John Maddox Roberts Cestus Dei

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"That's a good way to get your throat cut. Not everybody's as reasonable as
those boys this morning. There's some real weird people in this town."
Jeremiah was willing to allow the truth of that.
"Listen," continued Luigi, "did you know that there's a Roman church in this
town?"
"I had no idea there were any practicing Christians at all in this system,"
said Jeremiah, astonished.
"It's called St. Cyril's, on the Green Park. That's the big park in the
center of town. Run by an old guy called Stavros. Everybody in the
neighborhood knows him because he's an easy touch for a handout. You should go
by end see him. He'll put you up, I bet." Before parting, Luigi gave Jeremiah
his address. "If you need a little money to help you out, look me up after the
games. I'll be flush then."
Jeremiah shook his head after the little man had gone. It was difficult to
believe that this cheerful, kind-hearted man made his living by predicting
which of two men would kill the other. He wended his way to the Green Park and
found St. Cyril's. The church was locked, and
Jeremiah found the rectory, a small, detached house to the rear of the church.
He knocked, and the door was opened by an elderly priest in a threadbare
cassock who said:
"Ah, you'll be Brother Jeremiah, then?"
"You were expecting me?"
"I was about to go out looking for you. Come in, come in. Your friend, Father
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Miles, was inquiring about you."
"He's been here?" said Jeremiah as he entered. The rectory was clean and
comfortably furnished.
"Yes, he was here on his first day in Augusta. He spent that night and last
night here. This morning he left for the palace, where it seems he's to live
at court."
"A fast worker, our Father Miles," observed Jeremiah.
"So I had noticed," said Stavros. "Would you care for some coffee?"
"Decidedly," said Jeremiah. The beverage turned out to be a close
approximation of Earth coffee.
"Now, Brother Jeremiah," said Father Stavros, "why is it that you aren't with
Father Miles?"
"I'm afraid that his methods are not to my taste."
"I'd thought him a bit precipitate, myself."
"It's not that he goes for a fast conversion, really, it's his disregard for
the sincerity of his converts. He thinks in terms of gaining back whole star
systems for the Church and not of individual souls. I know his arguments are
persuasive, but the Jesuits are famed for that, regardless of the validity of
their theses."
"And what are your plans?"
"I was going to preach among the poor, according to the Franciscan tradition,
but I've had little success so far," said Jeremiah, with a woebegone look.
"I shouldn't wonder," said Stavros. "The people here are not spiritually
inclined, and the popular entertainments are their whole life. I have only a
few dozen parishioners, and most of them are elderly. I had feared that when
this generation passed on, Christianity would pass with it. Now that you and
Father Miles have appeared, though, I've taken new heart.
Perhaps, together, you and I may accomplish something."
"I hope that we can," said Jeremiah.
"Will you stay here while you are in Augusta? Father Miles was in and out so
quickly that I had no chance to ask him half the questions I wanted answered."
"Thank you for your offer," said Jeremiah, relieved. "I will be most happy to
answer any questions you may care to ask."
"Well, first of all, how was the re-reformation of the Church accomplished?"
Jeremiah gave Stavros the same story that Miles had told Ludmilla, with
slightly less emphasis on the Jesuits and slightly more credit to the
Franciscans.
"So," said Father Stavros, "for nearly five hundred years, the Church has been
trying to gain back her lost sheep. And now, at last, you've come to the
Flavians. Not before time, I assure you. If ever a system was in need of
spiritual uplift, it's this one. And this city, Augusta, is the most
iniquitous place in the system, as you will have noted as you wandered about
our fair city."
"So I did. How did this place reach such a state?"
"It's a common enough story, here and elsewhere, even on Earth from time to
time in her checkered history. A society could not offer its members any value
beyond gratification of basic needs. I suppose it comes of the idea that if
men are just taken care of fed, clothed, and housed
they will automatically be happy and docile. It was not true, of course.
They couldn't compete with cheap slave labor, and plunder is easier than
production. The people's lives were without meaning, and when men are idle,
they begin having dangerous, political thoughts. The answer was, of course, to
give them something else to occupy their minds. The games resulted. They
provided entertainment, emotional relief, and a chance to satisfy the desire
for gain by gambling. Between games, they gamble at less entertaining forms of
chance or, if they can afford them, use drugs."
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"And these are the people we must try to convert," said Jeremiah,
discouragement in his voice. "On what grounds can we appeal to them?
What factor of our faith will reach them in any way?"
"For one thing, you can demonstrate to them that the Church is still a living
entity, not a dying anachronism. It will be a slow process, but I
think that progress is at last possible. And there is, after all, your
rejuvenation process. That's the kind of thing men sell their souls for, and
we're trying to save them instead. Even though we may not care for his
methods, Father Miles has certainly brought the Church of Rome to the public
attention."
Jeremiah was forced to agree with that. "Where shall we begin?" asked the
friar.
"Here, in the church. I've had quite a number of people come here to question
me the past two days, as a result of Father Miles' showmanship.
Now is our chance to gain the attention of those whose spiritual need is
great. We begin tomorrow."
It was a difficult, discouraging task, but then, Jeremiah reminded himself, it
had never been easy to be a missionary. Many of those who came were in search
of material gain; some wanted to know if the priests could put a curse on
their enemies, and a few Jeremiah was sure were government spies. To all of
these, he gave the same message: His creed meant renunciation of the material
and its values; the love for one's enemies and all living things. Before he
got farther than that, they had
usually left in disappointment.
But there were others: the disturbed, the troubled, those who had spent their
lives jumping from one petty cult to another in search of some indefinable
value. To these Jeremiah spoke, and they listened. He recalled the lessons he
had received in the monastery, emphasizing the basic concepts of his faith:
love, peace, humility, good will. He knew that at this early stage, it was
best to avoid any advanced concepts. Ideas such as
Trinity and Transubstantiation were knotty questions for theologians, much
less for people taking their first tentative steps into the faith.
Especially difficult to overcome was the problem of the lack of education
among those he was trying to convert. Had they been primitives, with a strong
concept of deity, his task would have been far simpler. It was at that type of
conversion that the Franciscans, with their love of nature and concept of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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