The Areopagus
Today's first reading at Holy Mass speaks of St. Paul's arrival in Athens and his subsequent preaching to the Greek pagan residents there.
But what is the Areopagus? What is its significance? I'm always fascinated by history and how it intersects with our Faith.
The Areopagus, literally the Rock of Ares, (after the Greek god of war) was a stone outcropping below the famous Acropolis, where trials were often held and acted as a natural pulpit for speakers. Athens, like other major cities, was a cultural melting pot, where people of various races, tongues, and beliefs intermingled, conducting business, trade, etc.
St. Paul addresses the crowds from this rock, after noticing the many pagan temples to the Greek gods. The Athenians were a very religious people, in their own way, even going so far as to erecting an altar to an unknown god, in order to cover their bases. It is interesting to consider how the Greeks, known for their logic and philosophy, were, at the same time, very open to the worship of divinities. One can see here a primitive form of our Catholic emphasis on using both faith and reason to encounter the world.
Today, unfortunately, society seems to repudiate any religious sense of the transcendent or sacred, while, at the same time, repudiating the use of logic and philosophy to arrive at the ultimate truths.
So, in a very real way, the crowd that Paul addresses is markedly different than our cultural milieu. However, if we examine the methodology that Paul employs, we find a valuable lesson, one that sits firmly in Catholic Tradition: that of not rejecting other cultural expressions outright, but rather, digging deeper to uncover the workings of the Holy Spirit.
We are tasked with the same mission as St. Paul, as Vatican II reminds us, we, as baptized Christians, each are called to be missionaries, to seek out the lost and straying, and to help open their eyes to God's presence and working in this world.
Indeed, Saint Pope John Paul II, christened our modern media as the New Aeropagus, and urged us to go forth and engage the culture!
This is our marching orders. See you on the spiritual battlefield. Fight the good fight!
But what is the Areopagus? What is its significance? I'm always fascinated by history and how it intersects with our Faith.
The Areopagus, literally the Rock of Ares, (after the Greek god of war) was a stone outcropping below the famous Acropolis, where trials were often held and acted as a natural pulpit for speakers. Athens, like other major cities, was a cultural melting pot, where people of various races, tongues, and beliefs intermingled, conducting business, trade, etc.
St. Paul addresses the crowds from this rock, after noticing the many pagan temples to the Greek gods. The Athenians were a very religious people, in their own way, even going so far as to erecting an altar to an unknown god, in order to cover their bases. It is interesting to consider how the Greeks, known for their logic and philosophy, were, at the same time, very open to the worship of divinities. One can see here a primitive form of our Catholic emphasis on using both faith and reason to encounter the world.
Today, unfortunately, society seems to repudiate any religious sense of the transcendent or sacred, while, at the same time, repudiating the use of logic and philosophy to arrive at the ultimate truths.
So, in a very real way, the crowd that Paul addresses is markedly different than our cultural milieu. However, if we examine the methodology that Paul employs, we find a valuable lesson, one that sits firmly in Catholic Tradition: that of not rejecting other cultural expressions outright, but rather, digging deeper to uncover the workings of the Holy Spirit.
We are tasked with the same mission as St. Paul, as Vatican II reminds us, we, as baptized Christians, each are called to be missionaries, to seek out the lost and straying, and to help open their eyes to God's presence and working in this world.
Indeed, Saint Pope John Paul II, christened our modern media as the New Aeropagus, and urged us to go forth and engage the culture!
This is our marching orders. See you on the spiritual battlefield. Fight the good fight!
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