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| Pentecost |
-Brian
Mendonça
After the journey
of Lent, it is blissful to behold the risen Lord. With the blessing of the
homes, He comes to renew his relationship with us in our family setting. We are
in Eastertide.
Eastertide
comprises the 50 days from the Easter vigil to the Pentecost.
One thing
that immediately strikes one is that all the readings – except for the Easter
vigil Mass on 16th April -- are from the Acts in the Bible.
The Acts
or the Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament. What do the
Acts tell us?
Buoyed by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ the disciples fan out to bear witness to life
and death of Jesus. They are more motivated to preach the good news. Peter and
the apostles travel to Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor and the area around the Black
sea. This would be around 70 and 90 CE i.e.
around seventy years after the death of Christ.
The
apostles face the same treatment meted out to Jesus. ‘In those days the high
priest rose up and all who were with him, and filled with jealousy they
arrested the apostles and put them in a public prison.’ (Acts 5:17).
However, during the night the angel of the Lord frees them. To the amazement of
the chief priests the apostles are found ‘standing in the temple teaching the
people.’
After
Jesus suffers, dies and rises up, it does not mean that the challenges for us
have ended. We are constantly called to witness to our faith.
We come
across the advice of Gamaliel, a Pharisee in the council. He warns the council
to be careful how they deal with the apostles. (Acts 5: 34).
Acts 6:7 notes
that ‘The word of the Lord continues to increase and the number of disciples
multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became
obedient to the faith.’
There is
the episode of how Philip baptizes the Ethiopian in Gaza (Acts 8: 26-40). It is
the angel who prompts Philip to go to Gaza. Philip is further guided by the
Holy Spirit who tells him, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ After the baptizing, ‘The Spirit of the
Lord carried Philip away.’ It
appears that the Spirit also takes care of Philip’s travel arrangements because
‘Philip found himself at Azotus and as he passed through he preached the
gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.’
Saul of
Tarsus, who was persecuting the disciples, changes his ways. At Damascus he is
blinded by a light from heaven. Through the intervention of Ananias he is
healed and baptized. (Acts 9: 1-20)
Peter
brings Tabitha of Joppa (a.k.a. Dorcas) back to life in Acts 9: 31-42. Because
of this many believed in the Lord.
A lot of
travelling happens in the Acts. ‘Paul and his companions set sail from
Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia.’ (Acts 13:13) Here Paul speaks in the synagogue
of the lineage of Jesus via Samuel, Saul and David.
The
disciples are constantly guided by visions, trances and the prompting of the
Spirit. It reassures us that the Spirit never leaves us.
All this
time the gospel readings are about the leave-taking of Jesus as he prepares to
return to His father. ‘A little while and you will see me no longer.’ (John
16: 16)
Following the supreme sacrifice of Jesus it is up to us now to – like the acts of the apostles – give witness to our faith.
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For a
useful overview of the Acts through drawings see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-17KxpjL0Q
Pic courtesy: christianity(dot)com
Published in Holy Family Church bulletin, Volume 53, February - April 2022.
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