Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12
Happy Mother’s
Day to all of the mothers out there – especially to my Mom Sandy, my wife
Kathy, and my daughters Christie and Kathie – and all of you mothers who have
shared your love and care for all of us throughout our lives. Allow me to share
this special prayer with you:
“Good and
Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers who have joined with you in
the wonder of bringing forth new life.
You who
became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to
face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
Give them the
strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly.
Give them the
faithful support of family and friends as they care for the physical and
spiritual growth of their children.
Give them joy
and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood,
as they watch them grow from infants to adults.
Most of all,
give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most. Amen”
----
Boy, it
didn’t take long for tensions to arise in the early Christian community, did
it? In the last couple of weeks, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles how the
community was “of one mind and heart” and “shared everything in common”. At
least, that was true until the community expanded to include others who were
different. The Hellenists in the first reading were Jews who spoke Greek
instead of Aramaic, had their Scriptures read in Greek in the Synagogue instead
of Hebrew, and who probably came from somewhere other than Palestine, Judea.
And
apparently their widows - these women who had no means of support because they
were without a husband, or a grown son to provide for them – these widows were
being neglected in the daily distribution that was supporting all the needy of
the community. What was recognized by the community was the injustice that was
underlying the problem – there was a disproportionate treatment being given to
one group over another. There was, in fact, an unequal
distribution of the necessities of life in the community.
And so the
Apostles asked the community to recommend seven men to oversee the distribution
– to address the injustice that had become a part of the early church.
It’s really not
surprising why this reading from the Acts of the Apostles has traditionally been
considered to be a story about the first deacons. In the first verse, the
second verse, and the fourth verse, this reading uses the Greek word diakonia,
where we get our English word Deacon from.
That's why this
reading is used at all ordinations of deacons. More recently, scholars have
debated whether this episode really represents the first deacons – but if we get
wrapped up in that debate today we would be missing the point of this Scripture
– especially in the context of the other readings.
Because the
point is that injustice must be rooted out – whether it exists within our
Christian community or outside of it. Notice the words of today’s psalm – “Upright
is the word of the LORD, and all God’s works are trustworthy. God loves justice
and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.”
Our God is a
God of justice, and right; of mercy and lovingkindness. And when those characteristics
are missing, or damaged, when right relationships have been broken or wounded,
then, just as in the first reading, someone must be sent to repair them and to
lead the way back to justice and mercy.
This is the specific
call of the Deacon – to have a ministry to Word, to Sacrament and to Justice
and Charity. And for us deacons, the ministry of justice is what informs,
invigorates, and gives real meaning to our other ministries of Word and
Liturgy. Because we are ministering to all those in need and on the margins,
our “job description” is contained in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy
– to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to comfort the afflicted, to
visit the sick and imprisoned…to engage in life-giving activities rather than
death-dealing ones…to put meaning into life rather than suck it out.
Our
experiences in ministering to those who are oppressed and poor, who are lonely
or sick, who are unborn or forgotten…those experiences are what we bring back
to our communities to put the Scriptures in the context of the life of
suffering humanity, and to bring the needs of the table of the world to the
table of the Eucharist.
But it’s not
just the role of the deacon…because, just as the Church teaches that there
cannot be an ordained priesthood without a priesthood of the faithful, I don’t
think there can be an ordained diaconate without a diaconate of the faithful.
All of us, and each of us, because of our baptism, are to have the works of
mercy as our guide and our blueprint. It’s like the song John Wilde sang this
past Thursday, “We are called to act with justice, we are called to love
tenderly, we are called to serve one another, and to walk humbly with God.”
This is what
the letter of Peter means when it says that we are to “let ourselves be built
into living stones” – to be shaped into the image of Christ, the ultimate
living stone, the one who has given us a model and footprints to follow, the
one who has assured Thomas and all of us that we do “know the way” because he
has not only shown us the way, but IS our Way, our Truth, and our Life.
The community
in the early church found itself in the midst of injustice and a lack of mercy
– and took steps to correct it. Today, we too, find ourselves frequently facing
injustice, a lack of compassion, we encounter bias and prejudice, and we see so
many turning their backs on the least, the last, and the lost. But it is our
call to be Christ to all those on the margins, to show mercy and work for
justice for all our brothers and sisters.
If you
listened to John Wilde Thursday – he sang a beautiful song based on the
inspiring and challenging words of St. Theresa of Avila’s reflection:
“Christ has
no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes
through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which
he walks around doing good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all
the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are
his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
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