 |
Introduction.
I have often gotten into discussion with Catholics and non- Catholics that have little knowledge of history. So I thought a simple, though detailed, Church history would help in so many ways.
I don't pretend to be an expert in history. So as the saying goes, "if something is worth doing --it is worth doing badly"
This is not an apologetic work, in the sense of defending all decisions as right or morally made by Catholics, or even the leadership of the Church.The Cathodic Church has not always made the best political decisions, nor have all Catholics been saints, even saints have not been perfect--saints are just sinners that try harder.
So I hope I can help a few people in a small way in bite sizes pieces.
If you are Catholic, and you know little about your heritage, I hope this helps, and I hope you will enjoy it. Even if you are not Catholic it always helps to see another perceptive. All are welcome.
History gives insight into the situation people faced. We often judge people too harshly after the fact. It is easy to be a "Monday morning quarterback", or "a general after the war". But people do what they can in the circumstance given. Without the context of “the story"---history-- we can lose perspective.
The history of Christendom is an epic story. It is a real soap opera of heroes and villains; love and war.
Let's start:
Pentecost Birthday of the Catholic Church
I want to begin this history, not with Jesus Christ, because that is easily found, and most Christians know that story. I want to start at the beginning of Christendom-- the public life of the Church; its birthday: Pentecost. Most people are not familiar with the early Church.
We will be filling in some gaps in the new Testament. Like what happened to Pontius Pilate?
Or what happened to the 12 Apostles?
I will try to piece together what little we know, but we know more than most would suspect.
It is her birthday because it begins Her public ministry to the world.
Ludwig Ott --Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.
["On the Feast of Pentecost']
"the Risen Christ strengthened the Church with the supernatural power of the Holy [Spirit] who descended upon the Church and led her into the beginning of her public activity just as He Himself at the beginning of His teaching activity was publicly attested to and inducted into His Messianic Office by the descent in visible form of the Holy [Spirit] upon Him" [pg. 292]
Luke 3:22:
“and the Holy Spirit descended on him [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
On May 29. 30 AD it was a Sunday, and Jews had traveled from all over the world to join in the Jewish feast of Pentecost or stayed from the time of the Passover a few weeks earlier.
Many don't appreciate how crowded Jerusalem probably was at this time. It is certain that Jesus had become famous among the Jews, in the 3 years of his ministry, all the miracles he had worked, and his conflicts with the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, made him well known, at least among the Jews.
After Jesus ascended into heaven he had about 120 followers. The leaders of them, the Apostles, were hiding from the Jews. The Apostles and his mother were gathered in a house, praying and waiting as Jesus had asked, most likely in St. Mark's house who was young at the time.
It is probable that the Jews knew where they were, but as long as they didn't cause trouble, only gossipers cared. All those in Jerusalem were wondering what would happen after the crucifixion and the claims that Jesus rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven?
On this Sunday, in May, in the area where most knew the Apostles were hiding there was a great sound like a howling wind. People didn't have TVs back then, so they were always up for seeing something new and exciting.
So people gathered where the sound was coming from. From the book of Acts (Acts 2:1) we know that the Holy Spirit descended then, and appeared over the heads of the Apostles like tongues of fire.
They went outside speaking and some said they were drunk, but then they realized a miracle. People had come from all over the known world for the feast, and all could understand them in their own native language. This was astounding.
On that day 3000 people were baptized and believed in Jesus as Savior and Lord. So they went from about 120 believers to 3000 in a matter of hours. And what many people miss is that all these people would soon go back to their own countries.
Thus the Gospel would go out into the whole world in a massive wave. It was like a spiritual atomic bomb. Christendom was now on the world stage and over the next 20 centuries what happened here would change the world forever... and for the better.
continue to next chapter
No comments:
Post a Comment