Church has Left the Building: Blood of Martyrs is the Seed
Destroying someone provokes emotions, spreading the seeds of inspiration while weakening old orders
Emptiness comes before fullness, says Cardinal Timothy Dolan. You must first empty space before you can fill it with something new.
Loss creates new demands: On the first Easter, Dolan notes, the tomb and death itself were emptied. Freed. Death lost its power, becoming a doorway. The seeds of Christianity quickly “went viral,’' spreading around the world.
Sharing faith is “planting seeds,” because Christianity is powerful. Seeds start small and grow into new lives and purposes. The day before Easter, Michigan’s governor banned the selling of seeds, adding several new and unwelcome restrictions on residents. Easter flowers were ruled “non-essential.” Nurseries and florists shut down while big retailers had to block off gardening aisles.
But guess what? More than 1,800 years ago, an author named Tertullian explained in Apologeticus:
“The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.’’
Our state won’t let us buy seeds at stores: but the seeds of our faith are like the seeds at the tip of a wild dandelion. Blow on a…
