturninus the proconsul said to the rest: Cease to be of this persuasion.
Speratus said: It is an ill persuasion to do murder, to speak false witness.
Saturninus the proconsul said: Be not partakers of this folly.
Cittinus said: We have none other to fear, save only our Lord God, who is in heaven.
Donata said: Honour to Cæsar as Cæsar: but fear to God.
Vestia said: I am a Christian.
Secunda said: What I am, that I wish to be.
Saturninus the proconsul said to Speratus: Do you persist in being a Christian?
Speratus said: I am a Christian. And with him they all agreed.
He said also, ‘Always have the fear of God before your eyes. Remember Him who grants death and life. Hate the world and all that is in it. Hate all peace that comes from the flesh. Renounce this life, that you may be alive to God. Remember that which you have promised God, for it will be required of you on the day of judgment. Suffer hunger, thirst, nakedness; be watchful and sorrowful; weep, and moan in your heart; test yourselves, to see if you are worthy of God; despise the flesh, so that you may preserve your souls.’
He also said, ‘Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.’ — From the saying of Abba Anthony the Great of Egypt.
This past week St. John’s Eve was celebrated in Poland and in Polonia worldwide.
A post from the Polish Culture website explains this custom using the words of the great poet Jan Kochanowski:
In Poland the Eve of St. John’s is fraught with miracles and magic. Animals talk to each other with human voices. The earth shows the enchanted riches in it’s depths, glowing with fires. In wild ravines the barren fern blooms. Certain plants take on magical properties. Flowers and grasses made into wreaths will forecast a maiden’s fate. Wreaths to which are fixed lighted candles are cast in the waters so that their courses may be followed. From the course and fate of the wreaths anguries of marriage are made, The special promise of St. John is youth, love and general fertility.
In Warsaw the custom was celebrated with gigantic wreaths of flowers on the Wisła.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.—
Today Jesus talks about welcoming. When we read this passage we tend to think outwardly. Will those people out there welcome me as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let’s take a moment to see who Jesus might be talking about
In today’s first reading from the book of Kings we read of the godly woman in Shunem who showed love and hospitality to the prophet Elisha. This Shunammite woman did something rather extraordinary:
she said to her husband, “I know that he is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often,
let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”
The Shunammite woman had already shown great hospitality toward Elisha, inviting him to come and dine each time he came by their way. Through these encounters she recognized Elisha as a holy man of God and for that reason she went above and beyond. She convinced her husband (who was elderly) to put an addition on their house.
Can you imagine? Let’s say that you run across a holy person, a real person of God, and you get to know that person. Then you talk to your spouse and you convince your spouse to take out a home improvement loan so you can add-on. Then you build an addition for this holy person, you furnish the room, and you give them a key to the house.
The Shunammite woman engaged in that kind of radical hospitality. She welcomed a prophet of the Lord and thus she welcomed the Lord. Because of this she received a great gift – a child.
Brothers and sisters,
Jesus wants the same radical hospitality. In the gospel He says:
—And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.—
Now in those days there was no such thing as a cup of cold water. Remember, no refrigeration, no ice makers, nothing of the sort. You couldn’t walk into the next room and grab a cold one. If there was water in the house it was lukewarm at best. To get cold water you had to run down to the well and draw it fresh and cold. Remember too that in those days there was only one well – probably in the center of town. It could be a couple miles away.
Jesus was going beyond the example of the Shunammite woman. She would have run to the well because her guest was a person of greatness, but Jesus tells us to draw cold water for the —little one.— Jesus wasn’t just talking about children, He meant the little ones, the least among us. He wants us to draw cold water, to serve the elderly, the forgotten widow, the abandoned, the poor, the harassed illegal immigrant, people outside of our social, ethnic, cultural, and class milieu.
The people of Jesus’ day would have said, —A cup of cold water for them? Unheard of! Insane!— But here is Jesus calling us to radical hospitality toward all. Radical hospitality to those who are like us, who we worship with weekly, and to those who are so different from us, who are unknown to us, yet who all bear the image of Jesus Christ.
My friends,
Jesus call is radical because it forces us to recognize the fact that we are uncomfortable with the unknown, the different, the stranger. We look at Jesus’ words and expect the world to throw the doors open for us, to welcome us as disciples, yet when the disciples appear, often times out of nowhere, we unconsciously screen them out.
Inherently, in every choir, in every confirmation class, in every Bible study, in every worship service, in every coffee hour the natural inclination is to be friendly to our old friends, with the members of our family circle or clique, and not to truly and genuinely incorporate others into our circle.
To succeed the old disciples who are outside of our circle and the new dsciples must all be welcome. Jesus has sent His disciples. We and they bear His image and His word. We and they seek welcome, warmth, love, and compassion. We and they seek a place in the choir, the confirmation class, the Bible study, the coffee hour, and at worship.
Paul tells us:
you too must think of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
Living for God in Christ Jesus makes us different. It makes life different. It makes our task different. We must look with clear eyes, the eyes of Christ. The sin of exclusion must die. We must open our hearts and doors and consciously resist words that say welcome but actions that set us apart from others.
The disciples of Jesus are here and out there. They are seeking community, the Church where they can grow in Christ. That Church is here as long as we recognize our call to radical hospitality, to welcoming all. It is the role of our Church, our parish, and our personal responsibility. We all have a part and our welcoming makes the whole family of God greater. Amen.
A brother who had been wronged by another brother came to see Abba Sisoes. He said to him, ‘My brother has hurt me and I want to avenge myself.’ The old man begged him, saying, ‘No, my child, leave vengeance to God.’ The brother said, ‘I shall not rest until I have avenged myself.’ The old man said, ‘Brother, let us pray.’ Then he stood up and said, ‘God, we no longer need You to care for us, since we do justice for ourselves.’ When he heard these words, the brother prostrated himself before the old man’s feet and said, ‘I will not longer seek justice from my brother. Forgive me, abba.’
But forasmuch as the number sought for a third in order that in them the Trinity might be glorified, it found, oh admirable providence! Habib—”at a subsequent time indeed: but he also, along with those who had preceded him, had determined to enter on the journey, and on the very day of their martyrdom reached his consummation. Habib, then, great among martyrs, was a native of the same place as they, namely of the village of Thelsæa; and he had the honour of being invested with the sacred office of the diaconate. But, when Licinius swayed the sceptre of the Roman empire and Lysanias had appointed governor of Edessa, a persecution was again raised against the Christians, and the general danger threatened Habib. For he would go about the city, teaching the divine Scriptures to all he met with, and courageously seeking to strengthen them in piety. When this came to the ears of Lysanias, he gave information of it to the Emperor Licinius. For he was anxious to be himself entrusted with the business of bringing the Christians to trial, and especially Habib: for he had never been entrusted with it before. The emperor, then, sent him a letter and commanded him to put Habib to death. So, when Lysanias had received the letter, search was made everywhere for Habib, who on account of his office in the Church lived in some part of the city, his mother and some of his relations residing with him. When he got intelligence of the matter, fearing lest he should incur punishment for quitting the ranks of martyrdom, he went of his own accord and presented himself to a man who was among the chief of the body-guard, named Theotecnus, and presently he said: I am Habib for whom you are seeking. But he, looking kindly at him, said: No one, my good man, is as yet aware of your coming to me: so go away, and look to your safety; and be not concerned about your mother, nor about your relations: for they cannot possibly get into any trouble. Thus far Theotecnus.
But Habib, because the occasion was one that called for martyrdom, refused to yield to a weak and cowardly spirit and secure his safety in any underhand way. He replied, therefore: It is not for the sake of my dear mother, nor for the sake of my kinsfolk, that I denounce myself; but I have come for the sake of the confession of Christ. For Lo! whether thou consent or no, I will make my appearance before the governor, and I will proclaim my Master Christ before princes and kings. Theotecnus, accordingly, apprehensive that he might go of his own accord to the governor, and that in this way he might himself be in jeopardy for not having denounced him, took Habib and conducted him to the governor: Here, said he, is Habib, for whom search has been made. When Lysanias learned that Habib had come of his own accord to the contest, he concluded that this was a mark of contempt and overweening boldness, as if he set light by the solemn dignity of the judicial seat; and he had him at once put on his trial. He inquired of him his condition of life, his name, and his country. On his answering that he was a native of the village of Thelsæa, and intimating that he was a minister of Christ, the governor immediately charged the martyr with not obeying the emperor’s commands. He insisted that a plain proof of this was his refusal to offer incense to Jupiter. To this Habib kept replying that he was a Christian, and could not forsake the true God, or sacrifice to the lifeless works of men’s hands which had no sensation. The governor hereupon ordered, that his arms should be bound with ropes, and that he should be raised up high on a beam and torn with iron claws. The hanging up was far more difficult to bear than the tearing: for he was in danger of being pulled asunder, through the forcible strain with which his arms were stretched out.
In the meantime, as he was hanging up in the air, the governor had recourse to smooth words, and assumed the guise of patience. He, however, continued to threaten him with severer punishments unless he should change his resolution. But he said: No man shall induce me to forsake the faith, nor persuade me to worship demons, even though he should inflict tortures more and greater. On the governor’s asking him what advantage he expected to gain from tortures which destroyed his whole body, Habib, Christ’s martyr, replied: The objects of our regard do not last merely for the present, nor do we pursue the things that are seen; and, if you too are minded to turn your look towards our hope and promised recompense, possibly you will even say with Paul: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed in us.”
The governor replied: What you have said has filled my ears with great sadness. However, I will explain to you what is determined on: if you place incense on the altar and sacrifice to the image of Jupiter, all will be well, and each of you will go away to his home; but, if you still persist in disobeying the command of the emperor, you will most certainly lose your heads: for this is what the great emperor wills and determines. To this the most noble-minded Shamuna replied: If you shall confer upon us so great a favour as to grant us deliverance from the miseries of this life and dismissal to the happiness of the life yonder, so far as in us lies you shall be rewarded by Him who lays out our possessions on what is for our good. The governor replied to this somewhat kindly, as it seemed, saying: I have patiently endured hitherto, putting up with those long speeches of yours, in order that by delay you may change your purpose and betake yourselves to what is for your good, and not have to undergo the punishment of death. Those who submit, said he, to death which is only for a time, for the sake of Christ, will manifestly be delivered from eternal death. For those who die to the world live in Christ. For Peter also, who shines so brightly among the band of apostles, was condemned to the cross and to death; and James, the son of thunder was slain by Herod Agrippa with the sword. Moreover, Stephen also was stoned, who was the first to run the course of martyrdom. What, too, will you say of John the Baptist? You will surely acknowledge his distinguished fortitude and boldness of speech, when he preferred death rather than keep silence about conjugal infidelity, and the adulteress received his head as a reward for her dancing?
Again the governor said: It is not that you may reckon up your saints, as you call them, that I bear so patiently with you, but that, by changing your resolution and yielding to the emperor’s commands, you may be rescued from a very bitter death. For, if you behave with such excessive daring and arrogance, what can you expect but that severer punishments are in store for you, under the pressure of which you will be ready even against your will to do what I demand of you: by which time, however, it will be altogether too late to take refuge in compassion? For the cry which is wrung from you by force has no power to challenge pity; while, on the other hand, that which is made of your own accord is deserving of compassion. The confessors and martyrs of Christ said: There needs not many words. For lo! we are ready to undergo all the punishments you may lay upon us. What, therefore, has been commanded you, delay not to perform. For we are the worshippers of Christ the true God, and (again we say it) of Him of whose kingdom there shall be no end; who also is alone able to glorify those in return who glorify His name. In the meantime, while these things were being said by the saints, the governor pronounced sentence against them that they should suffer death by the sword. But they, filled with a joy, beyond the power of words to express, exclaimed: To You of right belongs glory and praise, who is God of all, because it has pleased You that we should carry on to its close the conflict we have entered upon, and that we should also receive at Your hands the brightness that shall never fade away.
Ben Myers of Faith and Theology has a post on Sufjan Stevens entitled Theology with Sufjan Stevens: heaven in ordinary.
I got turned on to Sufjan Steven by Huw (I am grateful for that) and have enjoyed him ever since.
I like the breakdown Ben Myers does of —Casimir Pulaski Day.— It is a striking song – painful and hopeful. I would add that outside Illinois Casimir Pulaski Day does not exist as a formal holiday, and is relatively unknown. But in the song as in life, on the holiday, the Holy Day, we find death and hope, death and reassurance. It makes me think that to many God is the non-existent, unknown holiday. He is unknown and unrecognized. Because of that the hopelessness of death is overwhelming – and in the song especially the death of a young person. For those who are cognizant of the unknown, unseen holiday it is different.
Then, as if he would like to blame the Word for the evils of heresy associated with Christianity, he reproaches us, saying, “Having grown in numbers and being widely dispersed, they are further split and divided; every body wants to have his own party.” And again he says, “Being too numerous to keep together, they refute one another; they share, so to speak, if they do share it, the one name, the only thing that in spite of their divisions they are ashamed to give up; as for the rest they are all one here, one there.” In reply, we will say that you never find different sects in any department of thought unless the principle involved is one of grave importance and practical use. Take the science of Medicine. It is useful and necessary to the human race, and the questions which arise as to the healing of the body are many. This is why, as is admitted, there are several sects among the Greeks, and I suppose among Barbarians also, as many as profess to practise the healing art. Let us take another illustration, Philosophy, inasmuch as it professes the pursuit of truth and the knowledge of realities, suggests the proper mode of life, and endeavours to teach things profitable to our race. But the points in question involve much diversity of opinion, and this is why there arose such an incredible number of philosophic sects of more or less distinction. Nay, even Judaism had a pretext for the rise of sects, through the varied interpretation of the writings of Moses and the words of the Prophets. Similarly, because Christianity appeared, not only to the low-minded, as Celsus says, but also to many learned Greeks, to be a matter of grave importance, sects of necessity arose, and not altogether through factiousness or contentiousness, but because so many even of the literary class were anxious to understand the meaning of Christianity. In consequence of this, because scholars differently interpreted what were believed on all sides to be Divine utterances, sects sprang up bearing the names of thinkers who had a reverent regard for the origin of the Word, but somehow or other through specious and plausible reasoning were brought into conflict with one another. But no man of sense would shun the science of Medicine because of its different sects; nor would a man of proper aims make the many sects of philosophy a pretext for hating it; and, similarly, we must not condemn the sacred books of Moses and the Prophets on account of the Jewish sects.
If all this hangs together, may we not offer a similar apology for the sects of Christianity? What Paul says concerning them seems to me truly marvellous: “There must be also sects among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” For as a man “approved” in the science of Medicine is he who is familiar with the practice of many different sects, and having fairly considered their claims, has chosen the best; and as the advanced student of Philosophy who, having an extensive knowledge of his subject, is familiar with its details, and therefore gives his adhesion to the stronger reasoning, may be called “approved”; so, I would say, he who carefully examines the sects of Judaism and Christianity becomes the wisest Christian. But any one who blames the Word on account of our sects would also blame the teaching of Socrates, because from the study of that Philosopher many different schools of thought have arisen. Nay, a man might blame even the doctrines of Plato because Aristotle gave up the study of him and took a line of his own, a point to which we have already referred. But Celsus seems to me to have become acquainted with certain sects which do not even share the name of Jesus with us. Rumours may have reached him of the Ophites and Cainites, or the holders of some other opinion altogether alien to the teaching of Jesus. But Christian doctrine is not in the least to be blamed for this. — Book III. against Celsus, CHAP. XVI. Concerning those who slander Christianity on account of the heresies in the Church.
From Interfaith Worker Justice:
Every morning, thousands of residential construction workers across the Phoenix and Las Vegas areas [as well as across the nation] wake up for another day of hard, dangerous work. They work long hours in difficult conditions in order to make ends meet for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, for too many, their labor is not rewarded adequately. Thousands of home construction workers labor at sites where employers do not follow health and safety regulations, fail to pay workers all the wages they are owed, do not offer affordable health insurance, and violate workers’ rights in a variety of other ways.
Workers at a number of subcontractors that do work for Pulte Homes in Phoenix and Las Vegas [as well as across the nation] have experienced systematic disregard for workers’ rights and basic human dignity. In December and January, Interfaith Worker Justice convened fact-finding delegations of religious leaders in both cities in order to find out more about the situation. Workers reported a number of serious problems, including unsafe and illegal working conditions, long hours, wages denied for overtime worked, and lack of health insurance. Some of the workers are attempting to organize unions in order to improve these conditions but have reported obstruction, harassment and intimidation by their employers.
In order to support these workers, Interfaith Worker Justice has produced a report based on the fact-finding delegations. IWJ is also circulating a statement by religious leaders in support of the workers who build houses for Pulte.
I have joined in supporting the workers who build houses for Pulte Homes and ask you to do so as well by:
- Praying for the workers, their families, and company executives.
- If you are a religious leader, sign the religious leaders’ statement and fax it to 773-728-8409, or fill out the form and mail it to IWJ. The address is on the form.
- Write to Pulte CEO Richard Dugas and urge him to ensure that Pulte’s subcontractors respect workers’ rights. Mr. Dugas can be reached at the following address: Richard Dugas, Chief Executive Officer, Pulte Homes, 100 Bloomfield Homes Parkway, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304.
Recall that the PNCC was founded by hard working immigrants, just like those who are being victimized to this very day. As a member of the PNCC I am well aware of my responsibility to lift up all mankind because all have sacred dignity before God. Recall also that two tenants of the PNCC Confession of Faith state:
I BELIEVE that all peoples as children of one Father, God, are equal in themselves; that privileges arising from differences in rank, from possession of immense riches or from differences of faith, sex and race, are a great wrong, for they are a violation of the rights of man which he possess by his nature and the dignity of his divine origin, and are a barrier to the purposeful development of man.
I BELIEVE that all people have an equal right to life, happiness and those ways and means which lead to the preservation of existence, to advancement and salvation, but I also believe, that all people have sacred obligations toward God, themselves, their nation, state and all of humanity.
This is our faith.