“In truth, I see that God
shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation
whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.” (Acts
10:34-35).
One of the many benefits that comes
from a more mixed society, where we have people from many different parts of
the world living together, is that it helps to broaden our minds. At various
times I lived in religious communities where there were people from different
parts of the world. One morning when we came down for breakfast two of us
noticed that someone had cut the loaf of bread not from top to bottom into
slices the way we usually do, but from one side to the other across the middle.
In other words they had done the complete opposite of what we were used to. The
two of us who noticed this at the same time both began to complain saying, ‘Who
is the idiot that did this!’ but then almost immediately we both began to check
ourselves and say, ‘I suppose there is no law that says you can’t do it this
way!’ and we laughed at ourselves and how fixed we can be in our ways. It was a
Taiwanese priest living with us whose culture is very different from ours. Something
as simple as this helped us to see how small-minded we can be in our ways.
In the second reading today St. Peter
says he realised how anyone can be acceptable to God if they do what is right. That
might seem obvious enough to us, but it wasn’t obvious to them at that time.
The Jewish people believed that they were specially chosen by God, and that
meant anyone else who was not Jewish was not so important to God, but then the
Lord began to teach the Apostles that in fact He was there for everyone, of
every nationality and creed. It took
them a while to come around to this way of thinking. In fact the first few
times some Gentiles (non-Jews) received the gift of the Spirit, the Apostles
were quite surprised. They hadn’t expected this. They didn’t think that
Gentiles would be given the gift of the Spirit. God was helping them to gradually
broaden their horizons. Everyone, of every nationality and creed was being
called into God’s family. The Lord showed this to St. Peter through a vision
(See Acts 10:9-16). Peter saw a vision of a great sheet being let down from
heaven filled with all kinds of animals and birds. Then he heard a voice
saying:
“Now Peter, Kill and eat!” But
Peter answered, “Certainly not, Lord; I have never yet eaten anything profane
or unclean.” Again a second time, the voice spoke to him, “What God has made
clean, you have no right to call profane.” This was repeated three times and
suddenly the container was drawn up to heaven again (Acts 10:13-16).
This vision helped Peter to
understand that no-one was ‘unclean’ in God’s sight if they tried to live the
right way. The Lord was helping Peter to see a bigger picture, but as with most
of us, this happens gradually. Everyone is called to be part of God’s family.
After Jesus was Baptised in the
Jordan a vision was seen of the Spirit coming down on him in the form of a dove.
The Father in heaven was empowering him with the gift of the Spirit, to enable
him to live the mission that the Father had given him, to teach the people
about God and to offer himself for the sins of the world. The Spirit gave him
the strength and wisdom He needed for this difficult mission.
Perhaps another reason why people
were allowed to see the Spirit descend in bodily form was to remind us of what
happens when we are baptised. We are given the gift of the Spirit to enable us
to live the Christian life. It is not a way of life that we can live by our own
strength; it would be too difficult. This is why God gives us the gift of his
Spirit to guide, strengthen and teach us. Jesus said to the Apostles that after
He had ascended into heaven He would send the Spirit, ‘Who will teach you
everything’ (John 16:13b). Our minds can only take so much, and we are
continually learning about the ways of God. As we continue to pray and try and
live the Christian way of life, the Lord teaches us more and more. So much of
what our faith is about is completely beyond us, and so the Lord teaches us little
by little.
When we are baptised we state what it
is we believe in and we commit ourselves to this way of faith. For many of us someone
else will have spoken on our behalf when we were baptised as we were infants,
but this is done on the understanding that we will be taught about our faith as
we grow up, otherwise it would make no sense. If we come for baptism as adults
we will be examined before-hand to make sure we understand the commitment we
are taking on. But the greatest part of Baptism is the gift of the Spirit who
will teach us all we need to know, and who will continue to challenge us in
different ways so that we grow ever closer to God. As long as we remain open to
the gift of God’s Spirit we will be drawn deeper and deeper into God. Only in
God will we find our true happiness and fulfilment and so the more we give
ourselves to this journey the more fulfilment we will find.
“In truth, I see that God
shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation
whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.” (Acts
10:34-35).
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