Tuesday, May 13, 2025

 

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 22:30)

Today’s first reading tells of two related milestones. For the first time not only Jews but also non-Jewish Greek speakers were joining Christ’s community.  Also, the community was given the name of “Christian” or, at least its members were called “Christians.”

For the initial years after Jesus’ resurrection, only Jews belonged to the Church.  The Church was a sect of Judaism – Jews who believed that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  In Antioch, evidently for the first time, non-Jewish Greeks became Church members.  As a result, the community could no longer be considered a Jewish sect.  Its members had to recognize the fact and call themselves “Christians,” that is, followers of Christ.

We are proud to be called “Christians.” Jesus Christ, because he had a divine as well as human nature, lived human ideals to the full.  He modeled to the full truth, goodness, and love.  With the grace that he gives us, we can do something similar.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 12:22-30)

In today’s first reading St. Luke, the author, states that at Antioch the disciples of Jesus were first called “Christians.” The name must have taken hold quickly and universally.  Luke probably wrote his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles in the eighties of the first century.  His matter-of-fact way of saying that Jesus’ followers Jesus were “Christians” indicates that it was a popular movement in Middle Eastern religion.

The term “Christ” comes from the Greek word meaning anointing. As Jesus says on his visit to Nazareth as recorded by Luke, he was anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor.  His followers also were anointed by the Spirit to bring about a universal community of fellowship – very good news to people of goodwill.

It is imperative that we ask ourselves, are we faithful to the name “Christian”?  Do we sow seeds of justice and peace among those we encounter?  Some Christians – even among those who come to church regularly – often create strife and contention.  To be faithful to the one for whom we live we should strive to fair and reconciling so that people may come to Christ through us. 

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-33)

In 1947 Archbishop Joseph Ritter of St. Louis ordered all Catholic schools of the city to accept African-Americans.  Many white Catholic parents opposed the order and threatened to sue the Church.  The archbishop responded by declaring that any Catholic who took part in the lawsuit would be excommunicated.  He understood better than most that the Church is an assembly for all people of faith.  The first reading today shows the Church integrating different peoples at an early stage of its development.

Although there are prior instances of gentiles accepting Christ in the Book of Acts, the passage read today presents a new picture.  It indicates that many non-Jewish Greeks participate in the Christian community in Antioch.  As the members of the community were known as “Christians,” its mixed nature tells what Christianity is about.  The new religious movement intends to unite all people in mutual love.

We can be grateful to be part of a Church that resists the tendency to tolerate racism.  Unfortunately, the Church’s record is not perfect in this regard.  But still we can be certain that Christ died for all people and calls all kinds of people together in his Church.  The more we promote racial integration, the truer we are to Christ.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)

Calling citizens of the United States “Americans” did not happen on the first day of the revolution.  It took time for the people to understand themselves in this way.  Perhaps the name was secured when George Washington in his farewell address to the republic wrote, "The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation." What does the term convey?  The true answer to this question can only be “different things to different people.”  Still Americans are generally recognized for their freedom to express themselves in the way that each individual thinks best.  In today’s reading from Acts we hear the story of how Christians attained their identity.

In the Acts of the Apostles the followers of Christ in Jerusalem retained their Jewish customs.  They went to the Temple to pray and adhered to Jewish dietary laws.  As the movement spread, however, Jewish customs were gradually left behind.  When the disciples of Jesus came to Antioch, they evangelized among pagans as well as Jews. It was impossible to see them any longer as Jewish so they were called Christians.  Later on it was said of Christians, “See how they love one another.”  Love for others beyond family and close friends became the characteristic mark of Jesus’ followers.

We know that it is often difficult to have patience with those who frustrate us and to pray for those who persecute the oppressed.  We struggle to tolerate, much less love, everyone.  Yet this is the Christian heritage into which we have been immersed with Baptism.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)

Fr. Cornelius would sit at the back of church before masses in which young Dominican friars were ordained. He knew that some of the people attending the mass would need the Sacrament of Reconciliation and wanted to make himself available.  He was a good man in the style of Barnabas of the first reading today.

There really is no need for the reading to say that Barnabas is a "good man" since Acts has already spelled out how he had sold his property and gave the proceeds to the community of disciples in Jerusalem.  Here he recognizes the good of foreigners (that is, non-Jews) accepting faith in Jesus as Lord.  He will go on to preach to the Gentiles along with Paul.

We hope that others say of us that we are good men and women.  A sure sign of goodness is openness to different kinds of people.  We should not judge others before getting to know them.  Indeed, we want to extend a hand of friendship to the strangers that we meet.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)

The archives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis justly speak of Cardinal Joseph Ritter as a man of “courage and decency.” When he arrived in the city as archbishop, the face of the local Church was marred by racism. In his first year of tenure he ordered all pastors to end discrimination against African-Americans in parochial schools. The reaction, as might have been expected, was strong. But ending segregation was the right thing to do.

In the first reading we see the early Church going through a crisis every bit as traumatic as that of the Church of St. Louis in the time of Cardinal Ritter. The Church began in Jerusalem as a sect of Judaism following Jesus’ teaching. Forced to spread, it encountered non-Jews in places like Antioch. Were they going to be accepted into Jesus’ flock directly or did they have to be transitioned through Judaism? In Antioch, at least, a positive answer to accepting directly non-Jews into the Church was given. Barnabas, like Ritter “a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith,” affirmed the direct assimilation.

Today Catholics face a similar challenge in relating to members of Protestant communities. Some of these communities have been openly hostile to the Church in the past. Others have assented to doctrines that wander hopelessly from the Christian tradition. But these should not be reasons for rejecting ongoing prayer, cooperative charitable services, and dialogue. Protestants must be treated as sisters and brothers called and baptized into the large flock of the one shepherd.

Homilette for Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)

Leonard Bernstein’s Mass makes a marvelous tribute to the word of the Lord. In a piece with that title Bernstein states that powers may lock up preachers but they cannot contain the message they preach. In Acts Luke also shows the word of God moving with similar dynamism.

Today’s first reading shows Hellenist Christians forming Christian communities elsewhere after being persecuted in Jerusalem. These communities do not consist solely of Jews who accept Jesus but also of gentiles who acknowledge Jesus as their savior as well. The new community makeup and the new practices it entails call for a new name for church members. They are now Christians.

If the word of God seems stymied today because of agnosticism in many Western countries, it has hardly lost its dynamism in Africa and Asia. Christians are continually being made. The Church still grows. For the old Christian world, we might say with Jesus, “Blessed is the one who takes no offense in (him).”