How to seal the deal

The stories which we hear of the conversion of other people as they encounter the Life of the Divine as an interruption to their normal pattern are brought to mind today by the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. Paul and Barnabas encounter a man crippled from birth, as they flee from those who seek to maltreat and stone them, in the passage from the Book of Acts. Friar Jude Winkler comments that this text is very likely an authentic account because there seems to be no other reason for Luke to include it. Through the misunderstanding of the people, Paul and Barnabas are treated as gods on earth after Paul calls the man to health through the power of the Hoy Spirit. Today, people who have known the dramatic intervention of the healing power of the Spirit of God are witnesses to this great Love revealed through the Spirit. The Gospel of John presents the response to the incomplete notion, among some communities of disciples of John, that we need only love Jesus and do what we want to experience the intimate communion with the Divine. Jesus instructs Judas (not the Betrayer) that the experience of loving Jesus is witnessed by those who seek to know and keep His commandments. Those who are living the movement toward greater intimacy with God offer the world the witness of Word, Deed and life in the Spirit. The humble life of service allows the Word to be enfleshed and the deeds of transcendence and transformation to be visible in the lives of the disciple, like Paul and Barnabas,  and those to whom they minister. John proclaims the authority of God to intervene through the activation of the indwelling Spirit to bring knowledge and Life to people as witness to Divine Love.