Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

 Lectionary: 279

The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.”

Saint Luke vividly described the troubles of the early Church as they obeyed the Lord's command to "be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

First, there was the violent resistance by the same Jewish leaders who had arranged the death of Jesus by crucifixion and then there was serious division within the Church. Many of the original disciples of Jesus and their new converts loudly opposed the inclusion of gentiles.

Despite his readiness to heal gentiles and members of their families, Jesus had not announced the Kingdom of God in gentile territory, nor had he directed his disciples to go beyond the Jewish towns and villages. He had come to fulfill the Law which had been given to Moses, but the innumerable laws, customs, and practices of the gentile nations seemed beyond his ken. 

It would be many centuries before Enlightened philosophers would suggest that Christian symbols belong to everyone because they resemble the archetypes of dreams and pagan religions.

He also showed that Christianity can be compared to other religions. I frankly doubt it; the apparent resemblances are laughably superficial.

But the challenge of inclusion remains forever in the Church. How far should we go with acculturation when newly baptized persons bring their familiar rites, symbols, clothing, and songs into Catholic worship? When I suggested that we might soon welcome Hispanic Catholics to our parish one lady said, "Please, Father, we have enough trouble already."

But the witness of Saint Luke, and the scriptures in general, assure us that we've always had trouble, and always will. We should not be surprised about that. God gives us His Holy Spirit to help us deal with, and grow through, trouble. If we have no trouble, we don't need the Holy Spirit; and then where will we be?

Our attitude toward trouble should be the same as that toward strangers, Welcome. They will, of course, experience profound changes in their hearts and minds, attitudes and habits, as the Spirit recreates them in God's image. Familiar as we are with that process, we also welcome it in ourselves again and again, because we are his, 

"...witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."