If we look carefully at the second reading we can see some of the tools of a spiritual revolution that is the nature of the Gospel. Remember, this is the letter of St. Peter, it is written by Peter in the middle of the first century, obviously prior to his martyrdom in Rome around 64 A.D.

He is writing to early Christians who are living in a time that is hostile to Christianity, an attitude that began at the time of Christ and continued until the conversion of the Roman Empire in 319 A.D. Read his words and you will see a strategy of how to live in an evangelical manner in a world hostile to the message of the gospel.

• Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
• Be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, do it with gentleness and reverence,
• Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.
• Be ready to suffer for doing good

If you look carefully you will see what almost looks like marching orders, instructions on how to live as you go into battle. The reason is because that is what they are.

Register for free and receive all the news from the Catholicismanew.org … by email click here

If we are going to live our Christian faith, we have to realize that one aspect of living it, is that we are at war. St. Paul talks about this, but our battle is not with Earthly powers or political forces, it is a spiritual battle which we fight spiritually. This is why the Church has survived so many political battles, because it fights a spiritual war, spiritually.

What does this mean. It really highlights that we are living a battle that is waged against all of humanity, where the prize  is literally paid in souls, either the battle is lost to the enemy of humanity who wants to see the destruction of the humanity or it is won by the savior who has redeemed all of humanity. The war is won, but our battle is now to lead each person to make the choice of which side they want to be on. One side promises eternal pleasure and offers nothing but misery and the other side promises eternal joy and makes good on its promises. The battle is to help people make the right choice and seek that which leads to eternal joy. As you can see in the world around us we have much to do.

This is where Peter’s words come in, for they call us to reflect living the gospel in way that leads us to challenge the culture we live, just as Christians did in his time. It is not beyond comprehension to realize that Peter understood what many in his time did no: the world was about to change radically. There was soon to be a time when the temple in Jerusalem would no longer exist. When the Jewish nation would be scattered throughout the world. He also understood the Roman Empire would also cease to exist and all glory of Rome would be reduced to rubble. Those who rely on their faith in God have, what Jesus taught, a house built on rock. However, those who rely on their faith in the cement structures of world or political power would have nothing. What Peter is teaching is not only that we have the power of Rock of Christ in our own life, we also must lead others to have that power, for it is God’s will that all are saved. Know the truth and rely on Christ for all other structures are fluid.

We live in a world that rejects completely the concept of the spiritual and, therefore, loses every spiritual battle, or worse yet, become slaves for the spiritual forces that seek human destruction. Indeed, the secular world view is actually closer to that of Ancient Rome whereas the Catholic worldview is more advanced.

From the time of Constantine to the Twentieth Century there was a growing common Christian worldview that may have at times been hostile to the Church but not completely hostile to Christ. Now we live in a world that is seeking to eliminate Christ from our culture and other cultures of the world. This was predicted by Pope Leo XIII and even Our Lady of Fatima. It is a time of a battle between opposing sides of spiritual forces and you are on the front lines in this battle. It is an environment similar to that of the first century. We have to come to terms with this definition of who we are, because by doing so, we come to terms with what it means to live our faith. We are not just supposed to be nice people for the whole week. We are to live in a way that leads people to ask the point of our hope, the reason for our way of life, that they may see the battle and choose the right side. That is what Catholic morality is all about, it is not about earning our way to Heaven, but testifying to the truth that is beyond what the human eye can see.

Our call to do this is greater than our immediate ancestors for we are living a time closer to the culture that surrounded Peter than the one that surrounded our grand parents.

You and I have a baptismal call to enter into the battle for souls and we do it by following St. Peter’s Marching orders, by living the commandments and more importantly by being in a close relationship with Jesus Christ who calls us sinners into His battle for the salvation of souls.

God Bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find at his website. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook