Speaking on behalf of the Voceless

 "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always." Jn 14:16

Having someone to help us, especially when we are trying to discern how to tackle serious and important questions, is always a benefit, and this is true for individuals as well as groups. Pastors, for instance, are glad to have others help with the administration and financial concerns of their parishes, but  more importantly, they ought to be grateful to have a parish council work with them to sift through the many questions that emerge about the direction and life of the parish as a whole.

Jesus promises us that the help he will give us will always be available. The Spirit of God, who Jesus calls an Advocate (Latin for helper or voice) will be among us to strengthen and direct us for the sake of the Gospel. We can rely on this Spirit always and proclaim this as the basis for our faith and hope. Our Advocate will also send us as advocates to others seeking to know God more intimately.

The call to be advocates, to speak on behalf of others who are voiceless, is a clear demand of the Gospel, but we must be careful to avoid the arrogance of presuming we know what others want or need. While the Gospel makes it clear that walking with and uncovering the deep human concerns of others, especially about human rights, is an essential element of discipleship, we must learn to speak with not for those whose voice is rarely heard.

Today, thank God for the Spirit as Helper and Voice.

Have you had the privilege of speaking with and on behalf of others who were voiceless?

Awe and Wonder

 "As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number." Acts 16: 4-5

What does it take to grow stronger as an individual and a family? In the early post Pentecostal church, the disciples knew how important their unity in faith was for themselves and for the community of believers. When we argue over the smaller details of life and faith, we hurt ourselves and others, and scandalize those who look to people of faith for the willingness to put aside their differences for the greater good of all.

Thomas Merton once wrote that people will know who we are by the way we walk, talk and pick things up and hold them in our hands. When we walk, and don't rush past, all we see, when we speak with compassion and understanding, and when we hold everyone and everything with tenderness and delight, we proclaim the Gospel with power and clarity. Our reverence for the God who lives everywhere and in everyone invites all to gratitude.

Today, pray for the unity of your family and our church.

Whose integrity and reverence for all creation shaped your faith?

Service

  "I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends." Jn 15:13

Service of others, even our enemies, is one of the great hallmarks of the Good News, and while some might not consider service of others good news, Jesus does, in the most emphatic of terms. Unless we learn how to serve others, even becoming like slaves in this regard, the message of the New Covenant will go unheard.

Gratefully, most of us have met and been moved by people whose entire lives are given in service to others. For most of my years as a priest I have had the great privilege of offering the Sunday Eucharist in places where volunteers prepared everything for Mass. I had only to prepare a homily. Everything else was done with love and dedication by people who never looked for special mention or attention. Anyone encountering this kind of dedication cannot help but be moved and lifted up. Whether it was distributing music books already opened to the proper page, or moving chairs so that those in wheelchairs might find a place among us, these loving men and women did everything they could to help create a sacred space for God's people to gather, worship and rejoice.

Today, thank God for the privilege of serving God's people.

When have you known the glory of God in serving others who could not repay you?

Pray for Healing

  "Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10)

The early church struggled with serious differences of opinion about how to welcome new converts to Christianity from the gentile world, and we can only imagine the conversations between leaders like Peter, Paul and James, the Elder. Some believed that every convert had first to commit themselves completely to the law of Moses. Others, like St Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts writes, "Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10)

In our day, we continue to struggle with how best to look at and treat other religious traditions. Pope John Paul II, no doubt because he personally experienced the horrors of the holocaust against Jews, worked hard and long to help Catholics address their antisemitism. Pope Francis is following in John Paul's footsteps. In his address to the newly created Cardinals, Francis strongly encouraged them to work for peace and to against discrimination imposed on minorities and other people who are "excluded" by attitudes of superiority and condescension.

The work of healing unnecessary divisions between and among Christians and other religions continues to be hugely important in a world so divided by sectarian and religious violence. With St James we must remember that the prayer of the righteous is very powerful.

Today, pray for the strength to seek healing with anyone against whom you have sinned.

What do you think are the best means to heal the unnecessary divisions among religions?

Resolving Disputes

    "'Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.' Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters about this question." Acts 15 1-2

Disputes in families and church communities are natural and necessary, but often painful. The early church struggled with how new converts might be faithful to the first Covenant and also be baptized into the new Covenant in Jesus Christ. Converts from Pharisaic Judaism were especially troubled with how gentile converts would fulfill the Torah with regard to circumcision and the dietary laws, leading Paul and Barnabas to bring this struggle to the elders in the hope that some compromise that would satisfy everyone might be reached.

Healthy compromise is hard to come by, but always worth the struggle. One has only to look at the diversity in the Catholic church in the United States to understand this. Folks at the extreme margins of left and right have a difficult time being heard even though they have important things to say. We are, after all, a church of tradition. We respect and honor what has gone before us, but we are also a church that must find ways to announce the Good News to a new generation of believers. Unless we can find ways to incorporate the essentials of our catholic tradition into contemporary life, we will lose our identity and dreams. Reliance on the Holy Spirit alive in the church helped the first Christians. It can do the same for us.

Today, listen quietly and from your heart to someone with whom you disagree.

How do you resolve disputes in your family and parish?

Living with Darkness

  "I am going away and I will come back to you." Jn 14:27

Knowing or grasping God completely is impossible, but we must keep trying, and the scriptures offer us any number of images of God all of which can help at different times in our lives. The book of Deuteronomy reminds us to praise and exalt God at all times, and to remember that God is a healer, someone who is anxious to be with us and make us whole. No matter how broken our life might feel, God's compassion and kindness will triumph over the darkness if only we let God be God.

Today's Gospel reminds us that Jesus told his disciples that he was going away but that they should not be overly troubled because he also promised to return.  How important it is for us to remember Jesus' promise to be with us always even when it feels like he is nowhere to be found. And it is equally important to be steady in faith especially when friends or family are struggling to believe

Today, try to say nothing to those who are angry or disappointed in God.

What about our faith helps you most when you are living through dark times?

Knowing Who You Are

  "Why are you doing this? We are of the same nature as you, human beings. We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God." Acts 14:15

Sts. Paul and Barnabas led something of a schizoid life. Hated and attacked both by Jews and Gentiles in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas, in order to escape being stoned, fled to Lystra and Derbe, but when they arrived there they were given names of the Greek gods because people wanted to worship them as miracle workers. In both circumstances, Barnabas and Paul knew they could not abandon the path God had set before them. They had to continue to preach the Gospel of Jesus and insist they were neither devils nor Gods, but instruments commissioned by Jesus to announce the Good News.

Knowing who we are as Christians is vital both for our own spirituality and the life of the church. If, at times, our passion for the Gospel overwhelms our good and common sense, we will appear to others as extremists who want only to convince others of our opinions, not the truth of Jesus. When Paul and Barnabas reacted strongly to stop those who were trying to worship them, they were living the faith. Their actions reminded everyone that they were about Jesus, not themselves.

Today, remember who you are and offer another person some simple service in Gods' name.

Whose humble faith most convinced you to live more simply so that Christ might increase and you decrease? (John 3:30)