🕃 The Holy Prophet Zachariah and the righteous Elizabeth, Parents of the honurable John the Baptist; Venerable Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
1 Corinthians 4:17-5:5; Matthew 24:1-13.
Read 1 Corinthians 4:17-5:5
We are offered an opportunity to see and understand fatherhood in the first part of this letter by Paul. The Corinthians are experiencing the woundedness of being fractured by factions, and the decline of the spiritual gifts so richly experienced in the first steps of being a Christian community. There are some among them that have so inflated themselves with the self-created power in their words that these early brothers and sisters in the Lord begin to believe that Paul will never come back to visit them believing (incredulously) that they have been abandoned. Others among this community believe that with Paul now removed in their minds, they can now have control of the community.
What does Paul do? He behaves in the same manner as he had when he was among them. He cares and loves them as a father and calls them into maturity. He sends his number one pupil, Timothy, whom he considers a son, to be with them, to re-centre them on the Person of Jesus Christ, until he himself finishes his present work to visit and be with them again. Paul is not so much concerned about himself as he is with the Lord. When he first preached to the Corinthians, there was a power, not his power, but the Power of God, the Power of the Kingdom, that moved and changed the hearts of them, changing the way in which they lived. This is Power of the Cross!
We all have our spiritual fathers, do we not. Perhaps we are not yet blessed with a personal spiritual father, but we do have our pastors. They preach every Sunday to us. Like Paul, each has his own weakness. Paul was short of stature, may have had a speech impediment, and was at least so long in preaching that a man fell asleep and fell out of a window to his death (through Paul’s prayers, he was resurrected!). But still, out of the heart of Paul, a heart transformed by the presence of the Lord, his words had power, the Power of the Lord! Can we hear the Power of the Lord in the words of our pastors? Oh, that we would – what transformations would come to our parish communities, all of us – the Bride of Christ!