"ARMOR OF LIGHT" ^_[1]

YOUNG FIREBRAND

1.  The Acts of the Church records that St. Stephen, a Greek convert to Christianity, was the Church's first martyr after our Lord's own passion, death and resurrection. St. Luke provides us with our only historical record of this young firebrand. The evangelist emphasizes Stephen's share in the martyrdom of our Lord--in many ways his death parallels that of Jesus Christ--and provides the early Christian community with a spiritual basis for coming to terms with persecution. Christians are to understand that martyrdom is the ultimate sacrifice consistent with the Lord's own pesach  (Heb. passage). When conflicts arose in the early Church between the Greek and Jewish converts over the distribution of the food, the apostles selected Stephen as one of seven administrators. Although he was a servant-disciple, he possessed other gifts as well: youth, eloquence, familiarity with Jewish scriptures, courage, candor and confidence. Luke devotes fifty-one verses to Stephen's eloquent and courageous apologia  (Lat. formal defense)  before his accusers who, failing to refute his forceful defense of the Christian kerygma (Gk. proclamation), conspired to eliminate him from their midst. Like many converts to Christianity in the Greek culture, Stephen's journey to faith bypassed the Jewish religion and its emphasis on animal sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple precincts. Unlike Jewish converts to Christianity, a sizable number of Greek converts neither worshipped in Herod's Temple nor joined in Jewish ritual practices. In fact, Stephen's view of temple worship was quite negative and likely shared by many of his fellow Hellenistic converts. Facing his accusers, Stephen quotes Old Testament scriptures to support his belief that, by speaking of the obsolescence or destruction of the Jewish temple, he is not committing blasphemy. The Most High God, he argues, transcends the confines of any building:  "Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?"  [Acts 7:48-50]  Stephen boldly suggests that the great Jerusalem temple was a mistake from the beginning. In other words, Solomon himself may have erred centuries earlier in constructing the first temple. Inexorably, the ruling Sanhedrin judged Stephen guilty of blasphemy and sentenced him to death by judicial stoning according to Mosaic law set forth in the Book of Leviticus.  [Lev 24:15-16]  Those who testify against him have the joy of throwing the first stones.  [cf. Deu 17:7]  As a prelude to their murder of Stephen, his accusers "laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul"  who likewise consented to Stephen's death.  [Acts 7:58,8:1]  Ours, too, is a society of stone throwers. The vocabulary of the day is character assassination. Countless persons genuinely believe that ad hominem attacks^[2] on the dignity and worth of other human beings ranks on a par with reasoned dialogue and is to be preferred to intellectual discourse and the virtues of charity and humility.^[3] Countless individuals, professing to be followers of Christ, denounce and censure one another and their Christian communities using vile, poisonous language devoid of reason and restraint. Whether in broad daylight or under the cloak of secrecy, such are tools which serve the machinations of the Evil One:  "And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell."  [Jam 3:6]  Like Stephen, however, Christians should never surrender their principles and beliefs. Pointless caviling and incessant haranguing, by their very nature, drain enormous amounts of physical and emotional energy, to say nothing about the life of the Spirit in the community of faith. God has never willed that his faithful followers use the language of the Word of the World either to uplift or admonish one another who bear the name of His Son. In truth, it is impossible to use the Word of the World in such a way. By definition, the profane can never be used to judge or circumscribe the sacred. As St. Paul wrote, "For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?"  [1Cor 3:3] 

MANTLE OF LIGHT, CLOAK OF DARKNESS

2.  No less disturbing is the turmoil that Catholics experience when they are opposed, even assailed by other Catholics--including priests and liturgical elitists--for adhering to the moral and liturgical norms of the Church. Paradoxically, many of those who proselytize openness, inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance--ambiguous and indeterminate psychological modes often elevated to the level of revealed truth--exclude adherence to the norms and laws of the Church: These are my deviations; you cannot deviate from them. As presently and popularly construed, inclusiveness rejects what is conclusive, and openness leaves no room for the absolute. These generic modifiers are code-words for those who repudiate any ordered system of thought or religion as a basis for knowledge or truth. Ambience is superior to meaning or purpose in understanding the nature of man's existence. Hence, the emerging new spiritualities are exponential: These are my beliefs. You tell me what's wrong with them. Notwithstanding how the notions of openness and inclusiveness may be construed, these terms mask the nihilistic thesis that deconstruction--even demolition--of the Church is necessary to liberate man's fundamental goodness. In the new conservatoire of goodwill, it is asserted, eclecticism and self-actualization forms the agar that nurtures a profusion of experimental even incoherent spiritualities. Hence the risk that pluralism is but one of many identifiable events leading to religious and philosophical anarchy. It would be to say that man's journey is not upwards or forward but circular and regressive. The American Christian is reverting to the spiritual soup of his or her primitive non-Hebrew forebears. The intellectually complacent and unctuous embrace this neo-primitivism as maturation and evolution, while simultaneously denigrating the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church ^[4] as an historical ruin whose excessive influence has yet to be subdued. Over Stephen--who preaches divinely revealed Truth--God places his own mantle, the Holy Spirit. Possessing the Spirit to the full, he wears it as armor. Saul, the young zealot, could not grasp the moment of Stephen's martyrdom until Christ brought Saul's own persecution of Christians to an end on the road to Damascus. In mid-journey, a "light from heaven flashed about him"  [Acts 9:3], and Saul heard, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"  [Acts 9:4]  Much later, this fervid prosecutor would introduce himself to the Church at Rome as Paul, a convert and apostle of Christianity. In his letter to the Romans--a complex and stunning work of theology--Paul would write, "put on the armor of light".  [Rom 13:12]  Not without irony, the mature apostle urges the Christian community to wear God's mantle of light. More than a raiment of great beauty, the divine attire is beneficial--even essential--for the protection of disciples whose mission is to illuminate the world with the Gospel. The light of the Spirit protects the faithful disciple even as he struggles to liberate the world from its cloak of darkness. To the Church at Ephesus, Paul exhorts, "Put on the whole armor of God...that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."  [Eph 6:11-12]  The light of Christ begs to evangelize the world, pleading that we will take it to the nations. Without doubt,  we are to assist the source of light from which we, ourselves, are illumined. "Let your light so shine before men," says Our Lord, "that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  [Mt 5:16]  Many of those whose murderous stones fell Stephen are unaware of what is happening beyond a stone's throw, that his martyrdom emulates Christ's death on the cross. "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," cried Stephen, and again, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."  [Acts 7:59-60]  Nor are these murderous minds aware that his martyrdom will galvanize the Christian movements resolve. Unlike any other event--whether threats, beatings, jail or exile--Stephen's death will launch the Christian to carry out the Lord's command to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...and teaching them".  [Mat 28:19-20]  Christians are not to avenge Stephen's death; those who murder him cannot escape the consequences of their violence nor will they elude God's judgment.  

AT TABLE, ON THE CROSS

3.   Jesus speaks of reflexive judgment many times in the Gospel of Matthew: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward."  [Mt 6:2]  St. Paul expresses it somewhat differently: "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."  [Gal 6:7]  These few words are a rich parable in their own right. God gives each Christian responsibility, the tools to do the job and his trust. Then, he holds each accountable for his stewardship. To sow and reap means that one's harvest is visible for all to see. Jesus confers the apostolic ministry of healing, forgiving and teaching upon his twelve disciples and their successors: "He who hears you hears me," Jesus says, "and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."  [Lk 10:16]  Accordingly, those who overpower Stephen repudiate God. To the Romans, Paul speaks of a Christian's armor of light in the context of a self-less love that fulfills God's law.  [cf. Rom 13:8-12]  Lacking fundamental charity, those who stone Stephen are incapable of discerning between God's Law and their own lust for vengeance. Unable to wake from spiritual insensibility, they perform the works of darkness.  [cf. Rom 13:12]  In the absence of self-less love, man's essential goodness remains dormant. To oppose self-sacrificing love is to counsel aggression. It is to allege that the essential mark of relationship is one's ability to overpower his neighbor. In the absence of love which impels him beyond the orbit of his own powers, man forfeits the basis for his relationship with God. He sacrifices his liberty to choose for the good or to be an instrument of benevolence in the world. The poet T. S. Eliot observed, Love is the unfamiliar Name.^[5] Aware that our society increasingly eschews true, authentic love, what is a Christian to do? Speak the name of Jesus Christ to the world! Permit his name to resound from your lips! Shout his name in the marketplace, in the halls of government, in the streets, in your home? Let it not be said that the name of Christ was never heard on your tongue! The Lord wills that countless others who do not yet know Christ must hear you speak of his merciful love. Your example of filial piety, and yours alone, is destined to lead many lost souls to acquire an saving relationship with Our Lord. Love need not be the unfamiliar name. For we are not the ignorant Hebrews in the desert that we should say of the Spirit, What is it?  [Exo 16:15]  To borrow from Eliot, a Christian puts on the "intolerable shirt of flame" as a baptismal garment. Its fire sears his conscience, it purifies the dross in his soul, it illumines his mind! The divine fire consumes but perfects, tests yet consoles. The Holy Spirit is the manna of fire; where it comes from and where it goes is not the work of man but the will of God.  [cf. Exo 16:15-19; Jn 3:8]  Love begs us to eschew estrangement from the blaze of God's glory, for as Eliot concedes, our redemption from fire must be accomplished by fire.^[6] The poet asserts that every man must choose the fire that becomes his shirt. May your intolerable shirt of flame be a garment woven from the inestimable mystery of God's resplendent  and glorious love and not the unquenchable fire of Gehenna!  [cf. Mk 9:43-49]  We cannot wear the garment--the mantle of Christ--while persisting in evil works, remaining idle and impassive, indifferent and uncaring. Nor is one to presume that the fire of divine love is meant for his hearth alone. Take on the Spirit, every one of you, as much as you can bear. Partake in the Spirit lavishly without thought for tomorrow. Gather all the fire you need for this day, for Christ has "cast fire upon the earth" and tomorrow the heavens and the earth will ignite.  [Lk 12:49]  Stephen, in the midst of his passion, receives a great grace. Through the rend of sky, he beholds God robed with a garment of light  [cf. Jn 17:24], attended by his ministers of fire and flame.  [cf. Psa 104:1-4]  Very near to God, filled with the Holy Spirit, the "glory which thou hast given me I have given to them"  [Jn 17:22], Stephen's face reflects the glory of the Almighty. The deacon's executioners rebut his defense with their ritualized celebration of death and its finality. God, however, looks upon Stephen's assent to faith and rewards him with immortality:  "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."   [Mt 5:11-12]  The light which animates man's personhood [cf. Jn 1:4] is the divine life of Christ. Faith requires unswerving assent to Divine Truth even if that should mean one's own martyrdom: "If any man would come after me," says the Lord,  "let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."  [Mk 8:34]  To enjoy our saviour's fellowship, we must emulate him whether at table in the Galilee or on the cross at Golgotha.  [cf. Lk 14:27]  That a Christian is willing to sacrifice everything, even his own life in martyrdom, for the sake of the Name, safeguards the fruitful yield of Christ's Church. In other words, the branches cleave to the vine  [cf. Jn 15:1-11]  and by this we prove ourselves worthy to be called followers  [cf. Jn 15:8]  of Christ, the "root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star".  [Rev 22:16]