A letter for 2009 written around AD 125

Finding of Moses, Nicolas Poussin, 1651

When I tried to post this yesterday the people at blogspot were doing some scheduled maintenance work.

The Second Reading in the Office of Readings yesterday, Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter, was from the Letter to Diognetus. I found this background on it at Crossroads Initiative:

The Letter to Diognetus, dating from approximately 125AD, is the earliest example we have of an "apology," a document defending the Christian faith addressed to a non-Christian. It's author is anonymous and the "Diognetus" to whom it is addressed is also unknown. This brief but wonderful document is so close to the time of the Apostles that it is reckoned as falling within the category of the "Apostolic Fathers."

The extract used in the Office of Readings, which I found at Universalis.com, speaks to us today. I've added some emphases and comments.

The Christian in the world

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens [they don't see their faith as a 'private matter' having no bearing on society, on matters of basic justice, etc, but labour under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry [by marrying is meant one man marrying one woman] and have children, but they do not expose them [they do not abort them]. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.

Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonour, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.

Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.

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LifeSiteNews reported on Tuesday that babies of the 'wrong' sex may now be aborted for that reason alone. Pharaoh is indeed alive and well. How many potential leaders like Moses and compassionate women like Pharaoh's daughter will be killed before birth just for being male or female?