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2 Corinthians 6: 1-10
Brothers and sisters:
As your fellow workers, we appeal to you
not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
We cause no one to stumble in anything,
in order that no fault may be found with our ministry;
on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves
as ministers of God, through much endurance,
in afflictions, hardships, constraints,
beatings, imprisonments, riots,
labors, vigils, fasts;
by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness,
in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech,
in the power of God;
with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left;
through glory and dishonor, insult and praise.
We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful;
as unrecognized and yet acknowledged;
as dying and behold we live;
as chastised and yet not put to death;
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing;
as poor yet enriching many;
as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
The Word of the Lord.
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A week ago, we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit struck a match within the hearts of the Apostles, descending upon them in a strong wind as tongues of fire, filling them with unbreakable courage.
The event itself is shrouded in mystery; none of us has ever seen the Holy Spirit. But like the Apostles, we can feel the difference. The Spirit imbues us with an inexhaustible energy – a restlessness – that compels us to bear witness to Christ.
As the prophet Jeremiah once foretold, “Your WORD is like a fire in my bones! Woe to me if I do not preach it!”
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This is what Saint Paul is describing in our first reading. Many of the early Christians lived terribly difficult lives; yet they never gave up. They labored, prayed, fasted – and slowly changed the world.
Consider the various trials Paul and others faced. He breaks them down into three different categories: internal conflicts, physical pain, and Christian living.
Perhaps the greatest internal pain Paul experienced was sorrow; he lived a life of departures. He was not only imprisoned seven times, but he also moved from one Christian community to another, knowing he’d never see those friends again.
Physically, Paul and many others were martyred. There’s a good chance that you and I would never have heard the Gospel had some of our brothers and sisters not willingly undergone bodily torment.
Third, they lived thoroughly Christian lives – sometimes praying throughout the night, fasting (not always by choice), and preaching the Gospel at any cost – sometimes with words.
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It’s easy to wonder how so many Christians persevered to the end.
They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Our world needs that same type of Christian witness today as, together, we can slowly change the world for Christ.
Come, Holy Spirit!
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Image credits: (1) Saint Peter’s Basilica(2) Public Domain via Flickr (3) Vacilando, WordPress