By ZOE CANNON
GRATITUDE FOR THE GIFT OF FAITH
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
You are not alone if you believe society is confused by ideology contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. St. Therese of Lisieux once said, “Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes down to find another Heaven, which is infinitely dearer to Him—the heaven of our souls, made in His image, living temples of the Most Blessed Trinity!”
We are the souls Jesus longs for, and He provides all that we need! The basic fundamentals of life serve us well in teaching and learning. I am facilitating a study on the Acts of the Apostles in an adult formation class, and teaching the same chapters to my homeschooled grandsons. The study reminds us of the struggles in the early Church, and the difference in perception from adults and children is interesting. The openness and questions from a 5-, 7- and 8-year-olds are actually more challenging.
The first followers, true friends of Jesus, were not vague in speaking truth to the newly baptized because the Holy Spirit guided them through prayer. The Word of God traveled throughout the region and to distant places through unlikely events with improbable people – the conversion of the Pharisee Saul, the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch, a Roman Centurion and his family, and the list goes on. The examples in these stories bring to light the efforts needed to become a follower of Christ, a Christian in word and deed!
At the Council of Jerusalem in AD 50, Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James and the other apostles prayed and discussed the kind of laws the Gentiles should follow after baptism. It was revealed to Peter in a vision that both Jews and Gentiles were saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Before the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter, and he practiced this authority at the council by reminding them, “we shall be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ just as they will” (Acts 15:11).
There should be no uncertainty in matters of faith; we have absolute truth! By the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there have been 21 other councils in the history of the Church to provide clarification. The last council was Vatican II, which took place in the 1960s. If only 21 councils were called to validate Christian doctrine and moral teachings of the Church in over 2,000 years, why is there confusion about matters of faith?
While sharing the faith, I wrote down questions posed by young, eager and innocent children. Enjoy! “Do you need to be a Christian to get to heaven?” “How do you tell your friends to be friends with Jesus?” “If the good news in the bible is so real, why doesn’t everyone know about it?” “Why does Jesus love bad people?” The best one.... “How can a priest hear all our sins, and still like the people in church? How can his head not ‘explode’ with all that bad stuff in his mind?” The boys were relieved to know that a priest prays to forget everything we tell them, and they love offering God’s mercy to sinners. Oh, the power of the Holy Spirit is very real!
“It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name” (St. Ignatius of Antioch).
The little people are watching and learning from our words and actions. Not all are blessed with good examples; please pray for the conversion of hearts, the protection of children, a strengthening of marriage and family, and a close friendship with Jesus for yourself! All glory to God! Amen.