The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to worship and contemplation to experience the mystery of our relationship with God in Christ.
Walking in contemplation
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the conversion of Saul who then preaches in Damascus.
* [9:1–19] This is the first of three accounts of Paul’s conversion (with Acts 22:3–16 and Acts 26:2–18) with some differences of detail owing to Luke’s use of different sources. Paul’s experience was not visionary but was precipitated by the appearance of Jesus, as he insists in 1 Cor 15:8. The words of Jesus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” related by Luke with no variation in all three accounts, exerted a profound and lasting influence on the thought of Paul. Under the influence of this experience he gradually developed his understanding of justification by faith (see the letters to the Galatians and Romans) and of the identification of the Christian community with Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27). That Luke would narrate this conversion three times is testimony to the importance he attaches to it. This first account occurs when the word is first spread to the Gentiles. At this point, the conversion of the hero of the Gentile mission is recounted. The emphasis in the account is on Paul as a divinely chosen instrument (Acts 9:15).1
Psalm 117 is a universal call to worship.
* [Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God’s supremacy. The supremacy of Israel’s God has been demonstrated to them by the people’s secure existence, which is owed entirely to God’s gracious fidelity.2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals the mystery of “abide in me, and I in them”.
* [6:54–58] Eats: the verb used in these verses is not the classical Greek verb used of human eating, but that of animal eating: “munch,” “gnaw.” This may be part of John’s emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus (cf. Jn 6:55), but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in Greek meaning “eat.”3
Tom Shanahan, S.J. comments that experiencing the Christ is on a way different level than simply knowing about Jesus. He asks how do we receive the wonders of who God is and how God transforms us all?
John of the Cross emphasizes that the entire project of our daily prayer starts with God’s initiative toward us. God invites us to receive his gift of prayer and to let that gift suffuse our lives. We are imprinted with grace by God looking at us with ardent love. That look of love changes us in the depths of our being so that we go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty. As we pray to God (Father, Son or Holy Spirit), the grace of God’s presence helps us to change and grow because of the love and beauty of God.4
Don Schwager quotes “Abiding in Christ,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
Jesus recommended to us His Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are reduced into one out of many constituents. What is meant by eating that food and taking that drink is this: to remain in Christ and have Him remaining in us." (excerpt from Sermon on John 26,112)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 9:1-20 comments that Ananias clearly went beyond just giving Saul the benefit of the doubt. And although he is not mentioned again in the Bible, we all benefit from Ananias’ example. After all, we can all fall into the trap of labeling people according to what we have heard about them. Only God has the full picture. Whatever we may learn about another person, one fact stands above everything else: this is someone God has created and whom he loves very much.
So when you’re tempted to make harsh judgments, ask God for further light, as Ananias did. Just as a better light source can transform a photograph, looking at people in the light of God’s love helps us see them more fully, more truly. Ananias shows us that gaining a new perspective is just the beginning. How might God be asking you to go further and be a blessing in someone’s life today? How can your generous actions make a difference in their life?6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the simple narrative that is the first account of Saul’s conversion in Acts. Guided by the Spirit, Paul begins the ministry of the Church to all people. Friar Jude reminds us of the difficulty of observant Jews with the invitation of Jesus in the “Bread of Life” discourse.
A post by Franciscan Media comments that Saint George is the object of a vast amount of imagination. There is every reason to believe that he was a real martyr who suffered at Lydda in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. The Church adheres to his memory, but not to the legends surrounding his life. That he was willing to pay the supreme price to follow Christ is what the Church believes. And it is enough.
Human nature seems to crave more than cold historical data. Americans have Washington and Lincoln, but we somehow need Paul Bunyan, too. The life of Saint Francis of Assisi is inspiring enough, but for centuries the Italians have found his spirit in the legends of the Fioretti, too. Santa Claus is the popular extension of the spirit of Saint Nicholas. The legends about Saint George are part of this yearning. Both fact and legend are human ways of illumining the mysterious truth about the One who alone is holy.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares insights from Joanna Macy, a brilliant Buddhist teacher, a systems thinker, deep ecologist, and activist for peace, justice, and a healthy environment. She teaches in what she calls the Work That Reconnects. Ecologist Stephan Harding writes about this.
The Work That Reconnects is conceptualized as a spiral that maps the journey to Gaian consciousness [or deep connection with the living Earth] in four stages. The first is gratitude, in which we experience our love for life. Next is honoring our pain, in which we learn how to suffer the pain of the world with others and with the world itself. Then, in seeing with new eyes, we experience our connection with life in all its forms through all the ages. Finally, in the last stage we go forth into action in the world as open human beings, aware of our mutual belonging in the web of life, learning through feedback in our social and ecological domains. [2]8
Our piety, study, and action bring us into deeper relationship with Christ and the mystery of His Presence in our lives.
References
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