Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 4, 2011 - 6th Week of Easter - Sat
[Acts 18:23-28 and John 16:23b-28,370]A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately.
During the last couple of weeks, I have focused more on the gospel scripture taken from the "Farewell Discourse" at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John, but there has also been a "meanwhile, back at the ranch" saga going on with the first scriptures of the day in the form of the early adventures of the first Christian preachers! Since today is the feast of St. Peter of Verona (also known to us Dominicans as St. Peter Martyr because he was the first Dominican preacher to be martyred) I feel I should reflect on the incident contained in the Acts of the Apostles.
We learn from Acts that the Twelve Apostles were not the only preachers! They delegated others and instructed them. They, in turn, instructed others. Even St. Paul, after his conversion, required some instruction. There is an example of this in the encounter between the disciple, Philip, and the Ethiopian eunuch. [Acts 8:26-40] However, it is clear that the results could be somewhat uneven. Baptismal practices took awhile to become uniform! The question of maintaining the Mosaic dietary and other practices became a potentially explosive issue. Apollos, in the first scripture for today, is clearly an accomplished preacher, but St. Paul's disciples, Priscilla and Aquila, see that he is not exactly correct about baptism. So they "instruct" him.
Here we are, centuries later, with an enormous heritage of reflection on the scriptures to work with. Some of us in this country will recall the rote memorization we were required to do with the Baltimore Catechism. Others will recall the CCD [religious education] programs in their parishes. Did any of this "instruction" have an impact on our faith? If we were asked to respond (as we may well be in social situations) to the question, "What does the Catholic Church say about.........?", would we be comfortable in giving an answer? How well do we know the content of our faith? This is a serious challenge because the truth of our tradition is important. St. Peter Martyr was assassinated by a heretic! Most of us will not be endangered personally by our witness to our faith, but at least our witness can be accurate if we are willing to be instructed. AMEN
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