Homily
for the
7th
Sunday of Easter
May
16, 2021
Acts
1: 15-17, 20-26
Ursulines,
Willow Dr., New Rochelle, N.Y.
“Peter
said, ‘The Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke…” (Acts 1:
15-16).
The infant Church’s 1st decision—except the decision to continue hiding out in the cenacle—concerned filling Judas’ place in the apostolic college. To make the decision, immediately they placed themselves under divine authority, in 2 steps.
1st, they
assessed their situation in the light of the Scriptures. They acknowledged the Scriptures to be the
inspired Word of God, the voice of the Holy Spirit. They took that Word as their guiding rule.
From the
very beginning up until today, the Church is under the Word of God for our
guidance and governance. E.g., Vatican
II refers to the Scriptures thru and thru, and one its most important documents
was in fact the Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. Likewise, subsequent papal and curial
documents consistently refer to the Scriptures for what they teach.
What
holds for the Church universal is valid for us too—as a religious community and
as individual disciples of the Lord Jesus.
We need to read the Bible, pray with the Bible, refer our life situation
to the Bible.
2d, the
infant Church placed their decision in God’s hands. This they did in part by what our Holy Father
calls the “synodal way.” Peter initiated
the discussion of how they should fill Judas’ place, but all participated,
eventually putting forward 2 candidates:
“they proposed 2, Joseph[1]
called Barsabbas…, and Matthias” (1:23).
And they did it in part by explicit prayer: “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show
which one of these 2 you have chosen” (1:24).
Here,
too, is a guide for us: consultation,
seeking advice; discussion of options, implications, means, intentions; and
then prayer. This, also, holds for both
communities and individuals.
The 120
in the upper room left the choice to God by drawing lots, however they did
that. Sometimes it seems that we—the
Church, the community, ourselves—make a decision by a figurative roll of the
dice. If we’ve invoked God 1st, I guess
you could say it’s a biblical way of determining God’s will. Should we close this work or open that new
one? Whom should we assign to this
particular responsibility? Is sister
ready for a move? Should I or should I
not accept what’s proposed? What should
we do about such-and-such a situation in the community or the school? After all the “synodal way,” and prayer, maybe
our way of casting lots is to vote.
There is an adage, at least as old as medieval Scholasticism, “Vox
populi, vox Dei.”
Of
course, sometimes the superior alone has to decide. We need to pray she’s listening to God.
A
separate point brought out in the passage we read is the nature of the
apostolic office that Matthias was chosen to fill. This bears on our purpose as apostolic
religious, and the purpose of our schools and catechesis and any other
ministry; indeed, on who we are as disciples of Jesus. “It is necessary that [the one chosen] become
a witness to Jesus’ resurrection” (1:21-22).
However much we might talk about the public ministry of Jesus, his
exorcisms, his parables, his miracles, the Sermon on the Mount—the fundamental
truth of faith in Jesus is that God raised him from the dead, that he is our
living Lord, that he is our life.
St. Paul
writes to the Corinthians: “If Christ
has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. If for this life only we have hoped in
Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all” (I, 15:17,19). Without the resurrection, we have no hope of
eternal life, and nothing we do, or don’t do, in this life matters. As a cynical but very popular song in the
’70s said, “We’re just dust in the wind.”
But God
created us for life, and in his Son Jesus Christ he has made it possible for us
to live happily forever. This has to be
our hope and the basis for everything else we teach: social justice, sexual morality, self-denial,
humility, patience, love for our sisters.
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