Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We are finishing the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Father,
When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this until Jesus comes again. By your gift, the Church continues to receive unfathomable riches from the inheritance handed on from the Apostles and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Spirit who inspired the writing of today's pages "guide me in the truth and teach me" to follow Jesus ever more closely, until he calls me to follow him to the Kingdom where he lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Today's chapters are 1 Peter 1-3.
Today we read what might be called the first "Papal Encyclical" in history, although the term is preposterously anachronistic. Be that as it may, the message is clearly addressed to Christian communities across the whole sweep of Roman provinces between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. And this missive is coming, we will learn at the close, from "Babylon" (i.e., Rome itself) whence Mark, whom tradition consistently associates with Peter, and Silvanus, the missionary companion (and Philippi jail-mate) of Paul, also send greetings (5:12-13).
The opening greeting alone is worthy of meditation for its Trinitarian depth. This is coming to us just decades after the Resurrection. Truly, the Lord's promise at the Last Supper was fulfilled: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth" (Jn 16:12-13).
The greeting is followed by a great blessing-prayer that can be offered by each of us in thanksgiving for our baptism, for 1 Peter is above all a baptismal exhortation, reminding beleaguered Christians scattered across a hostile pagan world of their calling and their destiny. Peter is not shy about the reality of suffering, referring repeatedly to the saving blood of Christ, the sacrificed Lamb, and to the Lord's sufferings, to encourage the disciples in the trials they might be facing (or have yet to face) for his Name.
Among those most likely to bear sufferings repeatedly in this life are slaves. Their sufferings may be completely arbitrary, not at all connected to the Name of Jesus: To them Peter presents the example of the innocent Lord who also suffered unjustly. It can be especially consoling to people who are oppressed to know that the Lord Jesus understands what that condition is like. Peter urges them to conform their minds to the interior sentiments of Christ. He is not addressing the social situation of the slaves, but taking the extreme condition of slavery as an occasion to teach the whole Christian community to seek to follow Christ no matter what situations life puts before them. The canticle in 1 Peter 2:21-25 is prayed especially during Lent.
Intimately connected to Christ's suffering is, of course, his Resurrection. But in between the two is the mysterious interlude proclaimed in the Creed as his "descent into hell" (or, depending on the translation, "to the dead"). Peter's calm reference in 3:18-19 is to Christ, having been "put to death in the flesh" going "in the spirit" to "preach to the spirits in prison."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 634-635) interprets this majestically for us, citing 1 Pet 3:19 and John 5:25 (emphases are from me):
"The gospel was preached even to the dead." The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.
Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."
Start reading here.
No comments:
Post a Comment