Fr Peter Helman

‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you…” (Acts of the Apostles 18:9)

Dear friends,

Reading the Daily Office lesson today from the Acts of the Apostles, I’m struck by the perseverance of the Apostle Paul and the earlier missionaries of the Church. They loved Jesus and took his name upon their lips and embraced the immediacy of peril.

They travelled great distances and hazarded their very lives, counting everything loss for the imperative to “speak and do not be silent,” to tell of the irresistible grace of God. And every apostle of Jesus died a martyr’s death, not quietly in their beds but at sword-point. Early Christian communities met in homes and by candlelight in catacombs and clothed themselves with the promise of Jesus: “In the world you will face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33) And so they followed in the way that would lead to death.

I am reminded of a saying from Saint Ignatius of Antioch when he approached martyrdom in the Colosseum:

"Now I begin to be a disciple of Christ. I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, to that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Jesus Christ.”

The world today in most corners is very different from the world the apostles and early missionaries of the Church knew. But what remains the same is the imperative to “speak and do not be silent.” The world will know that we are Christians by the love we have not only for one another but for the world into which we are sent to serve.

We are familiar with the saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” Lest we rely upon these words, however, to live comfortably into a discreet and tasteful faith, the words of the risen Christ to Paul in our reading from Acts this morning reminds us that we must also tell out our faith with boldness, not to batter and browbeat but to commend the hope within us, to fight for justice and mercy, to decry wickedness and malice and the very sins that beset us, to raise our voices for those who have no voice, all for the sake of the love of Christ that compels us.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Peter