247 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year St. Athanasius attests: “All-powerful Father, all-powerful Son, all-powerful Holy Spirit.” 106 Therefore, authority in Heaven was given to Christ as a man so that, having entered it first, He would open it to those who believe — to the just and holy — and close it to the faithless, unjust, and condemned. This power on earth was given to Him to annihilate all worship of created things, to crush idolatry, to bring the pagans to the true faith both personally and through His disciples, to institute His Church, and finally to reign in the minds, souls, and hearts of men everywhere. O how happy will you be in the future, if today you subject yourself entirely to this most powerful King, who is coming to you in the familiar form of bread, lest He scare you away from receiving Him! [f.61v] 2. “Go therefore and make disciples” (Mt 28:19). Consider the clemency and goodness of Christ, the true God. Although as the Lord of death, He could punish men severely due to their falling into the worship of various idols, as He had done once before in destroying the world by the Flood, yet He shows himself rather the Lord of life, as He orders the apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). But, why are they to do it? So that everyone, He says, “who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16). Put, therefore, your hand to work with Christ, and cooperate with the gift of faith, that you may reach salvation. 3. “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Behold, the most gracious Savior! Desiring that no man should perish, He sends the apostles to every country, province, kingdom, and empire, indeed to the whole world, with the task of showing them the way to salvation. Indeed, it is most certain that there simply is no part of the world, or of a nation, where the preaching of the Gospel would 106 Athanasius, Commentarius in Symbolum Quicunque: Tractatus de Fide Catholica — #13, in: PG, vol. 28, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1857, p. 1598 (n. 665).
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