A new evangelist has got to be surer that he is inspired by the Holy Spirit and not by pride in his own witticisms and display of archanish knowledge. Our priests and other clergy who fill their spare time with keeping up with diocesan gossip etc. do a great disservice to their flocks who do expect that the clergy can demonstrate a better way of life than their own. It is fair to expect those who have chosen /have been chosen for a life consecrated to the service of God and to their neighbour make all efforts to be seen to be earnestly striving towards holiness.
I am afraid that Father Tom, Dick or Harry may in his sweater and short sleeves appear to be "one of us" but there are already many of "us" and our priests have to stand out from the community that they serve; they have to provide leadership in the faith. They, even if they can find well argued and well reasoned rejections of this assertion, are the first glimpse of the faith that the world sees .
The world of the first evangelists saw Jews, who were not all unlettered fishermen of Galilee, who had devoutly followed and in some cases deeply explored the Law and knew the scriptures who had themselves been converted to seek a holiness that did not come from the Law but from the Living Lord. These first evangelists had witnessed Christ's death on the blood stained wood of the cross and had spoken to the Risen Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit were able to transmit this Spirit to those who would accept it.
We have been taught by our Church; we know more or less the historic Christ; the Christ of the Gospels and we know the lives of the Saints; we have been taught to pray and we have a vast resource of Christian writing and scholarship that is now available for us all Clergy or Laity to read and study. Everyday the Gospels and Readings chosen for the liturgy are read and in some cases pondered. We have a lot of paper and talk and thoughts and initiatives and meetings, but where are our holy men and women? Where are those who have seen the Lord? Our first step as potential new evangelists is to convert our selves to the holiness that God demands; prayer and piety are not something to be shamefacedly admitted but to be shown and witnessed in our daily lives. And leading us the Lord has chosen priests who must be holy; please fathers put your prayers before anything; please pray first and then answer your e-mails; let your congregations see you praying privately in our churches and we too will learn that the Lord our God is indeed Holy.
First reading
Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.
This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
First reading
Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.
This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
First reading
Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.
This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
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