We all agree the Book of Acts is a historical representation of the early Church but it is also a blueprint for how the Church is to “act” in the future.
The people of Antioch were being upset by Jewish people who were converting to being Christian. They were making up rules for the gentiles of Antioch to be more Jewish, as well as Christian. One of the things they were insisting is that the Gentile males must be circumcised as adults in order follow the Jewish tradition which in their mind would make the Gentiles into Christians or in the Jewish followers to be more Christian. Without anesthesia and to say the least not in sanitary conditions. It was upsetting to many would be converts.
So the leaders in Jerusalem prayed to the Holy Spirit and came up with 3 restrictions:
1) Abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols…….no problem.
2) Abstain from blood from the meats of strangled animals……..no problem.
3) Abstain from unlawful marriage…..could be a problem today.
We shouldn’t look at the specifics of these restrictions but the process to which the Church came to these restrictions. I belonged to a prayer group many years ago, and I left the group because the leader was making up rules and restrictions and there was no group consensus. Most importantly, they did not seek the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Praying at night as I fall in and out of consciousness. The Holy Spirit speaks to me at times. This happens when there is a looming problem or decision to be made. Also, in group prayer the Holy Spirits speaks to me then. The Holy Spirit speaks to me in scripture. It is coincidental and maybe not so coincidental that the Holy Spirit speaks the same message in many different ways. The fact that we have the Holy Spirit from Baptism is important. This is the pattern that the Book of Acts speaks to us today. It exemplifies the Holy Spirit acting in us throughout our lives.
Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love thane this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.“
Loving one another, letting the Holy Spirit lead us and laying our life down in small ways such as visiting the sick is the sum of all scriptures. We need to be gentler in our anger, more sacrificial in our love and more friendly to our enemies. Tomorrow on May 13th is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Time to reaffirm our prayers for the conversion of Russia.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for peace in the Ukraine and the conversion of Russia.
