Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 17:15.22-18:1; John 16:12-15)
In his First Letter to the Corinthians St.
Paul writes of how from the beginning he intended to preach Christ crucified in
Corinth. He says that he never employed
worldly wisdom in his preaching. Rather
he was determined to tell them of God’s love in sending His Son to die so that they
might have eternal life. This tact was instigated
by Paul’s bitter experience related in today’s reading from Acts.
In the passage Paul tries to engage the
Athenians in rational discourse. He
begins by noting the place in the Greek pantheon of “an Unknown God.” He proceeds to claim that this God is the
uncreated Creator of all things whom Israel worships. He concludes by mentioning God chose Jesus as
His judge of the world by raising him from the dead. His listeners, however, brush him off with
what amounts to saying that his ideas are “interesting.” Paul has had enough with logic. From Athens he will proceed to Corinth where
he will use a completely different approach in preaching Christ.
We will find ourselves at times in a
situation similar to Paul’s in Athens.
We may be tempted to convince others of the logic of our Catholic faith. If so, we probably will find them resisting
our efforts. We will be wiser to state our
fundamental convictions and show their validity by our virtue and joy.
