At the Feet of a Young Man
We use our senses to understand the world around us, but when we go about life in search of reality, we use much more. Our background, our upbringing, our wants and desires, our strengths and our weaknesses all play a role in our perception of reality; every conflict arises when two individuals or two parties disagree on reality. However, as Christians who live according to the natural rationality that God bestowed upon us at our creation, we absolutely reject that two realities such as these can exist at the same time; there is only one objective reality in accordance with the truth, and it usually lies somewhere in the middle between two conflicting worldviews. To be ardent defenders of the truth - that there is only one reality - does not seem to resolve conflict; yet, in history, Christianity was the arbiter of world peace and the first real power structure that transcended conflict as a means to gain power.
As people who live in a world deeply influenced by the Christian worldview, we falsely assume that the solidarity that we know we are capable of as global humans is something that we are naturally predisposed to prefer. In reality, working together as human beings for a common goal (our survival and our thriving as a global community) only arose because of Christianity. How was this possible? The answer is simple - Christianity taught the fullness of Truth. For much of our existence before Christ, all humans either had a fraction of the Truth or no knowledge of the Truth at all, which we cannot blame them for (Peter certainly doesn’t blame anyone when he speaks of this in the book of Acts). However, if there’s no such thing as truth, it is impossible to recognize what is reality. When you can’t recognize reality, the only thing that matters is power. In Christianity, the Church did not need raw power or military might to change the world; all it needed was the truth, which made the ardent followers of Christ peaceful, but fierce defenders of that Truth. Look at Stephen in today’s first reading. He had absolutely no power in his predicament in front of the authority figures of his community, and still he chooses to unapologetically and fiercely tell each one of them the truth. The authorities did what everyone did in those days and what everyone does in the modern age when truth is irrelevant - they had him killed. But if Christianity is the Truth, then that means Christ is not only in accordance with what is true, but that he is Truth itself. And he didn’t need power to change the world.
Within four hundred years, Christianity dominated the western world, and the western world came to dominate the entire globe up until the past few hundred years. This was only really possible due to the tireless evangelization of one "young man" described in this first reading - Paul. Paul never knew Christ personally. Instead, he knew his followers. As a member of that pre-Christian world that thrived off of power, Paul (who was then known as Saul) was a defender of his own reality, his own upbringing, and his own wants and desires whenever he persecuted those Christians. We are told that he was present and consented to the killing of Stephen, the first martyr of the faith. Witnesses to Stephen’s speech inspired by the Holy Spirit testified to Saul. Power does not convince someone of reality though, it merely overshadows reality. The Truth that Stephen professed slowly chipped away at Saul’s hardened heart so that, when the Truth revealed itself fully to him, he would dramatically conform himself to it. There is only one way to find peace and commonality with our neighbors for a better future - each one of us must conform ourselves entirely to the one and only objective Truth. Christ is that Truth.
Today's Readings:
