Cornelius, a leading character of our first reading this weekend, was a Roman, and so not Jewish, although not necessarily a pagan, for he was sufficiently devoted to the God of Israel to received the angelic vision that led him to call for the Apostle S. Peter. The Romans looked down upon the Jews as little more than slaves, so this Roman soldier falling before the Apostle S. Peter (pictured above) is beyond extraordinary. Our Lord had said in the Gospel that His mission was to the Jewish community (He is primarily their Messiah), but He had begun to receive non-Jewish believers, such as the Syro-Phoenician woman, the Samaritan woman and a handful of unnamed Greeks. The prophets had long spoken of non-Jewish believers entering the Church of God, or the Assembly of God’s people, in the days of the Messiah. It was inevitable that the Apostolic Church would take up this mission, and Cornelius and his family (as given by our reading today) were the first non-Jews to be formally be admitted to Catholic communion.
“And as soon as Peter had entered, he was met by Cornelius, who fell at his feet and did reverence to him; but Peter raised him; ‘Stand up,’ he said, ‘I am a man like thyself.’ So he went in, still conversing with him, and found a great company assembled. ‘You know well enough,’ he told them, ‘that a Jew is contaminated if he consorts with one of another race, or visits him; but God has been shewing me that we ought not to speak of any man as profane or unclean; and so, when I was sent for, I came without demur. Tell me then, why you have sent for me.’ And Cornelius said, ‘Three days ago, at this very time, I was making my afternoon prayer in my house, when suddenly I saw a man standing before me, in white clothes, who said to me, “Cornelius, thy prayer has been heard, thy alms-deeds have won remembrance in God’s sight. Thou art to send to Joppa, and summon thence that Simon who is also called Peter; he is lodging with a tanner called Simon, close to the sea.” I lost no time, therefore, in sending for thee, and thou hast done me a favour in coming. Now thou seest us assembled in thy presence, ready to listen to whatever charge the Lord has given thee.’ Thereupon Peter began speaking; ‘I see clearly enough,’ he said, ‘that God makes no distinction between man and man; He welcomes anybody, whatever his race, who fears Him and does what piety demands….'”
Acts of the Apostles, 10: 25-35 [link]
This is a great story for us today, for most of us do not have Jewish roots and it is in this story that the promises made by the Holy One to the nation of the Hebrews (and later Jews) were first formally extended to us non-Jews. Let’s go to the Last Supper for an understanding of what I have just called ‘Catholic communion.’ Christ says to His Apostles in this gospel reading that if we love Him and demonstrate our love for him by obeying His commandments and thereby building fraternal charity, then we are His friends. The word ‘servant’ best describes the adherents of ancient religions: they were usually servants of their gods. The very Jews would have called themselves servants of the Most High, for, although the nation of Israel was called God’s first-born, the sons of God in the times of the Old Testament were divine figures, angelic beings. But the Christian message was about the adoption of servants as children of God, Children of Light. This extraordinary relationship of belonging that Christ extends to His own is described again in our gospel reading this weekend. Here is what the Lord says:
“‘I have bestowed My love upon you, just as My Father has bestowed His love upon Me; live on, then, in My love. You will live on in My love, if you keep My commandments, just as it is by keeping My Father’s commandments that I live on in His love. All this I have told you, so that My joy may be yours, and the measure of your joy may be filled up. This is My commandment, that you should love one another, as I have loved you. This is the greatest love a man can shew, that he should lay down his life for his friends; and you, if you do all that I command you, are My friends. I do not speak of you any more as My servants; a servant is one who does not understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that My Father has told Me; and so I have called you My friends.'”
Gospel of S. John, 15: 9-15 [link]
The last few Sundays, we have heard Him call us the sheep of His sheepfold who know Him intimately, and the branches of Him as the Vine, by which we are part of Him. Now, he says clearly that we are not His servants, for He is on the point of adopting us as the sons and daughters of His heavenly Father. As you can see very clearly, our Lord’s concept of friendship is far more intimate than the common idea of acquaintance that we have today, thanks to the Americanisation of our society. We should certainly not find many we call friends, for example, prepared to lay down their lives for us. Rather, Christ’s idea of friendship is more akin to the friendship in married life of husband and wife in its level of intimacy, and it calls to my mind at once the promises that are made in marriage: unity in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, until death doth separate. If we can achieve this intimacy with Christ, Who has called us to it, then His desires and intentions will coincide with ours, and our Thy-will-be-done prayers will be powerful.
“Beloved, let us love one another; love springs from God; no one can love without being born of God, and knowing God. How can the man who has no love have any knowledge of God, since God is love? What has revealed the love of God, where we are concerned, is that He has sent His only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might have life through Him. That love resides, not in our shewing any love for God, but in His shewing love for us first, when He sent out His Son to be an atonement for our sins.”
First letter of S. John, 4: 7-10 [link]
In this second reading this weekend, the Apostle S. John sets forth about love, and that love is associated with sacrifice, for the atonement for sin comes from a blood sacrifice. Let us make no mistake: this ‘love’ the Apostles kept talking about is not the vacuous or ambiguous type that is constantly before us in our culture, because that often ends in separation and divorce, and the corresponding dissolution and fracturing of families. The ‘love’ the Apostles taught us about is the undying love of the Holy One, that is willing (as He said in the gospel reading) to die for the sake of the beloved. This entirely self-giving and marital love, as S. John says, comes from God, and makes the lover powerfully related to the Holy One.
Anyone who cannot love like this cannot have known God, John says. That may sound like an exaggeration, but its establishes a Christian anthropology: mankind has been built like God to love like this, to die for love – it’s part of what it means to be human and to be made in the ‘image’ of God. Christ teaches us to do it perfectly, and in so far as we open our hearts to Him and become His friends we should not find this type of love a great challenge.
In fact, we should find it easy.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 