Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051212.cfm

They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory
because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the message in the province of Asia.
When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them,
so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas.

Christian preachers and theologians have waxed eloquent on this surprising behavior of the Holy Spirit. It prevented their preaching in the province of Asia and would not permit them to go into Bithynia. Father Germain, God rest his soul, sometimes remarked that the Holy Spirit took a hold of his tongue and would not permit him to say what he wanted to say, for which we were all grateful.

It might be tempting to try to figure out why the Spirit prevented this preaching and that travel, but that would miss the point. Apparently Saint Paul was being restrained in order to direct his energy toward Macedonia. We might also wonder how the disciples knew what God was preventing. How did the Holy Spirit tell them what not to do? What technique did they devise for discerning the will of God? Apparently they did not blame themselves for a failure of courage when they did not preach in Asia or go into Bithynia.

More importantly, this passage tells us how Paul and his companions habitually paid attention to the Spirit of God. An experienced sailor, I am told, knows how to read the wind and waves and currents. He watches the stars and the clouds. Micronesian sailors dipped their hands in the water to feel its temperature. Birds speak to a sailor as clearly as mileposts to a trucker. In all these ways and more a sailor connects to his environment. He senses and knows things he cannot explain. His watchful mind is attuned – as in “stay tuned” – to the moods of the weather; and thus he navigates the boundless oceans. 

Likewise devoted husbands and wives sense one another’s thoughts and moods. “I know what you’re thinking!” one might say to the other, and will often be right. There are few secrets and fewer surprises between them. They know what the other is up to. A human being betrays his inner life in a thousand subtle ways – from movements of the eyes and hands to unsuspected odors – and an attentive spouse knows which way the wind is blowing.

Like a good sailor or a faithful spouse, the person of prayer reads the directions of the Holy Spirit. If at first you don’t succeed, perhaps you should not try, try again; but ask if this is what God has in mind.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught us how the devil tempts the good person with good things. There may be nothing wrong with buying this shirt or eating that food except that it was not God’s will for you. And when the devil suggested it to you, you learned to listen to his direction. When the devil later suggests a bigger good project, you were inclined to go with it. And then he hinted at a project with certain ethical or moral problems, but a worthy goal. “The end justifies the means” you assured yourself.  And so on, until the devil had led you completely off the path, away from obedience, out of the church, beyond the criticism of the fellowship and the only “good” was your own needs, desires, opinions and ambitions. It happens more often than you think!

The Acts of the Apostles attests to the Church’s continual prayer. By their work and their resting, their conversation and entertainment, their eating and travelling they attended the presence of God. In that attentiveness they knew which way the wind was blowing, and not to preach in the province of Asia or go into Bithynia. From that formative experience Saint Paul would teach his Ephesians disciples:

Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Ephesians 5:19)

During these troubled times the Church must be eager to hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit, paying as close attention to God as the spouse to the beloved, as the sailor to the winds.