Our shrines

The experience we have of different voices attempting guide us in the way we live is a theme which is related to the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us of the actions of Paul in Athens. Ray C.  Stedman reminds us of the deep impression the Greek philosophers of Athens have made on our thinking. He comments that Paul was likely passing through Athens but the observation that the people there were recognizing many gods being involved in their daily activities suggested a hunger for understanding of the divine which Paul desired to address. In our time, Sam Pierre of Creighton University writes about  three gods of hedonism,  (pursuit of pleasure as the ultimate goal), individualism (asking “what’s in it for me?”), and minimalism (“what’s the least I have to do?) as saturating our social environment. Friar Jude Winkler is not as quick as other commentators to say that Paul had no effect on the Athenian philosophers. The Stoics, according to Friar Jude, would have found Paul’s description of God as spiritual and the Will of God as a plan for humanity in accord with their philosophy. The proclamation of Jesus Resurrection is difficult for Stoicism which holds that the soul, a spiritual entity, struggles to escape the body and to return to flesh after death is not sensible. The Gospel from John tells of Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us to all Truth. This experience of the glory of God is described by Friar Jude as an awareness of the overpowering outpouring of Love which is God. Our experience of this is often a resonance within ourselves with a sense of Love, goodness, holiness, generosity, compassion, joy and peace. This participation in the Life of Jesus and the Father is the voice of the Holy Spirit inviting us to follow the Way.