St. Norbert's Church - Sunday Reflections

Today the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, begins to tell us of the challenges in the early Christian community. It is not easy for any community to begin to change, even if those changes are clearly a part of the community. We sense the same thing today, in our own time. Some people want changes and other people want no changes. Yet, even in the early Church, there were ways for the Christian community to recognize a call of the Holy Spirit.

Even in the early Church, not everyone accepted authority. Why should we expect it to be different today? We should not. Today some people want changes in morality, others want changes in the priesthood, others want changes in how the Church is organized, etc. This cannot surprise us.

Just as the early Christian community had a recognized structure by which changes could happen and be acknowledged, so also today we have such structures. No one should be surprised when the authority in the Church asks for change or when the authority in the Church tells us that no change will happen or that no change is possible in certain areas.

In the Gospel of John today, Jesus tells us: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. This peace is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the ways for us to recognize that God is at work. When we find people agitating the Church and disrupting the peace of the Church, we can be sure that it is not the Holy Spirit. We need to wait in patience until peace returns once more before decisions should be made.

This is true in our personal lives as well. The whole tradition of spiritual discernment invites us to seek peace before making any major decision in our lives. If the Church can live in that way and if we can live in that way, then we can hear the Holy Spirit.

When we have no peace and only conflicts, then no decision should be make in terms of changing things or directions or major elements of our lives or of Church practice. Instead, we should begin to pray for peace so that any decision can clearly be made in the presence of the Holy Spirit and by those who role it is to make such decisions.

The Book of Revelations reminds us today that the Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles. This is a reminder of authority as service in the Church. Sometimes we don't trust those who serve us as authority in the Church. If we do not trust, then we must pray: for those who serve us in roles of authority, for those who need care and for the Church as community.

May the Holy Spirit come on us all so that we can be a strong community in the Lord, giving witness to God's love.