Conflict, disagreement, fighting, vicious attacks – two sides opposed – yet the Church is on neither – The world of Canada and upstate New York in the mid-17th Century – the world of the Jesuit missionaries as warfare between the Iroquois and the Huron wage. The missionaries are caught in the middle.
St Jean de Brebeuf, in working to invite other Jesuits notes the situation – “we shall be able to give you nothing but a poor mat for a bed. Besides you will arrive when fleas will keep you awake most of the night.” – “you will pass the six months of winter in almost continual discomforts” – and through it all – you will “depend upon a single thread. Your cabin might burn down at any moment, or a malcontent may cleave your head open because you cannot make it rain” – quite the sales pitch – and for all that, no guarantee of success.
This is indeed how you “Gird your loins and light your lampsand be like servants” – but is it really worth it? It really does not make much sense. Why is worth doing it – especially with no guarantee of success. – But it is not about success. – St Jean de Brebeuf was not selling success, and those who answered his call did not plan on it – But they looked to the Christ, the master who might find a vigilance on and have his servants recline at table.
For all of this only makes sense in Christ. – and it is in Christ that eight martyred Jesuits recline at table in the kingdom.