Thursday, June 11, 2015

GK Chesterton - The Church on the Offensive

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

From Page 48-49:
"I remember reading years ago in CS Lewis that the Church is involved in a "mopping up operation". This is not a very glorious description for the new evangelization! After the resurrection the victory has been won, Hades has been emptied, and the demons know that the main citadel has been taken, But as in battle when the capital has been taken, there are often forces out in the hills somewhere who haven't heard that the war is over—or refuse to accept that it is over. (A pertinent twenty-first century example was the holdout of Gaddafi loyalists in his hometown. All communication had been not know that Tripoli had been taken.)
It's the Church's mission to go into the whole world and tell everyone that the battle is over. The demons, who know that Christ has won the victory, keep trying to convince everyone—by lying, or by keeping the truth from them—that the battle is not over, that Christ is not God, that he has not risen from the dead, that you are still in your sins, and blah, blah, blah. The Holy Spirit, the Parakletos (defense lawyer in Greek) testifies that Christ has won the victory. 
'And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it:' (Matthew 16:18) Too often Christians understand this text as the Church being under siege, enclosed in a fortress surrounded by hostile forces as in Mansoul. On the contrary, the analogy is just the opposite: it is the gates of hell that are being attacked. In other words, the Church is on the offensive."

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