To the Band of Brothers: August 29, 2024

Over the summer, I took advantage of rereading certain books of the Bible from beginning to end. Usually, we hear excerpts from different books at Mass, but don’t plunge into the wholeness of the book. This is particularly true with the Old Testament. We avoid reading it like carbs if you’re on a Keto diet. Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries has a book I read during my retreat that I highly recommend. It’s called “The Great Story of Israel: Election, Freedom, Holiness.” Bishop Barron walks you through many of the books of the Old Testament and shows you how understanding them only strengthens your understanding of the New Testament. It highlights how while Jesus is revealed in the New Testament, he is clearly concealed in the Old. 

One of the New Testament texts I reread was Acts of the Apostles. It was fascinating to see how the early Christian community started to make its way through life “without” Jesus. It was consoling to see their ups and downs, their struggles and doubts. And yet, through it all, they got the Church off the ground. There was one story, though, that left me a bit upset after reading it. It roused a somewhat infantile sense of, “hey, that’s not fair,” I haven’t experienced in a long time.

Acts tells the story of St. Paul in Jerusalem, speaking about the resurrection to a group of Sadducees, Pharisees, and Temple priests, the Jewish pick-of-the-litter (23:1-11). A heated dispute breaks out that ends with Paul being escorted out for fear they were going to tear him apart. That wasn’t the part that bothered me. What bothered me was the last verse in the reading that said the Lord stood by Paul and said to him, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome” (v. 11).

See what I mean? The Lord stands by Paul and not only encourages him, but also tells him He wants him to leave Jerusalem and go to Rome. Do you know how many times I have asked the Lord to tell me where He wants me to go or what He wants me to do and He gives me the silent treatment? Why does Paul get the special, in-your-face, hold-my-hand treatment and I mostly get crickets in the background?

Well, I took my complaint to prayer and God answered my whine.

Acts of the Apostles tells the stories of the early Christian communities as they began their long journey of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. This small handful of men and women went into a big, bad world to share their experiences of faith. They were like babies, weak and afraid, because they didn’t know what to expect, didn’t know where exactly to go, or what they were exactly supposed to do. Much like little children whose mothers always have to be next to them, keeping them from sticking their little fingers into electrical sockets or gorging on cookies before dinner, the early Church needed to be given special care and attention to be sure she was heading in the right direction. 

What God spoke to me quietly in prayer was that now it’s 2024 and the Church has grown up. The Church’s legs are obviously stronger. She has walked a very long journey and has made her way literally into every corner of the planet. Like an adult who no longer needs to be told all the time what to do, she can wisely and maturely discern when and where to go. If after 2,000 years she still puts her finger in the electrical socket, she deserves to be shocked. If she still gorges on cookies before dinner, she deserves to have indigestion.

This is not to say the Church has grown up and no longer needs the presence of the Lord. The presence is still there. The Holy Spirit sustains and guides her through the lessons of life’s experiences, through the teachings and examples of hundreds of thousands of Christians who have been there and done that. At 54 years of age, I don’t need my father to be holding my hand as I make certain decisions in my life, but I clearly acknowledge I can now make those decisions better on my own and I think that’s how God wants it.

St. Paul and the early Christian community may have needed that extra help because of how delicate and precarious the situation was back then. It makes sense to assume that if the Lord had not taken that extra care in the early stages of the Church’s life, she may never have made it to 2024 and I wouldn’t have been reading that text over the summer or even sitting here now writing this edition of the Band of Brothers. Now that I think of it, God was being completely fair.