The End Of The Protest - The Beginning Of Glory! Part 4

I have been mesmerized by the pastoral tone and simultaneous brilliance I encounter in studying a new book by dear brother in Christ, Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio.

Marcellino's very exciting book "When the Church Was Young" Voices of The Early Fathers (Should be a part of every Christian Library of any persuasion Catholic, Protestant or Independent.)

As I read, it made me study. As I read I felt as though Marcellino was helping me to step into the shoes of those I was reading about. What I read was pungent with the aroma of the Holy Spirit. Marcellino is a Spirit fed, Spirit led writer who has that very unique gift that makes you feel like you are part of His tour through the early days of the church. For us non-Catholic believers, he gently and passionately gives us the clues to understanding those issues of faith no one ever talks about. Making the sign of the Cross, for example, on the forehead was simply a symbolic way of "Putting on the Armor of God" and the sign of the Cross from forehead to heart and then right and left is "The breastplate of righteousness". It came from a time when Rome was falling and to return to their former glory one of the Caesars insisted that the Christians be put to death. When Augustus pleaded with him "Can't we all just get along?" 

Caesar insisted that when these Christians made the sign of the Cross their gods became silent. The 'diviners' couldn't get their messages from the entrails! I remember one dear preacher brother telling me of how his boys would put on the armor of God every morning. Wonderful! Now we know our dear Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have been doing this for centuries right on up to professional baseball players when coming to bat! Symbolic gestures of faith had a place in the early church and does so now. Nothing really separates us but our own narrowness and lack of passion for everything the Lord has for us.

Communion is just that. We place all our notions at the foot of the Cross and then come to the Table of the Lord empty handed and hungry. We receive life from the only one who can give it. He prepares His Table for us and He is the meal. When all of God's people come empty handed to the Table of the Lord while compelling others to come with them then we will feel the heartbeat of heaven stronger and stronger. We will get glimpses of Jesus standing at the door. Today's parousia at the Lord's Table is but a taste of what eternity is about to unveil. Jesus is at the door. The more we come to sit at His Table and the more often we do the thinner the veil becomes between the temporary and the eternal - between Jesus and His Bride - between your heart and the heart of Jesus - between Jesus presence in our lives and recognizing His presence among each other. ------------------------^

--> There is No Real Communion without Real Communion! Jesus designed it that way. He made it easy for us. He cries out to those who are overburdened, hungry, thirsty, poor, blind, halt and lame and those who are overlooked by the rest of the world, "COME TO ME! I will give you rest, food and drink enough for eternity. Come those who have no money! Bring in those who can't get here on their own! Go into the highways and byways and compel the overlooked, the marginalized and the rejected to sit at My Table!" 

This is the time to prepare for the Great Day of The Feast! He has been preparing for all eternity. The Early believers knew this and fought the good fight of faith. For many it cost them their life in this world. Today thousands more are giving up their lives for the faith all over the world. The blood of martyrs is flowing again. The attack is not over but the war is! We know the result. Jesus already won. The destiny of evil is jut as inevitable as the destination of those purchased by the Blood of Jesus. 

Marcellino brings us to the Table of the Lord in the early church so that we can know what it was like to share the Eucharist on a table that stood over the bones of those just martyred! 

We sit down with those who paved the way through the darkness of their modernity. We feel the pressure of the persecution and then the presence of the Holy Spirit and feel the faith of those who contended against the doubters, scorners, heretics, blasphemers and those who took the lives of those who stood in the liberty of Jesus Christ. There was no sting in death - only glory shining down from heaven.

Communion brings us into that same intimacy today. We sit with the Lord at His Table and when we do we are seated together in heavenly places surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, having Communion together feasting on the presence of the Lord! Alleluia!
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"When the Church Was Young" by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio A society characterized by loss of respect for life, violence, exotic religious cults, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, and even pedophilia. Sound familiar? This was the world of the early Church Fathers. In his engrossing new book, When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers, Marcellino D'Ambrosio (Dr. Italy) brings out the colorful personalities of these dynamic Christian leaders and makes their rich teaching accessible, enjoyable, and relevant to the challenges we face every day.

The Fathers of the Church succeeded in bringing a pagan society to Christ. If we pay attention to what they taught, we will succeed in doing the same for our own increasingly de-Christianized society. Paperback: 320 pages - Each Copy Autographed by Dr. Italy!

Marcellino is a world-renowned commentator on religious issues with a Ph.D. in Theology (under Cardinal  Avery Dulles), nine years o University teaching, and hundreds of published articles. He has a wealth of knowledge and knows how to make it accessible for a wide variety of audiences. As "Dr. Italy" D'Ambrosio has a popular website, Facebook page, Twitter feed and appears weekly on a variety of Catholic TV and radio networks. He is co-author of the million-copy best seller The Guide To The Passion.