More on HEROES -- but this time, of the early, and present-day Church..

I can hear it now: Church?  What Church?  I don't believe in God!

One doesn't have to believe in God to recognize the historical facts of what the early Christians suffered for their beliefs.

Either those men, women and children were under some type of mass hallucination, or what they believed was true, and the One they followed really did exist and walked the earth about 2,000 years ago.

Before I go any further, let's look at the word that seems to cause so much angst among non-Catholics or non-believers these days: catholic.

What does that word mean?  The lower case word, catholic, means universal, or everywhere.  In fact, there was a bishop of Antioch by the name of St. Ignatius.  This elderly man was consecrated bishop of Antioch by St. Peter himself.  Then there was another bishop, of Smyrna, by the name of St. Polycarp, consecrated bishop of Smyrna by St. John the Evangelist.

Pretty heavy company, I would say...

Well, these two men were considered a threat to the paganism of the then Roman Emperor, and were condemned to death by being thrown to the wild beasts in the Coliseum.  But a strange thing happened on the way to their deaths, at least one -- St. Ignatius of Antioch, was allowed to preach and teach to those that would listen, as well as the newly formed little congregations of Christians.  Some of the letters that St. Ignatius wrote back at the end of the First Century still exist to this very day!!

Providential?

In some of those letters, he uses the word "catholic" to indicate that he found the nascent church everywhere, universally.

So, the word "Catholic" -- upper case -- shouldn't raise any red flags or cause the angst that I mentioned a bit ago.

But these two early bishops were not the only ones condemned to death for their beliefs.  As history points out, close to 11 million Christians were martyred over the 300 year period from Christ's death, to about the year 315 A.D.  There were additional martyrs over the centuries at various times and for various reasons, up and until this present day.

If one looks at some of the ways those early martyrs suffered and died, it just might make some folks sick to their stomachs, literally.  I'm not saying they weren't scared when they faced their deaths, but they endured to the end and now wear the crown of eternal life; they were -- are -- real HEROES.

I ask again: were all those Christians under some mass hallucination, or, was what they believed really true and the Christ that walked the earth was really one of the Trinity sent to redeem mankind?
Some of the most early Christians saw, with their own eyes, Christ, as He preached, taught and worked miracles.  But those that followed Him, that did not see Him, still believed, and because of that, were blessed with the fortitude and courage to live their lives and eventually meet their end.  Are we so blessed with fortitude and courage to meet even our daily trials?

We can emulate them when we are faced with the tribulations of everyday life, or even the more life-threatening events that affect our families and friends, whether sickness, accidents, or loss of a job, depression, drugs, etc.  I speak not from naivete, but from life experience; some good, a lot not so good...

Today, we see more HEROES of the present-day Church.  Yes, there really are HEROES of the present-day Church, especially, those good men and women of the clergy and the religious orders who buck the trend of worldliness and corruption, to live lives of service and loyalty to that very same Christ of 2,000 plus years ago -- and today!

The "bad guys" are being rooted out, and hopefully, they will be brought to justice, but if not in this life, then in the next.  Now, we should -- and must -- support the "good guys," and with them, and those faithful to God, we will win back the holy, perfect Church, and steal it from the sinful, human elements that currently occupy that very same Church.

Remember, it is not the Church that is corrupt, but the human element of the Church.  For Christ, the Head, cannot be attached to a rotten body, but to a perfect body only!  This distinction must be made in order to properly interpret the scourge encircling the mystical body of the faithful.  The gates of hell will NOT prevail against IT …  We have that promise from Christ Himself!

Pray for our country, too...

Gene DeLalla