Trypho the Martyr

Romans 8:28-39

Brethren, we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Luke 10:19-21

The Lord said to his disciples, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

In today's Gospel, on which I wrote a short post elsewhere, we hear how the Lord has given his disciples authority over serpents and scorpions, that is, over the devil and those with him. But from where does this authority come, and what does it entail in practice? As St. Paul shows us, it is founded on our own love for God, through which "all things work together for good." We are still subjected to the attacks of the enemy - who "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8) - to tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and even death, but the Lord assures us that, through the love of God, none of these things shall hurt us if they do not separate us from that love of God. Indeed, the disciples to whom He addressed those words all directly underwent the aforementioned hardships, but they became for them a crown of glory. This is why St. James tells us that we should "count it all joy" when we encounter hardships and temptations (James 1:2). Through Christ, the sign of the Cross, a device of the most humiliating and excruciating torture, has become for us the ultimate sign of love, of life, and of freedom.

One of my favourite passages from the Old Testament is the opening chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, when the Lord appears to the holy prophet saying: "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I had consecrated you; a prophet to the nations I had made you." The prophet, afraid, replies: "You That Are, Sovereign Lord! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am rather young." But the Lord assures him: "Do not say, 'I am rather young', because you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak according to all I command you. Do not be afraid before them, because I am with you to deliver you" (Jeremiah 1:5-8). God, being outside of space and time, knows our thoughts and choices before they have even taken place, before we have even come into existence. As St. Paul says,  "those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." What greater source of courage can there be than this, that God is with those who love Him before they have even come to be? And "if God is for us, who can be against us?"