The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to reflect on the gift of friendship that transcends difficulties in our lives.
Friendship springs to Life
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the connection between Paul and the Jewish leaders in Rome.
* [28:16] With Paul’s arrival in Rome, the programmatic spread of the word of the Lord to “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) is accomplished. In Rome, Paul is placed under house arrest, and under this mild form of custody he is allowed to proclaim the word in the capital of the civilized world of his day.1
Psalm 11 is a song of trust in God.
* [Psalm 11] A song of trust. Though friends counsel flight to the mountain country (a traditional hideout) to escape trouble (Ps 11:1–3), the innocent psalmist reaffirms confidence in God, who protects those who seek asylum in the Temple (Ps 11:4–7).2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus considers the Beloved Disciple.
* [21:23] This whole scene takes on more significance if the disciple is already dead. The death of the apostolic generation caused problems in the church because of a belief that Jesus was to have returned first. Loss of faith sometimes resulted; cf. 2 Pt 3:4.3
Tom Shanahan, S.J. commented in 2010 that Pentecost is considered the birth of the church. We have been seeing for the past seven weeks since the resurrection how the disciples continued the mission of Jesus in Jerusalem, in the surrounding areas, to the farthest parts of the known world, and all the inhabitants of that world, Jew and Gentile alike. Surely Peter, Paul and the other disciples caught the fire of the Holy Spirit and warmed the hearts of those who heard them.
And so these last words are, from our perspective today, in many respects a kind of beginning. We are invited to be like Peter and Paul: just as they preached the joy of the Christ Risen, so are we invited to receive that same Easter joy and then to share it with those with whom we come in contact. And so we pray today at the end of this Easter season: Keep us faithful to your Word which begins in you and comes to us through the preaching of the Apostles. Help us to receive the joy that you desire us to experience in the Risen Christ and to bring that joy to your people as they seek you, the source of their goodness.4
Don Schwager quotes “Peter follows, John remains,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"The Lord either said what he said to Peter about his martyrdom, or he said it about the gospel of John. As regards the martyrdom and this 'Follow me,' [he means] suffer for me, suffer what I did. Because Christ was crucified, Peter too was crucified... while John experienced none of this. That is what is meant by, 'It is thus that I wish him to remain.' Let him fall asleep without wounds, without torment, and wait for me. You, Peter, 'Follow me,' suffer what I did. That's one way these words can be explained… "As regards the Gospel of John, though, this is what I think is meant: that Peter wrote about the Lord, others too wrote; but their writing was more concerned with the Lord's humanity... But while there is something about the divinity of Christ in Peter's letters, in John's gospel it is very much to the fore... He soared above the clouds and soared above the stars, soared above the angels, soared above every creature and arrived at the Word through which all things were made." (excerpt from Sermon 253.5.5)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 comments that we know how hard it can be to evangelize. A voice inside of us whispers words of doubt or fear, and we remain quiet when an opportunity to talk about the Lord arises. We want to avoid sounding awkward or too “religious,” so we avoid the subject—sometimes even when someone asks us directly about our faith.
This is where St. Paul can encourage us. His boldness in preaching the gospel sprang from his confidence in Christ. Paul knew that no matter what his circumstances, Jesus lived in him, and his Spirit would continue to fill him with God’s love. Whatever happened as a result of his preaching, he knew he could lean on the Spirit, and that gave him strength and courage. Even in prison.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes that Paul remained under house arrest for two years because Nero did not fulfill his responsibilities. Luke wanted to show Christians were good citizens and declare the spread of the Gospel to the political center, Rome. Friar Jude suggests John 21 was added to the Gospel to respond to Authority in the Church and the question of the Beloved disciple.
A post by Franciscan Media comments that though beatified in 1626, St. Rita of Cascia was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases.
Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God’s grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares the therapeutic model Dr. Edith Eger developed over her four decades of practice that is based on freedom. She calls it “Choice Therapy, as freedom is about CHOICE—about choosing compassion, humor, optimism, intuition, curiosity, and self-expression.” [1] In this practice, drawn from her Jewish faith and tradition, she encourages us to find freedom through conscious choice.
In my therapeutic practice I have my own version of the four questions . . . [so patients] could liberate themselves from their victimhood.
1. What do you want?
2. Who wants it?
3. What are you going to do about it?
4. When?
I’ve never met a person who would consciously choose to live in captivity. Yet I’ve witnessed again and again how willingly we hand over our spiritual and mental freedom, choosing to give another person or entity the responsibility of guiding our lives, of choosing for us. [2]8
“Make a friend and bring a friend to Christ” is a journey we may have experienced that mirrors the evangelists of the first century.
References
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