25 May 2022
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles identifies one of the great controversies of the church and one that continues to this day. In today’s readings, one group holds to the Mosaic law as an essential requirement for conversion. The issue of circumcision was no small issue and it touched upon a sensitive matter. Throughout the history of the church, the challenge has always been to spread the faith but not necessarily the cultural setting by which the faith may have been experienced. Note the following recommendations from the Church:
Do not act with zeal, do not put forward any arguments to convince these peoples to change their rites, their customs, or their usages, except if they are evidently contrary to religion and morality. What would be more absurd than to bring France, Spain, or Italy or any other European country to the Chinese?
Some may think that this recommendation was penned at the Second Vatican Council. Its authors actually came from the Propaganda Fide in 1659. There are no hard and fast rules as to how the faith should be spread, but at least it is some comfort to know that the church grows in wisdom by the constant reacuring questions as to how to best articulate the faith.