The time of Cornelius and Cyprian had to be one of the most exciting times of the Church. The communities of faith prayed and worshiped with a lot of excitement and joy. Baptisms were not some twenty or thirty minute affair. The font was blessed and had oil poured over it. The Profession of Faith was lengthy and everyone participated. Quite beautiful to be sure.
The down side was that there were factions within the Christian community. There was still much debate over the divinity of Christ and the role the the Bishop in Rome should have in the body of the Church. The bishops continued to reign in these objectionable forces, and often had to remove them from the community. Much of the teachings and homilies by Cornelius and Cyprian was to counter the heresies of the day. These men were true shepherds in every sense of the word. Men of great compassion and love towards the people they served, but were strong in their denouncing the erroneous teachings that tended to make their way through the Church.
In our Church today we do have various groups that proclaim their righteousness and self-importance. While for the most part these are benign groups centered on some sort of piety, there are factions that tend to twist or deny the teachings of the Church, leading many peoples astray. With a catholic population that is not always well catechized, this is not difficult to do. Sadly misinformation and erroneous teachings are passed on as the norm of the Catholic Church.
Talking to a brother priest about stewardship the other day, we both concluded that overall what we really need today is evangelization in our Church. Hopefully through God's grace and the Holy Spirit our leaders can be more like Cornelius and Cyprian, with a passion for the Church and a knack for evangelizing. To be sure we are a Church of great diversity. But in Christ Jesus we are challenged to find our unity and communion with our God-head, through Jesus Christ.
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