Church unity, a difficult goal

Jesus calls unity the most characteristic mark of his disciples, a vital goal of true faith, when he prayed: “that they may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.” Yet in the Acts, Saint Paul defends himself by deliberately stirring up debate, pitting the Sadducees pitted against the Pharisees on the subject of resurrection from the dead. Wherever he went there was controversy.

Giving is more blessed than taking

Paul offers his colleagues both advice and example. They are to remember his example of manual labour and tirelessly preaching the gospel. Conviction and commitment are revealed in his words. Just as he worked (“with these hands of mine”) to support himself and his companions he urges the elders to do the same….

Through the Cross

For the next couple of days we will be reading from Our Lord’s prayer during the Last Supper. He begins by praying for himself, “Father… glorify your Son.” Jesus is aware that the path to glory is through the cross. His lifting up on the cross is the cause of his lifting up in glory…

Not entirely alone

Jesus is very aware that those closest to him will soon abandon him. Rather than following his way, the disciples will go their own way, leaving him alone. Yet he speaks with the conviction that he is never really alone because God his Father is always with him. What Jesus says of himself we can all say of ourselves…

Priscilla and Aquila, Lay Apostles

While the gospel implies our dependence on the Holy Spirit, the Acts takes a different slant: our faith also needs guidance from our fellow human beings. Apollos was certainly on the way toward being a disciple of Jesus and showed great goodwill, but he needed the help of others. In the plan of God, he would be led into the mystery of Jesus through the ministry of the couple Priscilla and Aquila.

Sorrows too will pass

Jesus knew that the reality of his passion and death would greatly shock his disciples. He said it very clearly, You will be weeping and wailing… you will be sorrowful. They would experience a deep sense of loss when Jesus returned to the Father. We have all known the sharp sorrow that comes from losing people we love…

Filling the vacant place

Matthias came late to be numbered among the apostles. Saint Peter’s words describe the role of this apostolic substitute as one of “those who have been in our company all the time that the Lord Jesus moved among us.” This being-with-Jesus qualified Matthias to become a witness to the resurrection. He had followed Jesus from the start…

Growing in insight

There is only so much that people can learn at each stage of their lives. The great life-truths take a long time to absorb. This is certainly the case with the elements of our faith. We enter into those truths gradually, over time, with the unfolding experience of life. Jesus seems to acknowledge this in today’s gospel.

A Happy Outcome

We can sympathize with Paul’s annoyance in today’s story, but may wonder if some more patience could have saved him a lot of trouble! Perhaps he was stirred with pity for the unfortunate girl being exploited for profit by her boss. In any case, after his protest the situation changed dramatically and Paul and Silas were flogged and thrown in prison. The flogging could not normally be inflicted upon a Roman citizen, so Paul would later demand and receive a public apology..

Reciprocating favour

Three reflective points leap out from today’s readings. 1. “The Lord takes delight in his people” 2. In our times of need we can rely on the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. 3. We see in the example of Lydia how God blesses and helps us through one another..

Getting on with the work

Adversity played big part in Paul’s apostolate; and perhaps in ours too. Local conditions threw road-blocks in Paul’s way keeping him from preaching as he had intended; and St Luke offers this explanation, “They were prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message.” This allows that even human intrigues, jealousy and misunderstanding such as later happened to Paul in Corinth, can be part of God’s providential plan for apostolic workers.

Holy compromise

Some people regard all compromise as tainted and as opposed to fidelity. Yet the message of the Jerusalem Council was: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and ours too, not to lay any burden beyond that which is strictly necessary.” The word strictly indicates some relaxing of the rules; but it was a Spirit-inspired compromise that resolved one of the sharpest threats ever faced by the church.

The power of enthusiasm

A spirit of love and enthusiasm was found to exist among non-baptized gentiles by both Peter and Paul. What Jesus had prayed for among his disciples was found among foreigners even before their baptism. Peter recognised a second Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the household of the Roman, Cornelius, just as when the Spirit came to the disciples in the upper room. So he let these people be baptized at once in the name of Jesus Christ. They were not required to be circumcised first, or..

Why circumcision was dropped

Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth (Luke 2). So were Peter, Andrew, James, John and Paul and indeed all boys from Jewish religious families, as a sign of submission to the Mosaic law. Then Paul came forward with a new idea about the practice of circumcision. True, spiritual circumcision, he maintained, is of the heart, where bonds of love and loyalty bind the people to their God.

Following our Leader

Jesus speaks of going away, of returning to the Father. He directs his mind toward the cross, resurrection and ascension. After his sacrifice he will be with the Father and the Spirit, in heaven. Earlier, Philip requested, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us;” and earlier still, Thomas argued with Jesus: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” In one sense, we cannot follow Jesus into the realm of God. Yet in some real way we must walk in his footsteps, for he said “I am the way.”

Letting the Spirit guide us

If led by the Holy Spirit, we can be instruments of healing power, like Paul and Barnabas. We may find faith strong enough to help and heal them, as they did. Today’s Scriptures suggest this healing frame of mind…