Monthly Archives: May 2024

“Soldiers for Christ” and the Standard of Christ

31 Friday May 2024

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“Soldiers for Christ” is a term used in our Christian life of faith but it is an ambiguous term in that it lends itself to different meanings for different people and it is an image that can be depicted and has been depicted in a variety of ways.  There are references to being “soldiers for Christ” (2 Tim 2:3) and putting on “the armor of God” (Eph. 6:11-17) in scripture and these passages highlight the resolve and determination that the life of faith demands.  Jesus never denounced military service; at one point he commends the faith of the Roman centurion (Mt. 8:5-13) and he made use of military images in his teaching (i.e. Mt. 14:31-33) but Jesus himself never used the term “soldier” in reference to his followers. 

My fallback for direction in the use of this term and its imagery is the “Standard of Christ” that St. Ignatius of Loyola speaks of in his spiritual exercises.  St. Ignatius came from a military background.  He knew the role that the lifted military standard or banner played in relaying orders and focusing the movement of soldiers across the chaos of a battlefield before there was any form of electronic communication.  Soldiers in St. Ignatius’ time knew to focus on their standard as the success of the battle and their very lives depended upon it. 

In the exercises, St. Ignatius encourages us to reflect on the two standards: the standard of Christ and the standard of Satan.  The standard of Satan is marked by riches, desire for vain honor and surging pride.  In contrast, the standard of Christ calls forth three steps: “the first, poverty in opposition to riches; the second, reproaches or contempt in opposition to honor from the world; and the third, humility in opposition to pride.” (SE 146) It is in these three steps that the good soldier rallies under the standard of Christ and knows success in the battle with the powers of the world.

“Poverty in opposition to riches.”  When the world says, “More is better.” the soldier under the standard of Christ learns that less is enough and that choosing the less leads to a joy that the world cannot offer.  Those who place themselves under the standard of Christ are called to learn and grow in appreciation of both the material and spiritual poverty that Jesus himself exemplified in order to learn reliance on God and to grow in relationship with God.  Why are you anxious about clothes?  Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.  They do not work or spin.  But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.  If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not provide for you, O you of little faith?  (Mt. 6:28-30)  A mark of the soldier of Christ is the ability and the desire to choose the less, just as Jesus did. 

“Reproaches or contempt in opposition to honor from the world.”  Just as Jesus himself was doubted, viewed with suspicion, misunderstood, the subject of slander, mockery and ridicule so will the soldier, who freely stands under the standard of Christ, be.  The disciple is not one who willingly seeks these things out nor revels in them (a badge of honor quickly leading into the sin of pride) but rather, learns that there are abundant graces received when one can walk through such moments as they come in faith and trust.  The disciple knows, that by so doing, he or she is walking where Jesus walked and that Jesus, himself, is present in companionship.  There is grace to be found when one is misunderstood, rejected and viewed in contempt for holding true to Jesus.  Whether or not it is recognized and valued by friend, stranger or neighbor, it is recognized and valued by Jesus and Jesus makes himself known to those who walk through reproaches and contempt for him.  The true soldier remains close to Jesus and patiently endures the storm if needed.    

“Humility in opposition to pride.”  The eternal Word let go of glory and humbly took the form of a slave being born of a virgin.  Jesus embraced humility throughout his life and ministry upon this earth.  Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and he humbly bore the weight of the cross.  In humble acceptance to the will of the Father, he even embraced death on the cross.  Humility is the road that Jesus himself walked and it is the disciple’s royal road of return to the Father.  It is within the humble heart alone that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit make their dwelling-place.  Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.  (Jn. 14:23)  Soldiers for Christ come to know humility both as a needed virtue and as a privileged place of encounter with the Triune God. 

What does it mean to be a soldier for Christ?  St. Ignatius, through his Spiritual Exercises, gives us a good understanding.  The soldier for Christ is the one who remains under the Standard of Christ.  The soldier for Christ is the one who learns the value of poverty, the value of reproaches and contempt and the value of humility. 

The Holy Spirit and the two vistas

13 Monday May 2024

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View from a hike on Hogback Trail in Lathrop State Park, CO.

The Holy Spirit opens vistas both before us and within us. 

Vistas, those wide expansive views, are part of what has been drawing me increasingly out west on vacation.  My home of East Tennessee is, I believe, one of the most beautiful places on God’s green earth but one thing it lacks are the vistas found in the western United States.  In a vista one can see for miles and miles and the sky opens before you!  Vistas and their sweeping views help to put all things and even ourselves in perspective.  When I gaze on the expansiveness of a vista, I hear an echo of a similar expanse within my very soul.  Wonder is easily born in those moments when one is caught up in the view of a vista. 

The Holy Spirit, the Advocate promised by the risen Jesus, continually opens every Christian disciple and the Church herself to the great vista before us which is the coming of the Kingdom of God.  The Church cannot stay behind locked doors.  This is not the mandate given us nor is it where we belong.  The Church must go forth into the world as Jesus has instructed us.  Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. (Mk. 16:15) 

The Church goes forth to proclaim the good news confidently because she knows that behind and undergirding the horizon of the world is the greater horizon of the Kingdom of God.  It is on this greatest of vistas that the eyes of the Church are set and to which her heart is drawn.  Hope is given by the Holy Spirit who has been poured forth and who dwells in our heart, who reminds us that we are indeed sons and daughters of God and who gives us the assurance to call God “Abba” (Rom. 8:14-17).  We proclaim the good news in the confidence of children of God knowing the truth of the Kingdom!    

The Holy Spirit also opens us to the vistas found within our very selves and to their expansive views. 

The topic I wrote on for my licentiate in sacred theology was a comparison of our modern understanding of what constitutes the human person and the concept of the human person as expressed by St. Augustine in his writing of The Literal Meaning of Genesis.  Through the comparison I came to realize how truly anemic and limited in some very critical ways our modern secular understanding of the human person is.  Modern secular definitions of the human person are limited because – through a whole development of historical-societal occurrences and trends in philosophical thought – we have boxed ourselves in.  We have isolated ourselves from any hint of a connection with the transcendent as well as increasingly isolating ourselves from authentic connection with one another.  This anemic understanding of the human person is, I believe, at the heart of many of our current societal ills and confusions. We have forgotten who we are, in whose image we are made and for what purpose we are made.  We have forgotten and cut ourselves off from seeing our own expansiveness. 

We have lost sight of our own inner vistas. 

The concept of the human person found in St. Augustine’s The Literal Meaning of Genesis on the other hand, does not box us in.  In fact, it does the exact opposite.  Where modern understanding locks the human person in a box, the thought that St. Augustine expresses in his writing on Genesis locates us in a columned courtyard (my image) which stands open, by design, both to the sky above as well as to all of the surrounding vistas.  For Augustine, we are hardwired for authentic and true connection both with God and with one another.  Not so for the modern secular understanding of the human person. 

It seems to me that a critically important task for the Christian disciple in our world today is to free ourselves from/step out of the box of this modern concept of the human person which we have all inherited.  It is fair and just to acknowledge the good found in this modern inheritance (and there is good) but we do not have to be imprisoned nor limited by the constraints also found within this inheritance. 

The Holy Spirit is the prime mover in this task.  We have received the Spirit who is the very love between the Father and the Son. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it.  But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. (Jn. 14:16-18)

Truth cannot exist alongside illusion and falsity and the “Spirit of truth” has been given us and even dwells within us.  The “world” – human pride and error – does not recognize the Spirit because the Spirit is not constrained by its limits and the Spirit has been given to us to continually set us free from whatever would seek to bind and imprison us as well as deny our dignity – whatever would box us in.  The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (Jn. 3:8)    

Ask the Holy Spirit to strip away any and all internal illusions of isolation and separation.  It is time to move beyond the sad and anemic concept of the human person found in modern secularism.  Pray the Holy Spirit to liberate you and bring you into a living and authentic relationship with God and with others – not an isolating box but a columned courtyard open both to the wonder of the sky and the surrounding vistas! 

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba, “Father!”  The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we also may be glorified with him.  (Rom. 8:14-17)

We, who have received the Holy Spirit, are called to keep our eyes fixed on the great vista before us which is the coming Kingdom of God as well as be ever aware and attentive to the expansive vistas that God has placed within us. 

The two vistas are connected: if not even one and the same.