The dominant reading in these weeks immediately after Easter is of course the Acts of the Apostles. The activities and the world depicted in that book will sound strange to us today. I will say a few words about the book itself in the hope of diluting some of its peculiarities. I will attempt too to examine our own experience and tradition today against the background of this book.
It was written by Luke, probably a native of Antioch, a highly educated Greek with a very good knowledge of Jewish law and culture. The Acts really forms Part II of the third gospel, Luke's gospel. It was completed about 70 a.d. It could be accurately called 'The Origins of Christianity in the Mediterranean world'. The book opens with an idealistic account of the first Christian community at Jerusalem. The hero of the book is St Paul, whom Luke accompanied on some of his exhaustive missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean world. After all sorts of misfortune, like being shipwrecked three times and starvation at sea for 16 days, the men eventually arrive at Rome. The book closes with Paul preaching to the Jewish refugees in Rome. The Acts of the Apostles is the product of a diary kept by Luke of that journey between Jerusalem and Rome, supplemented by other accounts submitted to him by other Christian missionaries. After the custom of the day, long speeches are thrown into the mix for good measure. As far as the Jews were concerned, Jerusalem was the centre of the world and Rome was 'the ends of the earth'. So by the time the Acts close, the mandate of Jesus has been fulfilled: The gospel has reached the ends of the earth.
Luke manages to weave religious and Christian themes into his great adventure story. The first theme to emerge is provided by the nature of the adventure itself: the energetic enthusiasm and the burning conviction that propelled the early Christians. This is a 'spirit-driven' project! No matter was too difficult, no journey too arduous, no situation beyond the redemptive powers of the risen Christ. The tradition that carries us may grow tired and weary; the believer who is being carried can grow passive and bored. Passivity and boredom are certainly part of the Irish Catholic experience today. But our second reading there assures us: 'Now I am making the whole creation new'. Each successive generation, through God's help, makes the creation new again; through the spirit of God we renew the face of the earth. The Irish Catholic tradition today seems to have too much caution and too little song.
Another striking theme from the Acts of the Apostles is the ability of Paul and Luke to win people over to their project and then move on. Having mobilised people at the ports in which they landed, they established gifted leaders, gave them full responsibility for their new Churches, and moved on to their next port of call. As an Irish Church, we must recognise and mobilise our gifted servants. As I have so often remarked from this spot, a wealth of energy and talent lies untapped out there. Our culture, the way we have been moulded as a people, constricts us. As a people, we Irish are better spectators than participants, somehow. We like to think of ourselves as a cute, safe people. We like to know who or what is coming around the next corner. We are reluctant to put our heads over the parapet. We are a people hide-bound by tradition. Herein Ireland, the clergy filled roles that were filled in other cultures as a matter of course by lay people. The Irish Church today, priests and people, are still burdened by that legacy. The result is a pliant and passive lay people and an over-active and increasingly burned-out clergy. But, as age creeps up on the clergy, they are growing increasingly passive too. This is of course seriously unhealthy for the Church in Ireland. We will just have to learn new ways of thinking and doing things.
Another characteristic of the book of the Acts was the fearlessness with which they confronted restricting traditions. Paul confronted Peter the leader to his face when Peter attempted to impose Jewish traditions on gentile converts.
Paul would have none of it, making his case that the spirit of God must not be constricted by man-made traditions. The community depicted in our first reading knew Jesus in the flesh. Perhaps that accounts for their enthusiasm. But Jesus assures us in John's gospel: 'Whoever believes in me will perform even greater works than I'. So faith, rather than an historical accident of birth, explains their energy and drive. We in the Irish Church could do with an infusion of their energy and vision. But we must first identify those negative elements within that sap our energy and cloud our vision. Otherwise, we are doomed to plod on as we are, our tradition impeding us as a millstone, rather than serving us as a precious cornerstone. It should serve all as a solid foundation; it is experienced by far too many as 'a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down'.
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