Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 30, 2014 - Thursday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 6:10-20 and Luke 13:31-35,554]Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you ay be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate,and your feed shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take thehelmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Ephesians]
In reflecting on these words from the Letter to the Ephesians, I began to hear in my mind some kind of stirring music to accompany them! St. Paul uses the image of an armed soldier to describe the task of a disciple! Perhaps the old hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, would serve the purpose!
There have been times when such martial imagery could come in handy. The impersonal and continuous bombardment of images that debase the human person and discourage some of the virtues that are required for Christian living can be like warfare! Is it any help to think that this is part of the "price of freedom?"
It does seem a bit strange to be armed on behalf of the "Gospel of peace," but sometimes one has to have a thick skin to reply to those who only live for themselves and care not what happens to others. In the gospels, Jesus consistently warns the disciples to expect opposition, and for the first three hundred years or so, Christianity was outlawed and persecuted. In some places this is still happening!
If the word of God is the "sword of the Spirit," then I guess I'm swinging it in some way, although I'd prefer to think more gently in terms of persuasion! AMEN
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