This Sunday we celebrate the birthday of the Church, Pentecost. The best scholarly estimates put us somewhere around the age of 1,980 years old, give or take a few years but who's counting when you you've made it this far. We should be proud though as believers of every generation have sustained the Church in spite of persecution and even threats from within. From the time of the Apostles, believers have listened to and obeyed the voice of God to bring us to this point in time, when we have been asked to sustain the Church for the next generation.
Through all the human weakness, God has delivered the voice of Christ to succeeding generations. We owe a great debt to all who have gone before us. Untold numbers of martyrs who willingly died like Christ to spread the faith. We have untold numbers of saints who witnessed a life of sacrifice, penance and prayer and who have drawn untold numbers to Christ and the Church through this witness. We even have to thank the heretics in a way, as they're errors brought forth the courage of so many to stand and fight for the truth as we now know it. Much of our doctrine and dogma has been strengthened or established by those God raised up to fight a particular heresy.
We never know the tribulations that the Church will face. The Church still suffers many martyrs every year. We in this country have not been asked to do so. Perhaps someday God will again ask the Church, even here, to be martyrs and be courageous for the faith. At the very least, God continues to call all of us to sainthood by modeling the lives and stories of those who have gone before us. A wonderful happy birthday to all of us.
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