Bulletin - Our Lady of the Rosary Church (Canada). Nov 17, 2002 AD.


The Moral Miracle of the Expansion of the Catholic Church:

The Grain of mustard seed of the Gospel

    Physical and moral miracles:

  Miracles are not limited to those facts which cannot be explained by the physical laws which govern the Universe; such as the sudden cure of some illness or the raising of someone from the dead.

  There are also MORAL MIRACLES , actions which are superior to the normal powers of the human will.

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EXPANSION:
The rapid expansion of the Church throughout the world during the first three centuries is a fact which is not explained by anything human  -  it is beyond the powers of the human will.

  The stability of the Church throughout the ages is also a moral miracle. But let us only consider the rapid spread of a religion which gave no chance of intellectual, dogmatic or moral freedom, with no promise of relaxation of morals - quite the opposite; and which, as it spread, brought about a complete reformation in the moral customs of the time.

  It is a fact which cannot be denied - when Constantine became emperor (and was the first emperor to convert to Christianity) the major part of the empire was already Christian. The conversion of the emperor was an admission of an already accomplished fact.
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  The Obstacles and the Means which Christianity used to overcome them

  Factors against its spread:
(a) It was a foreign religion, and Jєωιѕн at that:

i. in an era of religious nationalism. As Origen notes, no legislator, whether Roman or Greek, tried to legislate for foreigners, even though he may have wished to do so, because they thought it impossible to overcome the prejudice which would arise. The unity imposed by Rome was very superficial and always respected local cults. This was an essential element in the Roman conquest of the world.
ii. the Jews were a despised people as a whole; Christ and his apostles were presented to the world as traitors, even by their own race.


(b) A universal religion:
i. Christianity tried to be a universal religion, unifying Greeks, Romans and Jews-which would be repugnant to them all.
ii. Celsus thought it impossible that all peoples, especially those of Asia, Europe and Libya, Greeks and barbarians, should be united under one rule of law; to which Origen replied that it could be done only by the power of Christ, which was superior to all vices.

(c) The only religion:

i. the gods which already existed and which Christianity attempted to
overthrow were a symbol of imperial unity against the barbarian, while at the same time the common people held them in esteem. To the latter they formed part of their tradition and inheritance.
ii. this explains the ferocity of the later persecutions, which were an attempt to destroy Christianity so as to cement the unity of the empire against the barbarians. The accusation that Christianity had destroyed this unity was so serious that Augustine was forced to write 'De Civitate Dei' to refute it.

(d) A religion of dogmas:

i. which were repugnant to the skeptical or rationalist philosophers of the time, because they could not explain them;
ii. and to the people, such as that of a God who was crucified.


(e) Religion of austere morality:

i. it is enough to read the Epistles to the Corinthians to see how opposed Christianity was to the morals of the time;
ii. it is enough to see how the doctrine of the resurrection scandalized the Athenians and how worried Felix was at the doctrine of married chastity.
iii. infanticide, immorality of all kinds, degeneration, divorce. ... The Christian had to avoid the diversions of his age and was classified as an enemy of the human race.


(f) Against this religion were unloosed physical persecution, calumny,
hatred of all kinds

i. the accusation of cannibalism;
ii. adoration of animals;
iii. accused of every public calamity. 'If the Tiber rises up to the very walls, if the Nile does not rise to flood the fields... if there is pestilence.... The Christians to the lions '! (Tertullian).

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The Triumph of Christianity is a Moral Miracle:

  There is an apparent disproportion between these things and the means used to overcome them: apostles who were illiterate and without arms; they neither praise the passions nor try to stir up revolution; promise eternal life and pardon for sin, but at the price of a great effort here below, which other religions did not exact.

(a) It is not logical:

  Christian Truth can overcome by itself. In the very heart of Christianity itself, and from the very first, there were heresies and schisms.

(b) The finger of God was there:

  The difficulties are terrifying; the human means futile. It was a task performed by children, virgins and poor people without any power or influence. There is nothing for it but to confess that the hand of God was there.

The END.