Scripture:
Acts 15: 22 – 31
John 15:12 – 17
Reflection:
“If you are what you should be, you will set all of Italy ablaze!”
St Catherine of Siena, Letter T 368
Today the Church celebrates the feast day of one of the few women Doctors of the Church, Catherine of Siena. Her influence on the Church at the time of the Great Schism was Divine intervention only because she listened to God with deep love and lived out the above quote.
The Apostles, choosing some of their own to carry a message of comfort and hope to those followers who had been distressed over an earlier message, were listening to the Holy Spirit for guidance for a solution to a problem. They had been with Jesus only three years and did not understand all that was being said until after his Resurrection. They were the first to be examples of how a follower of Jesus needs to open their heart to the Holy Spirit to be able to listen to the Word of God and take action. They were also examples of listening to God with deep love so as to become what God created them to be as Apostles. Each chosen for their own gifts and talents.
and they, “ set the world ablaze!”
The Apostle’s love and friendship for and with Jesus was the fuel for their blaze. After the Resurrection and Pentecost they were able to begin to fully understand what was being asked of them. It was revealed to them day by day as they learned to listen to the Holy Spirit and form their own lives in the model that Jesus had given them. He had told them that because of their friendship they were chosen to “bear fruit that will remain”. Because of their friendship they needed to love as they had been loved.
“If you are what you should be, you will set all of Italy ablaze!”
Becoming the person that God created us to be is a life long journey and we know that the journey begins with the first step. Baptism was the first step in our relationship with God and every day since that time we have taken many other steps, some closer to God and some away from God. All are needed in our relationship with God. Taking time to reflect on our relationship and what it is that God is calling us to be is an important part of the journey. God may not want us to set our country, state, or city, ablaze! We may just be called to set our family, friends, and co-workers ablaze with the love of Christ.
“If you are what you should be, you will set all of. . . ablaze!”
Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky