Word to the Wise
Thursday, April 28, 2022 - 2nd Week of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 5:27-33 and John 3:31-36]"We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant ISrael repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him." [Acts] "For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit." [John]
The stark contrast between the frightened small band of disciples at the time of Jesus' death and the bold preachers depicted in the Acts of the Apostles is amazing. The one factor that makes the difference is the Holy Spirit that is given to them after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We will celebrate the initial gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, which is some weeks ahead, but the lectionary anticipates that celebration with the various accounts of the early preaching. This preaching includes the writing of the gospels and the letters of St. Paul. (The letters to the Thessalonians antedate the Gospel According to Mark, which is the oldest of the four!). The Gospel According to John sums it up nicely when we read: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name." The same Holy Spirit that inspired the preaching in the Acts of the Apostles inspired all the authors of the New Testament.
This inspiration did not stop with the last writings of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is not bound by the pages of the Bible even if those pages are the result of its inspiration. The sacraments of baptism and confirmation are the moments in which each of us receives that same Spirit which can enable us, if we let it, to boldly proclaim the same message that the original disciples proclaimed. We may not "feel" this Spirit but when we publicly practice our Catholic faith, we show the world what the Holy Spirit enables. As the passage from the Gospel According to John in today's gospel puts it, "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit." We are sent and we have received that Spirit [John 20:21-23] and it is our turn to speak the "words of God." AMEN