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The Community at Prayer
Reflection by Father Paul M. Baca
April 20, 2008, 5thSunday of Easter

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      The readings for the Easter time, especially from the Acts of the Apostles, give us a glimpse of what Christianity was at the very beginning. In today's reading we see the rapid growth of the church challenging the apostles to serve all the members, especially the new ones. The lack of service leads to complaints from the Hellenists who feel that they are being neglected in the daily distribution. Led by the Holy Spirit, the apostles quickly respond with the solution by engaging seven reputable men filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom and they quickly appoint them to the task at hand. Their reason for doing this is expressed in the words, "It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at tables." I do not believe that they felt that serving at tables was beneath them, but rather they were challenged by the many duties that had to be shared.

        As I read the first reading I focused on the use of Word to sum up their ministry of spreading the faith. Later on in the same reading we read, "The word of God continued to spread and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly." It seems to me that more and more Christians are referring to the scriptures as the word and rightly so. Since our youth we have prayed, "The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us." So I believe that we identify word with the presence of Jesus. We had a professor in the seminary who once said that when we read scripture we must realize that it the divine Jesus speaking to us. This of course demands some discernment and listening to the scripture scholars who guide us through some of the more difficult texts.

    We must realize that it is a loving and caring God who speaks to us through scripture expressing his unconditional love for each and every one of us. Words are very powerful and we have all experienced words of love and words of hate. We have been guided and directed by loving words, however at times we have been misled. The apostles were inspired as they listened to the Holy Spirit and this resulted in the many people who came to listen to them and their message of salvation. This has been true in the history of Christianity and in our own journey of faith. It is not always always easy or simple to listen to the Holy Spirit because it seems that there are always conflicting messages surrounding us. This is why it is so important that we discern prayerfully and choose wisely our course of action.

    Words are truly a two-edged sword. We can express love and caring but also we can hurt others by our words. We can learn a lot from the readings during the Easter time because the presence of the risen Jesus can be discerned easily in the words of the apostles. As I reflected on these thoughts, I realized what a great gift God has given us in the power of speech and in the Word.

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