The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, in Canada, mark the memorial of the Bishop of New France, St. Francois de Laval .
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| Redefining kinship |
There is resonance of the CCCB texts with those listed by the USCCB. In the reading from the Book of Acts, a first mission for Paul and Barnabas begins in Cyprus.
* [13:1–3] The impulse for the first missionary effort in Asia Minor is ascribed to the prophets of the Antiochene community, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit. Just as the Jerusalem community had earlier been the center of missionary activity, so too Antioch becomes the center from which the missionaries Barnabas and Saul are sent out.1
Psalm 67 is a petition for a bountiful harvest.
* [Psalm 67] A petition for a bountiful harvest (Ps 67:7), made in the awareness that Israel’s prosperity will persuade the nations to worship its God.2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus offers a recapitulation of His relationship with the Father.
* [12:37–50] These verses, on unbelief of the Jews, provide an epilogue to the Book of Signs.3
Maureen Waldron comments God can speak to us loudly in the silence of our lives. For many of us, one benefit of these current times is an increase in quiet and time to reflect. More time to listen in the stillness for God to speak to us.
The word Apostle means “one who is sent.” Today, each of us is sent in some way into the world as the apostles were. It may not seem dramatic, but it is a relief mission of bringing comfort and light to others. We can share our joy and offer ourselves at a distance as a source of love and companionship, so that like Barnabas and Saul, “the word of God continued to spread and grow.”4
Don Schwager quotes Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), who summed up our need for God's help in this prayer he wrote.
"God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you, because our knowledge of you is imperfect. In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy; we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins; and we have foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life. But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving, and that our resentment against you was groundless."5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 12:24–13:5 declares the Holy Spirit is still very active drawing people of every nation to Jesus.
When the situation arises, ask the Holy Spirit for the courage and humility to share your faith. In the course of a conversation, you might be able to talk about a time when you felt God’s care or when you felt him blessing you in some way. Or you could share a favorite Bible verse. You don’t have to have perfect words or try to convert anyone—that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. But you can still be open and honest about your faith.6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the image of laying on hands to invoke the Spirit for the mission of the Apostles. Paul initially taught in the Synagogue, and then, went to the market. Friar Jude reminds us that God cannot force us to Love Him.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments Jesus’ intimacy with the nature of God as relationship inspired him to redefine the boundaries of family and tribe. Jesus extended kinship to everyone. Author and scholar Beatrice Bruteau (1930–2014) looks to Jesus for a fundamental understanding of what it means to be Christian community.
Jesus had a fundamental vision—faith that all people [emphasis mine] are “children of God.” This is the theological perspective of his “program,” on which everything else rests. I am supposing that he took this seriously, more or less literally, . . . teaching that each person has an uncreated soul that is actually a continuation of the Divine Life itself. When he met a person, therefore, he really believed that God was somehow present in that person, so he looked for that presence through all the overlying contradictions to it, until he found it. Then he addressed himself to that point in the person. As the Hindus also say, the divine in him saluted the divine in the other. When anyone does that, it tends to awaken the divine in the other, who is thus invited to speak from that place in return. [Notice the mutuality! It begins with one person’s generous gaze, which is then returned in kind.] This is the sort of thing we will need to accustom ourselves to doing if we are to succeed in developing the further levels of the [Jesus] program. . . .7
The mission to awaken communities to the invitation of Jesus that breaks down barriers and redefines kinship calls on our action to see and confirm the Divine in all God’s children.
References
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