Saturday 6th week of Easter
We meet today Apollos. Apparently he was a fantastic speaker and made a great case for Christ to the people he spoke to. However, he did not have all of the information. He knew of Baptism but only the Baptism of John… not the Baptism which we are all familiar with today. So we hear he was instructed more accurately. And he took this new information and evangelized all over. Defending the Faith as he went.
This defending of the faith is called Apologetics. It is a technical term for making a reasoned argument or writing in justification for something. So we can see here that Apollos is giving reasons and showing good testimony to all that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
Memorial
Today we are celebrating the Memorial of St. Justin Martyr. He was born to a pagan family in what today is known as the Palestinian West Bank, around the year 100.. a mere 65 years or so after Jesus Ascension. He was well educated, learning many of the philosophical and metaphysical styles of the time. But they left him unsatisfied. Eventually he learned of Christianity, and he learned it well. Today he is known primarily for his writings defending Christianity. We have at our reach 3 complete works by Justin
- His first Apology,
- Second Apology
- Letter to Trypho
Apologetics
Keep in mind in this case an apology is an explanation or a defense. We have to remember that in the days of the early Church persecutions were common and generally resulted in death.
His first Apology was written to the current Roman Emperor Antoninus and his sons. Maybe around 155. As you read through the letter you quickly recognize the same techniques we all use to help people understand and recognize and see the truth of Christianity.
Education
Justin was very well schooled in the faith. Justin used numerous saying of Jesus which are all found in Scripture. His basic point is that Christians are not the enemy of Rome. Don’t judge by the name Christian, but by evil actions. We are following the teachings of Jesus, whom we believe to be the True God. We are not trying to destroy Rome but we are looking forward to our Heavenly Kingdom.
He acknowledges that the addressed Roman leaders as well as others are all looking to find the truth. He even calls on the Philosophers which all would know at the time such as Plato, Pythagoras, Homer and many Roman equivalents who all were on the quest for Truth. Because of his early education, he was able to speak directly to the ideas which Roman Leaders could understand.
Justin and the Mass
Probably one of the most interesting parts of his 1st Apology is his description of the Mass and Catholic beliefs.
His letter shows that from the very beginning we believed that baptism had a regenerating effect and remitted sins.
He describes Going to the Mass weekly, on Sundays, hearing from the Priests who would announce and then teach on the writings of the Prophets and the memoirs of the Apostles.
And Justin wrote of the Eucharistic celebration. The Eucharist was open to only those who held the taught beliefs, lived in accordance to Jesus’ principles and that this simple bread and wine was actually turned into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.
He was martyred about the year 165, as his name implies,
What can we learn
We do have to acknowledge that Justin was an apologist and philosopher and not a theologian. There are some things which we would consider in error today, but his purpose was not write a catechism, Keep in mind it would be another 170 years until the first Council of Nicea.
I encourage each of you to read his letters. They are all out on the internet and can be found in the Library. Not only will they give you a visit into our current faith, 1900 years after it was written, but certainly they will give a very good viewpoint of the early Christians and the culture which they were living in.
Be good Play Nice Think God!
One can read the readings of Today June 1, 2019 by clicking on the following link http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060119.cfm