Apostolic

People today can be very full of themselves (and we can be too).

We know so much more than people in the past. Our lives are so much more blessed.

Two thousand years of human progress have brought us to this amazing place: we are just like the Christians of ancient Corinth.

Like the people of Corinth, we can be puffed up with pride: exceedingly vulnerable to catastrophic downfall.

St. Paul speaks with sarcasm to shame our pride and bring us back to reality: a reality grounded on what we know as the apostolic tradition, a reality we profess every time we state our belief in a Church that is one, holy, and apostolic.

Every generation always thinks it is smarter than the ones before it, and in certain technical senses, they are. We may grow in our knowledge of the universe, but it remains the same universe. Likewise, we may grow in our understanding of the faith, but it remains the same deposit of faith that we have received from the Apostles. We may come up with new ideas that have a certain value, but only that which Christ has given us through the Apostles can be salvific and anything that detracts from that will hurt us.

This is why Paul warns “not to go beyond what is written.” God wills that salvation comes through Christ and that His faith should come to us through His Apostles.

But our faith is apostolic not only because it comes to us from the Apostles, it is apostolic because it has the same dynamism as that of the Apostles: the same dynamism in what is done and in what is suffered.

Like the Apostles, we must spread the word of God, the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is our faith. This is what we must do. This is the way to salvation.

Like the Apostles, we must also suffer, for the world will sooner or later reject us, like the Apostles. This is our faith. This is what we must do. This is the way to salvation.