Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Fifth Sunday of Easter, 20 April 2008

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear that the early Church in Jerusalem faced a real problem:  the Greek-speaking widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.  There seems to have been some favoritism going on-most of the leaders were Aramaic-speaking and they were taking care of their own,  not being mindful of others.

Who could have guessed that a basic, physical need like the distribution of food and supplies would upset the spiritual communion of the early Church?  Wasn't it always perfect back then?  And yet for those of us in the Church today it is not surprising because we know that the Church and her members form a unity that is both physical and spiritual, human and divine; we experience the Lord in our midst, but we are not in heaven yet.  And it doesn't do any good to preach Jesus as the bread of life if some people do not have enough to eat.

The problem had to be dealt with; it had to be recognized, confronted, and resolved; not only that the Greek-speaking widows would have something to eat, but also that they might know the love of Christ.

We can learn a lot from how the apostles and the community resolved this particular problem.  Perhaps the most challenging detail is how the problem was recognized in the first place:  we hear that "the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews."  This statement probably runs shivers down the spine of anyone who is a leader, and not just a church leader.  "You mean we have to listen to complaints?        Can't we all just get along?"  No; not if there is a real problem.  If all we listen to are compliments, then we are never going to grow.  We have to take complaints seriously and discern if the Holy Spirit is calling us to change.  Does the particular complaint have any merit?

In the example at hand, the apostles listened to the complaint and they decided to confront the problem.  They gathered the community together in order to plan a course of action.  It's important that the entire community was gathered so that as many voices as possible could be heard.  And, of course, in this decision-making process the voice of God (our making the effort to listen to him) is central.  The apostles concluded that the problem needed to be resolved and that they could not neglect the Word of God.  So their resolution took all these points into consideration and they chose seven men (Greek-speaking men) to look out for the Greek-speaking widows.  The sign that their actions were in conformity with God's will is the fruit of their actions:  "The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly."

It is not difficult to see in this 1^st century church situation parallels to our 21^st century church situation.  We too have real problems, because we continue to be a physical and spiritual reality- a group of human beings intimately connected to their Lord, but also struggling with weakness and sin.

Our modern day apostle, Pope Benedict, has recognized the problems.  He knows, as we all do, that we face a shortage of priests, aging churches (both people and buildings), dwindling Mass attendance, an alarming lack of knowledge among Catholics, demographic changes like the growth of Hispanic communities (actually more of a challenge than a problem), and, as the pope has highlighted on his trip here, the terrible damage caused by the sexual abuse of children (He spoke about five times in five days).

Having recognized these problems, Pope Benedict is drawing us together as a church to confront the problems together.  Notice that here in Washington he addressed the bishops first, then the rest of us at Mass at the Nationals' stadium, and he even addressed the community at large:  other faith traditions and the United Nations in NYC.

As he said at the White House, his main responsibility as an apostle is to preach the gospel, and speaking to us-the church-as the successor of St. Peter, the pope clearly wants to confront the problems.  In order to do so well, he says that we must all be renewed in Christ.  Each of us must undergo a continual conversion to Jesus,   or if we want to put it in terms of today's readings (from the first Peter), we must be living stones, allowing ourselves to "be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Now this sounds very spiritual, but the pope would warn us not to understand these words in a simplistic way.  He is NOT saying that we simply need to pray more (although we do need to pray often), and still less he is NOT saying that we should neglect the physical or material aspects of the problems we face.  Rather, we need to face any and all problems with the full force of our faith in Jesus Christ, with our intelligence, with our creativity and imagination, with our hands and feet.

Pope Benedict is calling for a renewal, a transformation, a rekindling of what is essential to our lives as Christian disciples, and this is nothing less than hearing and following the words and example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus fed people with ordinary bread and the bread of heaven.  The original apostles understood that they could not neglect the word of God (how could they?  it was their God-given responsibility), but they also understood that because of what they preached they could not neglect the Greek-speaking widows. 

Neither can we neglect the real problems we face as a church or the word of God; if we do we will stumble.

To resolve our problems means embracing the authentic meaning of spiritual which is not the neglect of the physical but its glorification-if you will-its being brought into union with God's will and anticipating the Lord's Day at the end of time.  And this is the responsibility of us all.  Again, as the pope has emphasized,   we all-including him--are called to continual conversion.  We are to hear the word of God, to speak it, and to live it.

The pope himself is trying to lead by example.      For instance, he could have avoided the whole issue of the scandal, and if had avoided it he still would have enjoyed a wonderful reception from throngs of people.  But he stepped out of that comfort zone, willing to listen to complaints too, willing to listen to other voices because he recognizes the problem.  He wants to confront it and, as he says, he is committed to resolving it, even going so far as to meet and pray with victims as a real sign of his commitment to them.

Likewise the bishops must renew their promises to be good shepherds, to listen to compliments and complaints, and to prayerfully discern how to act according to God's will.  Each of us are called to allow our lives to be transformed in and through Jesus, physically and spiritually.  We are to anticipate the glorification of our bodies by practicing Jesus' words here and now.

As the pope said, we cannot practice our faith on Sunday and live without faith the rest of the week.  Our entire lives, every decision-in the bedroom, in the office, on the playground, at home, or away on vacation-all must be informed, guided, and imbued with Jesus (and his grace and revelation).

This means, of course, that a fundamental responsibility for each of us, including Pope Benedict, is to come to know Jesus better and more deeply, and as he tells Philip in the gospel today he can be known by us (even if we do not see him with our physical eyes).  Indeed, how can we fail to see that the frustration Jesus experiences over Philip-because Philip is still asking basic catechism questions after being with Jesus for so long-that Jesus is similarly frustrated with any of us who have been with him our entire lives, received his gifts, and yet fail to live in and through Him?

It is, of course, tempting to deal first with the material aspect of our lives, and to give short shrift to the spiritual.  But we have to remember that we are both.  In fact, to respond well to the problems we face here on earth we have to be immersed in the word of God, to receive the body and blood of Jesus worthily, and to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And isn't it true that most of the day-to-day problems we face or temptations we encounter have very clear resolutions based in Jesus' teaching?  The major obstacle more often is not what we should do, but what we will do.  The problem is often our own will, our desire, or our willingness to yield to Jesus.

If we have any hope of resolving larger problems in the church and society, we have to begin with our own lives.

The pope's message is straight from the word of God:  let us be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.  Let us be docile to God and allow him to form us and direct us.  To do so is in no way an abdication of our responsibility to take care of each other and the world, as if leading a spiritual life could mean turning our backs to our brothers and sisters.  On the contrary, the way of Christ is to feed the whole person:  to neglect neither the material or spiritual needs of anyone, including ourselves.

Plus, besides all of this, we cannot fail with Christ.  He is with us, and he gives us what we need to be faithful to him.  It remains our task to yield ourselves completely to him-mind, body, and spirit, every day of our lives--for he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Fr. Dave Werning

Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33
1 Pt. 2: 4-9
John 14: 1-12