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This weekend, we rejoice with our teenagers who received the Sacrament of Confirmation. May the experience of being sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit help them to live holy lives. His Eminence Bishop Gerald T. Walsh stressed that our lives must be guided by wisdom and understanding that come from the Spirit. This weekend’s readings reflect this aspect of our Christian faith. I hope that families can sit with their teenagers and enter into the process of discernment as many life changing decisions will be made in the next five or six years of their lives.
The early Church seems to be embroiled in dissension less than two decades after the Resurrection of Jesus. Can the Holy Spirit really be at work in those circumstances? The question could be rephrased this way: “Is there a place for both controversy and peace in our Church?” There are a lot of ways to nuance the meanings of “dissension” and “debate,” but the underlying thrust is the same: disagreement over a matter of importance, at least to the parties engaged in debate. The year is only about 49 or 50 AD when this occurred, which shows that lively arguments were arising whenever “changes” occurred that would alter or even threaten to modify “established” rituals and practices. The answer is a resounding “YES.” The Church grew and still grows in understanding its Faith through lively discussions and debates among qualified theologians. Those discussions have been going on ever since the vision of St. Peter (Acts 10) which led to the baptism of the first Gentiles (Cornelius’ household), around 43 AD. It is important to recognize the wording of the Apostles’ decision regarding the waiver of the former discipline of circumcision: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit AND to us to lay upon you no greater burden than…necessary things…” (Acts 15:28). Our discernment process must necessarily be led by the Spirit. Living together as families and faith community there will arise situations where we will hold diverse opinions and face changes that we do not always agree with at the outset. The process of discernment is a valuable way of searching with God’s help and arriving at decisions according to the heart of God.
The scene we find in the Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Easter of Jesus trying to comfort the disciples because he is moving not just to a different town, but he is about to move away from the world and into the Father’s arms, sounds like what we experience at funeral. We are truly glad that our beloved no longer has the pains and shortages of this life. But we feel left in the lurch and our burdens seem a lot heavier. We are lonely because of the one who has gone away. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will instruct us in everything and remind us of all He revealed. Is this what led the Jerusalem community to forswear putting heavy burdens on its new believers?
It is Jesus and His word that we ought first and always to remember. This is how the Holy Spirit instructs us. When we look at Christ, primarily in scripture, it is clear what He is saying: we need repentance; we have the salvation offered us in His redeeming death and resurrection; and we are called to imitate Him in our mission to the world. We likewise encounter Him in our families and the faith community, the church, which from the beginning has given us His word. The scriptures came from the community, under the blessing of the Spirit. So also came our foundational creeds. Moreover, our holy sacramental signs recall and reenact Jesus’ saving power. Every Eucharist is a special gift made available to us to encounter God in a deeper way. Our hierarchical structures, traditions, teachings, and laws all help us remember the working of God in our lives. Our saints, and our pieties, called devotions, ever call us back to witness to the Truth, the person of Christ. We also see Him, as He promised, in the least of our brothers and sisters. During this season of our Liturgical Year, we are reminded of one bright truth we should never forget. All ideologies and requirements, all popes and rituals, all theologians and mystics, all laws, and traditions, would mean nothing to us as Catholics, if Christ had not risen and had not saved us.
The Jerusalem council determines that mission to the Gentiles is the will of God, and that they ought to do all in their power to cooperate with this divine initiative. They decide, then, on a policy that both honors the tradition and adjusts to changing circumstances; they ask of Gentile converts only that they keep the minimal “rules for resident aliens” indicated in Leviticus namely, regarding marriages to relatives, food associated with idolatry, and improper slaughtering. These readings remind us that our Easter faith entails the remarkable belief that the Spirit of God continues to work through the very human processes of decision-making in our Church. We are encouraged to take seriously both our religious experience and our tradition, and to trust that the Spirit of God works even through endless debate, exhausting meetings, and hesitant leadership. Our reaching out to spirit filled persons to help us on the process of discernment is more imperative during these times when we are ‘over-fed’ with messages that counter the Truth of the Gospel.
Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O