FR. CAMPBELL, "Jesus Christ, the “Corner Stone” of our Faith"

Jesus Christ, the “Corner Stone” of our Faith

On the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year the Church reminds us of the Second Coming of Christ, Who will come in glory on the clouds of Heaven to judge the living and the dead. God “has rescued us from the power of darkness,” says St. Paul, reminding us to “walk worthily of God and please Him in all things” (Col.1:13;10).

As next Sunday will be the First Sunday of Advent, and we begin a new Church Year, we must make an assessment of our progress, or lack of it, during the past year, and make some important decisions. If we are to “walk worthily of God”, how do we do it, when the whole world is in full revolt against God and His Holy Church? The truth is that while we are in this world, we are not of this world, because God has “rescued us from the power of darkness” through our holy Baptism. St. Peter makes it clear that we are no longer of this world:

“Beloved, I exhort you as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from carnal desires which war against the soul. Behave yourselves honorably among the pagans; that, whereas they slander you as evildoers, they may, through observing you, by reason of your good works glorify God in the day of visitation” (1Pet.2:11,12).

We will let St. Paul speak for us:

“The sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand, because it is examined spiritually. But the spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, that he might instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1Cor.2:14-16).

Jesus Christ Himself, now reigning in Heaven, makes it clear that his followers are not citizens of this world but of Heaven. Having come into this world from the Father, and being born of the Holy Virgin Mary, Jesus prayed to the Father:

“I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou take them out of the world, but that thou keep them from evil” (Jn.17:14,15).

Our Lord was praying for us. We are pilgrims, then, no longer of the race of Adam, but our Head is Jesus Christ, who will come on the clouds of heaven to take us home, for “our true home is in heaven” (Phil.3:20).

St. Peter, St. Paul, and the other apostles, found themselves in a corrupt and unbelieving world, no different in that respect from the world we live in today. But we must resist the devil and hold our ground against the enemies of our souls, says St. Peter:

“Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering befalls your brethren all over the world” (1Pet.5:8,9).

We are God’s building, the Church, which is built up of living stones, says Peter:

“Be you yourselves as living stones, built thereon into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Hence Scripture says, ‘Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, chosen, precious; and he who believes in it shall not be put to shame’” (1Pet.2:5,6).

Jesus issued a stern warning to the unbelieving Pharisees:

“Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, has become the corner stone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people yielding its fruits. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Mt.21:42-44).

That chief corner stone is Jesus Christ, as St. Peter says:

“This is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the corner stone.’ Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11,12).

Let those who deny the power of our Risen Lord take note. And let us, as “living stones”, give our strength and support to the Church.

“This, therefore, I say and testify in the Lord, that henceforward you are not to walk as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding clouded in darkness, estranged from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. For they have given themselves up in despair to sensuality, greedily practicing every kind of uncleanness. But you have not so learned Christ… But be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which has been created by God in justice and holiness of truth” (Eph.4:17-21a;23,24).   

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