A just king rules the earth

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, August 25, as our local Church celebrates the Solemnity of Louis, the patron saint of our Archdiocese, we are invited to reflect on a passage from the letter of the apostle Paul, to the Colossians (3:1–17), entitled “Your life is hidden with Christ in God”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a spiritual testament to his son by St. Louis.

St. Louis was born in 1214 and became king of France when he was only twenty-two years old. He married and became the father of eleven children who received from him careful instructions for a Christian life. He excelled in penance and prayer and his love for the poor. While ruling his kingdom he had regard not only for peace among peoples and for the temporal good of his subjects, but also for their spiritual welfare. He undertook the Crusades to recover the tomb of Christ and died near Carthage in 1270.

Saint Paul’s letter is addressed to a congregation at Colossae in the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor, east of Ephesus. At the time of writing, Paul had not visited there, the letter says. The community had apparently been established by Epaphras of Colossae. Problems, however, had arisen, brought on by teachers who emphasized Christ’s relation to the universe (cosmos). Their teachings stressed angels; “principalities and powers”, which were connected with astral powers and cultic practices and rules about food and drink and ascetical disciplines. These teachings, Paul insists, detract from the person and work of Christ for salvation as set forth magnificently in a hymnic passage and reiterated throughout the letter. Such teachings are but “shadows”; Christ is “reality”.