3rd Sunday after Easter 29.4.07 Reform of society
St Peter offers a radical plan to take over the world. No, not with the usual guns and bombs, but with humility, simplicity, forbearance.
If you are a slave and your master treats you terribly, then serve him with a smile.
If you are a wife and your husband is awful, then win him over by the purity of your life and the mildness of your disposition;
And so on for every Christian in any sort of difficult position. Don’t just complain and take revenge as most people would, but transform the situation in a Christ-like way.
Do what Christ did when they were crucifying Him. Accept the insults and the injustices, by way of offering a perfect sacrifice, and then let that perfect offering bear fruit in changing those who are crucifying you.
(Obviously there must be limits to how much injustice one can let go, but as a general attitude be willing to forgive and forebear).
This is a very cunning plan to win the world over. Unfortunately it has never been put into operation on a wide scale. A few people have done what St Peter said: they are now called Saints.
The majority of Christians continue to operate on worldly wisdom, which is Don’t get mad, get even. So the world lurches on, unredeemed, and conflict and hardness of heart hold sway in most places, including most homes.
How can we break open the hardness of heart of the world? Only by repeating the sacrifice of Christ, by being pure of heart, by loving those who hate us, by turning enemies into friends.
But, you will say, I have tried that and it does not work. Sure you tried it, but for how long? Many will give up very quickly on this path because it takes supernatural perseverance.
To make ourselves into a sacrifice seems to go so much against the grain, yet it is the tried and true way of making a difference.
Just as in a military battle someone who sacrifices himself can open a way for his comrades, so in the spiritual world, we need people who are willing to make sacrifices – if not to die, then to die to self. To be living witnesses of Christ’s love, inspiring all around.
It may not always bring about conversion but it will sometimes, and it is a lot more successful than the worldly method, which just makes things worse.
(Witnessing to the faith is not just preaching; most of it is quiet endurance, no words at all)
This approach is alluded to in the Gospel where the Church’s time on earth is compared with a woman in labour. Painful but fruitful. A lot of pain leads soon to a lot of joy.
So the Church, in pain, brings forth converts. People who have been living in darkness suddenly see the light and are transformed.
St Peter’s battle plan is a brilliant one, but too many have broken ranks and not enabled the plan to take full effect.
We must re-form ranks and let this plan work in us and on those people around us who need converting.
We may not see the change in our lifetime. We may not see the good we do. It is a battle fought over a whole universe and the whole span of human history.
But change will follow. The seed that dies does not see the harvest, but there is one all the same. So for us, to pay now and enjoy later (to reverse the popular advertising line).
This brief time of sorrow will give way to eternal joy.
