There are two sentiments I would like to forth this weekend. The first is a knowledge of God, and that includes a knowledge of the Catholic Faith in general (which speaks of Him), and the second is the power of our sacramental Confirmations as Catholics. The reason the Confirmation subject came into my mind is the story of the first reading, where we see the deacon S. Philip on the mission in the Samaritan territories to the north of Jerusalem.
“Philip, who had gone down to one of the cities of Samaria, preached Christ there. The multitude listened with general accord to what Philip said, as their own eyes and ears witnessed the miracles he did. There were many possessed by unclean spirits, and these came out, crying aloud; many, too, were healed of the palsy, and of lameness, and there was great rejoicing in that city. And there was a man called Simon, who had been in the city before Philip came there, misleading the people of Samaria with sorcery, and pretending to have great powers, so that high and low hung upon his words; This, they said, is an angel called the great angel of God. Long misled by his sorceries, they continued to pay attention to him, until Philip came and preached to them about God’s kingdom. Then they found faith and were baptised, men and women alike, in the Name of Jesus Christ; and Simon, who had found faith and been baptised with the rest, kept close to Philip’s side; he was astonished by the great miracles and signs he saw happening. And now the Apostles at Jerusalem, hearing that Samaria had received the word of God, sent Peter and John to visit them. So these two came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, Who had not, as yet, come down on any of them; they had received nothing so far except baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Then the apostles began to lay their hands on them, so that the Holy Spirit was given them…”
Acts of the Apostles, 8: 5-17 [link]
Philip was a great and a charismatic man, and I believe it is S. Luke who tells us (also in his Acts of the Apostles) that three or four of Philip’s daughters were known to be prophetesses, such was the wind of grace that blew through that man’s household. But when the Apostles, who were the priests-bishops of the first generation of the Church heard of the success of the mission to the Samaritans, it says here that they went out in the persons of Peter and John to complete the initiation of that people with what we would call the Sacrament of Confirmation.
When we are confirmed, the Bishop gives us a good old slap across the face (or at least they used to, my mother used to tell me) and tells us to go out and work for the Kingdom, to bring the Gospel to the world, to fight as the soldiers of Christ. I think that although this martial attitude may appeal more to young gentlemen, it is not misplaced in the heart of the young ladies also, for Our Blessed Lady herself has a martial aspect in her battle with and conquest of the ancient serpent.
“If, after all, you should have to suffer in the cause of right, yours is a blessed lot. Do not be afraid or disturbed at their threats; enthrone Christ as Lord in your hearts. If anyone asks you to give an account of the hope which you cherish, be ready at all times to answer for it, but courteously and with due reverence. What matters is that you should have a clear conscience; so the defamers of your holy life in Christ will be disappointed in their calumny. It may be God’s will that we should suffer for doing right; better that, than for doing wrong. It was thus that Christ died as a ransom, paid once for all, on behalf of our sins, he the innocent for us the guilty, so as to present us in God’s sight. In his mortal nature he was done to death, but endowed with fresh life in his spirit,”
First letter of the Apostle S. Peter, 3: 14-18 [link]
How are we to fight, dear Friends? We turn to the Apostle S. Peter, who gives us this above as our second reading this weekend. Enthrone the Holy One in our hearts, respect for His sacraments which build us up, always have an answer ready for the anti-Christians and the anti-Catholics, who give constant challenge. Having an answer implies an intellectual part to the Christian struggle – we are to study the Scripture and the teachings of the Church. But! But not all of us are Scripture scholars or have the time in our busy lives to read the works of the Fathers of the Church or the numerous Saints and Scholars who have buttressed the walls of the Church for centuries. But we do have summaries of the Faith in our catechisms, most recently the catechism of the Holy Father John Paul II that was given us in the 1990s.
We must know what the Apostolic authority in Rome teaches, and especially about the most disputed moral questions of our times. For we are chiefly attacked on these. We live in a time of profound challenge to the Apostolic Faith, and we must be prepared to make return, but as S. Peters says above, with courtesy and respect/reverence, and with a clear conscience (not having committed these crimes ourselves). So let us tell them then what we think of their ideas of abortion and contraception that have decimated the population in the West, their ideas of eugenics, euthanasia and assisted suicide and population control.
But it’s not only on hot-button topics that we want to specialise as Catholics, is it? The basis of these evils that afflict our society is the opposition to any kind of moral authority. It all seems to have begun in Europe in the sixteenth century with an opposition to the moral authority of Rome, and it has progressed inevitably to the rejection of every kind of moral authority. The whisper of the serpent in the ear of mankind lingers: if you eat of the fruit of the tree, you can be your own moral authority, you too can be gods.
The response of the Holy One in the Bible to Abraham and to Moses and the prophets echoes again in His words to the Apostles in this gospel reading we have this weekend: if you love Me you will keep My commandments. Break your pride, submit your will, or you future prosperity will be threatened. Come back to Me with all your heart, and I will give you another Advocate, I will send you My own Spirit. And that promise of the Holy Spirit takes us back to S. Philip and his Samaritans (of the first reading), for with the Ascension of Christ He has departed from the sight of an unbelieving world, but to us His children – filled with the Holy Spirit as we are – He remains a bright light, and with His teachers and Saints God is the moral rule and standard.
“‘If you have any love for Me, you must keep the commandments which I give you; and then I will ask the Father, and He will give you Another to befriend you, One Who is to dwell continually with you for ever. It is the truth-giving Spirit, for Whom the world can find no room, because it cannot see Him, cannot recognise Him. But you are to recognize Him; He will be continually at your side, nay, He will be in you. I will not leave you friendless; I am coming to you. It is only a little while now, before the world is to see Me no more; but you can see Me, because I live on, and you too will have life. When that day comes, you will learn for yourselves that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. The man who loves Me is the man who keeps the commandments he has from Me; and he who loves Me will win My Father’s love, and I too will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
Gospel of S. John, 14: 15-21 [link]
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 