St. Justin

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins, and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

St. Justin was born in the region of Samaria at the beginning of the second century. Like some other thinkers of his day, he opened a school of philosophy in Rome. After his conversion, he carried out an effective apostolate from the school. He defended the Christian faith with his knowledge in times that were difficult for Christianity. The apologia addressed to Emperors Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius have been preserved. He died a martyr in Rome during the persecution of the latter emperor.

Because of the effort he made to defend the faith with his learning, with his knowledge, and for the exemplary value that this has for everyone, Pope Leo XIII extended his liturgical feast to the universal Church.

To start with, the faith took root among simple working people. People who worked in wool, with wool, soldiers in the ranks, blacksmiths. The many inscriptions that have been found in the catacombs tell us of a great variety of occupations and trades. Innkeepers, barbers, tailors, joiners, weavers. One of these inscriptions depicts a charioteer mounted on his chariot with a crown in his right hand and in his left the palm of martyrdom.

Very soon Christianity reached all social classes. Already in the second century, there were Christians who were senators like Apollonius, chief magistrates like the Consul Liberal, lawyers of the Roman Forum like Tertullian, and philosophers like St. Justin, whose feast we celebrate today, and who was converted to Christianity when he was already well on in years.

Christians do not separate themselves from their fellow citizens. They dress just like everyone else of their time and country. They claim their civic rights and they carry out their duties. They attend state schools like everyone else, and they’re not ashamed to profess their faith, even though for a long time the pagan environment in which they lived was very much against the Good News.

We see them defending the faith. Their right, their right to live it, and be at the same time Roman citizens like everybody else. With admirable constancy. Whether in the course of an ordinary conversation in the marketplace, or in the forum, or in the more formal setting of a defense of the faith with the weapons of the intellect, which was what St. Justin and the others did in the apologies for Christianity.

All of them, each one in his own place, knew how to give a serene testimony of Jesus Christ, which was the best of all apologies for the faith.

One of these living examples of the faith has come down to us through a piece of graffiti that is still preserved. On the Palatine, the hill on which stood the emperor’s palace and the villas of Roman noblemen, there was a school where page boys of the imperial court were trained. Among the pupils there, there must have been a Christian called Alexamenos. Because somebody had made a drawing on the wall representing a man with a donkey’s head nailed to a roughly hewn cross with a human figure alongside it. Beside the drawing can be read the inscription: “Alexamenos adores his God.”

The young Christian, with valor and pride in his faith, had written underneath in reply: “Alexamenos is faithful.”

This graffiti was typical of the sort of slander that was frequently circulated about the Christians. The man in the street heard an abundance of rumors, gossip, nonsense, and incredible stories. Among the more cultured classes, expressions like those transmitted to us by Tertullian were disdainfully passed from mouth to mouth. For example, that “Caius Seius is a good man... what a pity he’s a Christian.”

Another important personage said, “I am indeed surprised that Lucius Titius, a really intelligent man too, should have suddenly become a Christian.” Tertullian comments, it doesn’t occur to them to wonder whether Caius is a good man and Lucius is intelligent precisely because they are Christians, or whether they have become Christians precisely because one man is good and the other intelligent.

St. Justin knows how to talk about the greatness of the Christian faith, and how to compare it with all the different ways of thinking and ideologies fashionable in his day. He points out nobody believed Socrates to the point of giving his life for his teaching. However, not only philosophers and men of learning, but also lowly workers and totally uneducated men and women have believed in Christ. Such people have taken no notice of the opinion of the world at large. They’ve scorned fear and even death itself.

Justin himself was later to die giving witness to his faith. God asks us to be every bit as steadfast as he was, whatever our condition in life. Even if we sometimes find ourselves in an environment that is completely opposed to Christ’s teaching.

The greater the adversity, often the more opportunity there is for apostolate. In times of persecution and major tribulation, Christians continued to attract others to the faith. One writer says the very difficulties they faced were the opportunity for carrying out an even more intense apostolate, which was given greater credence than ever by the good example and fortitude of the Christians. Their words took on a new strength. The strength of the Cross.

Martyrdom was a kind of testimony that was filled with supernatural vigor and had great apostolic effectiveness. Sometimes the martyr’s very executioner embraced the Christian faith.

If we are really faithful to Christ, it is possible that we shall encounter difficulties of different kinds, from open slander and persecution to the realization that a door which should be open is closed to us. We may be relegated to a less prestigious job. Perhaps there will be sarcasm or superficial comments. But we’re told in St. Matthew, and can be consoled by the words, that “the disciple is not greater than his master” (Matt. 10:24).

A Christian’s life, and the meaning he gives to his existence, whether we like it or not, is bound to clash with a world that has fixed its heart on material things. Such difficulties afford us particularly appropriate opportunities for doing an effective apostolate, teaching the true nature of the Church, spreading writings that can clarify even the most controversial issues. Speaking out clearly about Christ and the Christian life.

The first Christians won through by their determination, and they taught us the way. Their unconditional fidelity to Christ overcame the pagan atmosphere that surrounded them. One writer says although they were immersed in the hostile mass of men, they did not look for isolation as a remedy against contagion and as a guarantee of their survival. They knew they were God’s leaven.

In the end, their silent and effective action gave shape to that very mass. In particular, they knew how to be serenely present in their world, how not to despise its values or to scorn any earthly realities.

If at times of misunderstanding or calumny we remain firm and constant in the personal apostolate that as Christians we are obliged to carry out, fruits will come to the Church in the most distant and remote corners of the world. In places where it seemed impossible that any results could be achieved. The more clearly the Cross can be seen, the more effective will be the apostolate.

We always have to live charity, particularly with those who may have no regard for us. Malicious gossip, calumny, and even martyrdom itself were unable to make the Christians retreat and resign themselves to being set apart from other citizens in some kind of ghetto, or feel themselves exiled from their own social milieu.

Even during the most difficult times of persecution, the presence of Christians in the world was a driving and active force. Christians defended their right to be consistent with their faith. Intellectuals like St. Justin defended it by their writings, which showed knowledge and common sense. St. Josemaría comments, mothers of families defended it by their friendly conversations and by the example of their lives.

It was in the midst of this storm of contradiction that Christians lived the new commandment of Jesus with even more determination. It was love that enabled them to make their way through that corrupt pagan world.

This practice of charity is more than anything else what seals us with a special seal in the eyes of many. Tertullian quotes, “See how they love one another, they say, for they themselves mutually hate one another. And how those Christians are ready to die for one another, while they themselves are ready rather to put each other to death.”

The early Christians did not hold a grudge against those who ill-treated them in any way. Like our first brothers in the faith, we too have always striven to drown evil in an abundance of good.

In the catecheses that he carried out during his short pontificate, John Paul I recalled the exemplary story of the sixteen Carmelite nuns who were martyred during the French Revolution and beatified by Pius X. It seems that during their trial it was suggested that they should be condemned to death for fanaticism. One of them asked the judge, “What does fanaticism mean?” He replied, “Your foolishness in belonging to religion.”

After the sentence had been pronounced and they were being led to the scaffold, they sang sacred hymns. When they reached the place of execution, one by one they knelt before the Prioress to renew their vow of obedience. Afterwards, they intoned the Veni Creator. Their singing became weaker as the successive heads of nuns fell under the guillotine. The Prioress was the last to go up. Her last words were, “Love will always be victorious. Love can overcome everything.”

The charity of the first Christians was aimed first and foremost at strengthening in the faith their weakest brethren. Those who had only recently been converted, and all those who were most in need.

On almost every page of the Acts of the Martyrs, specific details are related of this concern for the fidelity of those who were least strong. We must not fail to do the same in times of adversity, calumny, and persecution. We must support, wrap our cloaks round, wrap them around those who, owing to their age or other special circumstances, have greater need of being fortified. Our steadfastness and cheerfulness at such times will be of great help to others.

We can learn from the early Christians to have the courage to follow Christ in whatever environment we are in. When Jesus began his public life, many of his neighbors and relatives took him for a madman. On his first visit to Nazareth, his relatives deny seeing in him anything supernatural or extraordinary. In their comments, one can see that their envy is barely concealed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt. 13:54’55). And they took offense at him.

Right from the start, Jesus faced a steady stream of insults and abuse, born of cowardly egoism, because he proclaimed the word without human respect. This ill treatment increased steadily with time until it broke out into calumny and open persecution, culminating in the death sentence.

Christ’s fortitude was recognized even by his enemies, who said, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men” (Matt. 22:16). Christ asked his disciples to imitate him in this practice.

Christians should foster and defend their well-earned professional, moral, and social prestige because it belongs to the essence of human dignity. This prestige is also an important component of our personal apostolate. And yet we should not forget that our conduct will meet with opposition from those who openly oppose Christian morality, and those who practice a water-down version of the faith.

It’s possible that Our Lord will ask us the sacrifice of our good name, and even of life itself. With the help of his grace, we will struggle to do his will. Everything we have belongs to the Lord.

Each Christian has to put aside any fears of “rocking the boat,” should his upright conduct provoke criticism or rejection. Whoever, out of human respect, would hide their Christian identity in the midst of a pagan environment would merit the denunciation of Jesus when he says, “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33).

Our Lord teaches us that confessing our faith is a requirement for being his disciple, no matter what the consequences might be. This is the way many of Christ’s first disciples conducted themselves. In a way we’re told Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were hidden disciples of the Lord, but they stepped forward as Christians at the hour when all seemed lost. When to be a friend of the Galilean seemed most unlike many others. They were courageous in the face of authority, declaring their love for Christ boldly in the hour of cowardice.

This is how the apostles behaved before the Sanhedrin and the pagan persecutions. “For the word of the cross is folly,” says St. Paul, “to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). As the dauntless St. Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed of testifying to Our Lord” (2 Tim. 1:7’8).

These are words that are directed at us today. As we seek to be faithful to the Master, even though the environment may seem to be against us.

The life of a Christian should develop in a fairly ordinary manner in normal circumstances. Yet frequently this way of life will stand in stark contrast to other lifestyles, more or less Christian, as well as to a kind of behavior which is beneath human dignity and is therefore anti-Christian. In these latter cases, it’s not surprising that the contrast would be striking. We should not be surprised that non-believers or the indifferent may unjustly criticize a follower of Christ, perhaps even to the extent of resorting to ridicule. The same thing happened to Our Lord.

In the course of day-to-day living, we’re probably not talking about suffering physical harm for the sake of the Gospel, but what a Christian may well have to put up with are rumors and calumnies, mockery, discrimination at work, the loss of economic opportunities, or superficial relationships. At times, perhaps in our family or among friends, it may be necessary to exercise supernatural fortitude in order to be consistent with our beliefs.

In these uncomfortable circumstances, we may be tempted to take the easy way out and give in. By such means, we could avoid rejection, misunderstanding, and ridicule. We could become concerned at the thought of losing friends, of closing doors which we will later be unable to reopen. This is the temptation to be influenced by human respect, hiding one’s true identity and forsaking our commitment to live as a disciple of Christ.

In such difficult circumstances, the Christian ought not to wonder which path is the most opportune to follow, but rather which path is the most faithful to Christ. Our desire for popularity is the direct consequence of self-love. It may be that the Lord is waiting for us in just this kind of sacrifice. This is the time we must choose between his way and our own.

This choice may ultimately be expressed by our silence, by a few words, by a gesture or an attitude. Our behavior will be the proving ground of our deepest convictions. This firmness in the faith is often an excellent testimony to the beliefs of the Christian. In some cases, it can cause people to begin their return to the house of the Father.

For many who begin to follow Christ, the necessity for this sacrifice is one of the major obstacles in their path. According to the saintly Curé of Ars, there is no doubt about it. Do you know, he said, what the devil’s first temptation is to the person who wants to serve God with dedication? It is human respect.

We all have an inner aversion for being put to shame before others. But this sacrifice, if we make it, will be the cause of our greatest joy: to take a stand for Jesus Christ whenever and wherever the circumstances require it. We can be assured that we will never regret being true to our Christian beliefs.

There are many people who are in need of our good example in this area. Many people around us are waiting for clear testimony to the Christian faith. We can accomplish an awful lot by our good example. How much is the world in need of Christian workers who are friendly, cordial, firm in the faith? Occasionally we hear of a daring article in which somebody attacks the teaching of the Pope, or defends abortion or artificial contraception. Nevertheless, the real daring in our age is to defend the teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff in what pertains to faith and morals. To defend the right to life of every person. To have a large family if that is God’s will. To defend the indissolubility of marriage.

Many wavering hearts have been fortified by one person’s loyalty to principle. In order to have the courage necessary to overcome our fears, we need to rely on God’s help. We can’t allow that God be removed from society or put into the parenthesis, that misguided men relegate the universal moral law to the closet of individual conscience. It shouldn’t surprise us that we may be tempted to pass unnoticed in certain disagreeable situations.

St. Peter himself, after having been confirmed as the head of the Church, after having received the Holy Spirit, gave in to the human respect of his Jewish brethren. It took no less a man than St. Paul to correct him in this matter. This famous confrontation, far from disproving the holiness and unity of the Church, in fact demonstrates the perfect unity of the apostles, the respect that St. Paul had for the visible head of the Church, and the great humility of St. Peter in changing his position.

We can help one another in similar circumstances by practicing fraternal correction with our fellow citizens, as was done in the early days of the Church. Our Lord gives us good example on how we should conduct ourselves. From that sad day in Nazareth, he knew that many people were not in agreement with him. Yet he never based his actions upon the opinions of men. Only one thing matters to Our Lord: the will of his Father. He never gave up curing people on the Sabbath, even though spies were watching him. Jesus knew what he wanted to do, and he knew that from the start. We never see him have second thoughts or hesitate, much less reverse a decision.

Christ asks us to follow him with that same kind of fortitude. It is his own method, quite personal to himself, that he here enjoins on his disciples. Unconsidered, overhasty action, vacillation, any coming to terms or compromising, these are not for him. One writer says his whole life and being are a Yes and a No, nothing else. Jesus is always the complete man, always prepared, for he never speaks or acts except out of his whole clear consciousness and his own firm will.

We can ask Jesus for the strength to guide us at all times to do God’s will, unchanging will, rather than the fickle will of man.

As we finish our prayer, we could say to Our Lady a prayer that the first Christians often said: We fly to your patronage, O Holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this time of prayer. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.