In each of our three-year cycles of Sunday Scripture readings, on the Sundays after Easter our first Scripture reading is not from Hebrew Scripture. It’s from the Acts of the Apostles. That’s a lot of cumulative weeks, since sometimes there are as many as eight weeks between Easter and Pentecost. Yet we seldom hear preaching about this book of the New Testament. So unfortunately we miss what may be the single most prominent theme in Acts, the action of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit-action takes place in the concrete, in stories of preachers and people in the first-century Church, in adventures like shipwrecks and miraculous prison escapes, in accounts about how the first Christians worshipped, in controversies like whether to let non-Jews become Christians. We also learn how these first Christians felt about their faith, their persistence and their joy.
Last week and today, the portion of Acts we hear is Peter’s sermon given on Pentecost. Unfortunately today’s reading skips from Acts 2:14 to verse 36. It leaves out how Peter has to explain to the assembled listeners that the giddy apostles and disciples were not drunk as they emerged from the Pentecost experience; they were giddy with joy. Peter refers listeners to the Prophet Joel, who said God would “pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy” in testimony to the powerful wonders and signs of God. And Peter refers his listeners to David who said, “I have seen the Lord before me always … my heart has been glad … my tongue has rejoiced … you fill me with gladness in your presence.” Peter concludes, “what you are seeing and hearing is the promise of the Holy Spirit.” That 3,000 people were converted that day, which our reading says at the end, is not the important point. The complete passage is emphasizing that the source of all this faith is the surprising, upending action of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we hear Catholics lamenting that the Church is losing members, but numbers do not make a Church. The Spirit does. Bigness is good, but it takes a lot of structure to manage it. Years ago, when Pope John XXIII called Vatican Council II into being, he spoke about opening the windows of our Church. Our Church, our dioceses and parishes, always need to pay attention to that, and ensure that the Spirit can get through the bigness!
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post April 26, Fourth Sunday of Easter, New joy: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.