Readings for Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
We find St. Paul in Athens speaking to the pagans in one of their principle venues. His rhetoric uses their own beliefs to bring them to an understanding of first God the Father using their “Unknown God” as a jumping off point, telling them that God is not bound in gold, silver or stone but existing all around them, creator of all that is and will be.
When he gets to a point were he begins talking about Jesus and the Lord’s resurrection he looses most of them but some remain and the beginning of Christianity in that city has begun. From Athens they move to Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Psalm 148 is a hymn of praise. In this selection we find it supporting the omnipotence of God proclaimed by St. Paul to the Athenians.
Gospel Jn 16:12-15
Jesus’ farewell speech continues. His reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit is explained further and the unity of the trinity comes into focus as the Lord tells his friends that this Advocate will give them what is also his (the Lord’s).
Reflection:
As important as Jesus’ farewell speech is, we need to look at what Paul is doing on his missionary trip in Acts today. What we see is St. Paul, a well educated and zealous evangelist, delivering an apology or defense of Christianity to people who were not Jewish and were, in fact, unacquainted with the concept of a non-corporeal God.
He took them where they were, that is, he took the faith they had in their idols and attempted to move them past it. It was clear from his discourse that he had success. He was able to focus them on the fact that there was one God, unknown to them that was above all others. This was a pretty important step given the ingrained belief in the Greek’s mythology he was facing.
Where he ran into trouble was when he tried to get into the Jesus story. They could accept that there was a God they could not see, that was the creator of all that was. What they could not accept was that such a God could send his own son as a “man” into the world to die and rise from the dead. Even assuming, as we must, that this discourse was a summary of talks St. Paul gave over a period of months, this moved most of the people he was speaking with past were they were willing to go.
This whole tableau is important for us because we see in this story a problem we all face. We have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit give us our life and our being. For others who have not been exposed to this understanding since their earliest years, this sounds so far fetched that they too scoff at the idea. We cannot forget how difficult it is to wrap one’s mind around our Triune God, first to just understand it and then to come to faith in Him. So often we assume that what has taken us a lifetime to understand should be instantly clear to others and become frustrated at their apparent lack of understanding.
When dealing with the world outside of the faith community we must, on and individual basis, use St. Paul’s model. We must take people were they are and help them to the next steps. I hate to quote popular media, but to borrow a phrase from the movie “What About Bob”, we must use “baby steps”.
Pax
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
We find St. Paul in Athens speaking to the pagans in one of their principle venues. His rhetoric uses their own beliefs to bring them to an understanding of first God the Father using their “Unknown God” as a jumping off point, telling them that God is not bound in gold, silver or stone but existing all around them, creator of all that is and will be.
When he gets to a point were he begins talking about Jesus and the Lord’s resurrection he looses most of them but some remain and the beginning of Christianity in that city has begun. From Athens they move to Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Psalm 148 is a hymn of praise. In this selection we find it supporting the omnipotence of God proclaimed by St. Paul to the Athenians.
Gospel Jn 16:12-15
Jesus’ farewell speech continues. His reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit is explained further and the unity of the trinity comes into focus as the Lord tells his friends that this Advocate will give them what is also his (the Lord’s).
Reflection:
As important as Jesus’ farewell speech is, we need to look at what Paul is doing on his missionary trip in Acts today. What we see is St. Paul, a well educated and zealous evangelist, delivering an apology or defense of Christianity to people who were not Jewish and were, in fact, unacquainted with the concept of a non-corporeal God.
He took them where they were, that is, he took the faith they had in their idols and attempted to move them past it. It was clear from his discourse that he had success. He was able to focus them on the fact that there was one God, unknown to them that was above all others. This was a pretty important step given the ingrained belief in the Greek’s mythology he was facing.
Where he ran into trouble was when he tried to get into the Jesus story. They could accept that there was a God they could not see, that was the creator of all that was. What they could not accept was that such a God could send his own son as a “man” into the world to die and rise from the dead. Even assuming, as we must, that this discourse was a summary of talks St. Paul gave over a period of months, this moved most of the people he was speaking with past were they were willing to go.
This whole tableau is important for us because we see in this story a problem we all face. We have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit give us our life and our being. For others who have not been exposed to this understanding since their earliest years, this sounds so far fetched that they too scoff at the idea. We cannot forget how difficult it is to wrap one’s mind around our Triune God, first to just understand it and then to come to faith in Him. So often we assume that what has taken us a lifetime to understand should be instantly clear to others and become frustrated at their apparent lack of understanding.
When dealing with the world outside of the faith community we must, on and individual basis, use St. Paul’s model. We must take people were they are and help them to the next steps. I hate to quote popular media, but to borrow a phrase from the movie “What About Bob”, we must use “baby steps”.
Pax
[1] After Links Expire
[2] The image used today is “The Holy Family with God the Father and the Holy Spirit”, by Carlo Dolci, 1630
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