He Is a Good Archer

In this time of war, we are called to allow God to send us out into the world

as arrows from His bow with all that He puts into us.

What is a sign of an arrow’s having been drawn in to the archer’s bow? It is that the arrow has been loaded with energy to go forth. What is the sign of a man’s having been drawn in to Christ’s heart? In him we can see the same. The disciple is becoming an apostle all the while he is being drawn in to Christ.

This is a sign that we can perceive in order to confirm our encounter with Christ: that while we are being drawn in, we are at the same time growing with a desire to go out into the world in peace. And this is how we recognize another Christian: we meet a person who is just as attracted to Christ as he is to his neighbor. This is why Christ says, “This is how they will know that you are My disciples: if you love one another.”

The Church, then, is like Christ’s quiver, full of arrows, all of them capable of piercing even the hardest of hearts. And those of us whom Christ draws into His bow are being fashioned by His grace to do just that.

The free will of the person is the part of this dynamic that personalizes the analogy. Unlike an arrow, the human person must allow himself to be drawn in to Christ’s bow. And he must consent to being sent forth. This is how the Christian participates in the victory: by giving God permission to draw him in and to send him out.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the perfect example of cooperation with God, and therefore what makes her His most effective arrow. She allows herself perfectly to be drawn in to God, and then perfectly allows herself to be sent out.

Nevertheless, we are all called to give God the permission to do the same thing with us, imperfect as we are. And this is one way to recognize when someone is doing just that: we see a person who is drawn into the Church, and while in the Church is at the same time full of an energy that is poised to be sent.

The Church is always Peter and Paul. It is, like Peter, the secure and trustworthy bow and quiver of the Divine Archer, while also and always, like Paul, the missionary impetus and zeal to move into the world with divine accuracy.

The sign of our truly encountering Christ will be a movement in our heart that both wants to stay with Him, and also to follow Him to the cross, where He allows His own heart to be pierced with the point of a spear not His own. After all, He is a Good Archer: one who allows Himself to be pierced for His sheep. +