In any circumstances, give praise. A disciple of Jesus must be ready as Peter said to explain the reason for our belief, the reason for our faith. (1 Peter 3:15)
Paul, in today’s first reading (Acts 19: 1-8), encountered a group of believers in Ephesus who have never heard about the Holy Spirit. Have they heard about Jesus? Your guess is as good as mine.
What we see play out in Acts 19 is very important to us and to the early Christians. Paul approaches new believers in Ephesus and asks them if they had received the Holy Spirit. The new believers respond to the inquiry, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Paul then asks, “Into what then were you baptized?” The Ephesian believers respond, “Into John’s baptism”.
Paul replies by articulating the difference between John’s baptism and the baptism of Jesus and baptizes them “in the name of Jesus”. In light of the context, “in the name of Jesus” signifies that they were baptized into Jesus with Jesus’s baptism and not John’s. What is John’s baptism? John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance. It is a prelude to the baptism of Jesus, done with the trinitarian formula.
They were baptized in the name of Lord Jesus. We were told that when Paul laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them. We find something similar in the Didache, a first-century Christian catechism (circa A.D. 70-90). In chapter seven, it gives the Trinitarian formula as the words to use for baptism. And then in chapter nine, it refers back to that same baptism as baptism “in the name of the Lord” (9,5). So for the early Christians baptism “in the name of the Lord” signified Trinitarian baptism.
Note how when the believers in Ephesus inform Paul that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit, Paul immediately asks, “Into what then were you baptized?” (v.3). What is the implication of the question? The implication is that if they had been baptized with the baptism of Jesus and not only with the baptism of John, they would have heard about the Holy Spirit. This suggests that the early Christians were using the Trinitarian formula when they baptized. You can’t undergo a Christian baptism and never hear about the Holy Spirit!
Here in the United States, we are in what we may call the season of Confirmation and First Communion, when our children complete the sacraments of initiation. Last Friday, I attended a Confirmation and First Communion celebration officiated by our bishop in a nearby parish.
Like Saint Paul, the bishop laid his hands on the confirmandi, prayed, and anointed them with Sacred Chrism. Did Paul use the oil of the Sacred Chrism? This is yours to ponder. Anointing with the sacred Chrism (oil) symbolizes strength and the gifts of the Holy Spirit as we read in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Like Saint Paul, may we be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. May we ask the proper questions. May our Lady of Fatima, be our protector and our guide, Amen.
Have a blessed week
