Fear Not 220

Beloved brethren, gathered in the bosom of the one holy Catholic Church, let us ponder deeply the words of the Apostle to the Romans: 'we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.' Written from Corinth around the year of our Lord 57, as Paul prepared to carry alms to Jerusalem before turning his face toward Rome and ultimately martyrdom, this epistle unfolds the mystery of justification by faith. In the shadow of the imperial city where Caesar claimed divine honors, Paul declares that through our Lord Jesus Christ we have obtained access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. The Early Fathers, those pillars of the apostolic tradition, expound this hope with luminous clarity. St. John Chrysostom, in his homilies on Romans, teaches that the boast here is no empty vaunting of human merit but a joyful confidence rooted in the reconciliation wrought by Christ's blood. For as the golden-mouthed preacher declares, having been justified, we no longer fear the wrath to come but exult in the promise of partaking in the very glory that shone upon Tabor. St. Augustine of Hippo, wrestling with the Pelagian error in his treatises on grace, reminds us that this hope is the anchor of the soul, forged in the furnace of tribulations which produce patience, and patience experience, and experience hope that 'maketh not ashamed.' The Catena of patristic wisdom further illuminates how the Apostle contrasts the glory lost in Adam with the glory restored in Christ, the second Adam, so that we who were children of wrath become heirs of the divine nature. In the catacombs where martyrs' blood watered the seeds of faith, this boasting sustained the faithful amid persecution, for the glory they hoped to share was not of this world but the uncreated light of the Trinity. Let us therefore, with the Fathers, lift our voices in exultation, for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. #FearNot220 #FearNotUNPLUGGED #178of220 #Catholic