Doing God’s Work

September 18, 2005

Last Friday the church celebrated the feast of two martyrs from the third century, Saint Cornelius and Saint Cyprian. Cornelius was the Pope and Cyprian the bishop of Carthage. The two men never met but circumstances drew them together and they made common cause during a very difficult phase in the church's history. Cornelius was elected Pope after a year's vacancy in the see and another priest in Rome, by the name of Novatian, who disliked some of Cornelius's view, had himself consecrated Bishop of Rome as well. It looks as though the Church had fallen victim to the ancient Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times"! Some may find Church life nowadays rather dull in comparison.

The root of the crisis was the attitude that the Church should adopt towards those who had apostasised from the faith during the recent persecutions. Should such people be re-admitted to the Church and the sacraments after due penance, or had they now placed themselves beyond the pale and was it therefore impossible for the Church to have them back again? Many believed that apostasy was such a serious sin that no return to the Christian life was possible, but Cornelius and Cyprian believed that God's mercy and forgiveness were so limitless that the Church in its pastoral work had to do its

best to reflect that. If people were genuinely sorry for what they had done in difficult circumstances and if they still wished to respond to God's call in their life then there must be a place for them in the Christian community, in the body of Christ.

It may seem to us that these are battles from long ago, but far from it. History is a great teacher, but it is a great teacher not just because it tells us interesting things about the past, but precisely because it tells us interesting things about the present, and, even more, because it reveals to us what we are like as human beings: our capacities, our potentialities, our attitudes, , our failings. And history studied from a Christian perspective is even more revealing, because it helps us to see human beings bathed in the light of the redemptive work of Christ. What would our world be like without that dimension, without forgiveness, without the possibility of starting afresh each day on the great adventure of the Christian life? Listen carefully to today's gospel and see if you recognise anything of the workers grumbling at God's generosity to others in yourself. If you don't, then you are indeed blessed. Let us never fail to rejoice that God wishes to be as good to others as he has been to ourselves. 

Farm Street SVP