Have you ever seen a dinner table discussion develop into a fierce battleground? Sometimes having different points of view can develop into passionately held beliefs becoming the cause of bitter controversy and division. Letters to the Editor in our daily papers show clearly what vastly divergent views people can hold about some topic.
Our first reading from Acts reminds us of the “dissension and debate” that raged between Paul and Barnabas, who’d welcomed so many Gentile converts to Christianity, and the Jewish leaders who believed that the Gentile converts should observe rituals of the Mosaic law such as male circumcision. Was the early church to remain strictly Jewish or was the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Gentiles to be acknowledged as a sign of something new happening in the church?
How did the early church resolve this controversy? Whose opinion was to be considered as correct? The Acts of the Apostles records that Paul and Barnabas joined the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for dialogue, prayer to the Holy Spirit and communal discernment, which were all part of the church’s decision-making process. This gathering in Jerusalem in 49AD was the first council of the church which did not become split by controversy but in fact remained united. “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us” that male circumcision should not be required of the Gentile converts. As Verna Holyhead points out, “the decision is to lift the burdens from the Gentile Christians, not impose them.....The Spirit is moving in the church, in human hearts, creating peace and proclaiming love.”
Do I really believe that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church?
Our Gospel passage from John records Jesus’ promise of the gift of peace and the gift of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who would be sent by the Father “to teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you”. Jesus reassured his apostles that they need not fear his absence. “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”. That is his promise to us too.
In our own day, when the Church has been ‘exposed in all its weakness’, buffeted by scandals, controversy and loss of faith, we are challenged to remain faithful.
Lord, deepen our trust in you and in the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit.
Denise Sullivan OP
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