Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: 11 May 2025

The Good Shepherd, Callixitus Catacomb, Rome 3rd century

Fourth Sunday after Easter
Insights from Acts 13

Our reading from Acts, chapter 13, tells us that there is nothing new in discovering that dissension and hostility can be found within the faith community as well as opposition to its message and activities from outside.

Disagreements between members of the community can be resolved, but open and aggressive attacks are far from ideal and give out a very bad message to the world about us.

We might be excused some of these wranglings, knowing full well we have never been perfect and we know that sin finds its way into the routine of our Christian lives. Yet it is not acceptable to let anything hinder the message of the Gospel, nor prevent ourselves and others from experiencing the risen Christ . But if anything can help us, this passage from Acts 13 hands us several useful insights for each of us on our own journey.

Sentences to help us.

It seems to me, as somebody struggling like many, to make my way through life ,by trying to follow Christ as best I can, that our present age is in dire need of shepherds who will guide the flock, both individually and collectively in the age old ways of a living and growing spiritual life. I am not talking about Popes or Bishops or priests here, rather those more hidden and ordinary friends of God who draw us closer to God in the everyday moments we experience, good people, deeply rooted in a living relationship with Christ and compassionate towards all.

The three sentences that helped me in this passage are these:

'…remain faithful to the grace of God'.(V 13)

'The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe,and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region'.(V 48/49)

'So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the holy Spirit" (V 51,52)

How to use them!

What do I make of them? Most importantly I linked them in this, the first missionary journey of the Christian Church from Antioch, by Paul and Barnabas to some of the first words of our new Pope Leo XIV in his first homily with the Cardinals on May 9th, the day after his election. He reminds us of the need for mission built on our own personal faith, and of the need to encourage others especially those whose faith in Christ is not yet fully formed:

'This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Saviour. Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16).

It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a Church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all (cf. Lumen Gentium, 1).( Homily of Leo XIV May 9th 2025)

Those words coupled with the sentences from Acts help me form a simple spirituality of mission for myself, and in another way a good example of how I can examine my conscience.

Firstly by asking for the help of the Holy Spirit to remain faithful to the grace of God, given so freely to us all, but understanding these graces as gifts we can ask for, because we are part the baptised, confirmed community of Christ.

Secondly learning to delight in my faith, seeing it as a life-giving source of love but rooting it in a good, sensible and informed understanding of the Word of God, trying to find the best understanding and avoiding the dangers of using scripture as a polemical tool, rather than a food for the spirt and a guide to life.

Knowing what Scripture is about is essential. Too many times we hear people cherry picking bits, here we are encouraged by Paul and Barnabas to listen to the Christ, our true Word found for us in the gospels, and then by our example preach and teach His love and mercy.

But lastly, there are times when it is best to walk away and let the Lord deal with something we cannot, to shake off the dust in situations of impasse is not cowardice, but a conservation of energy for that which is to come. Those we have to leave like this are also in the hands of God, we haven't abandoned them, just handed a difficult situation over to the grace that is God.

I quoted Pope Francis saying to Emmanuele:

'The one who says who goes to Heaven is God. (But God has) a Father's heart. God has a Dad's heart. And with a Dad who was not a believer, but who baptised his children…do you think that God would be able to leave him far from himself? Does God abandon his children? Does God abandon his children when they are good?'(Pope Francis to Emanuele April 15th 2016, parish of St Paul of the Cross, Rome) That God is to whom we entrust those to difficult for us to deal with, the one with a Father's heart!

Our wider mission, destiny and promise.

Here in this simple truth is what shaking the dust off our feet also means, handing over what we cannot do, but recognising this is also done in joy, for after Paul and Barnabas had left Antioch for Iconium, they and all with them, were overtaken by joy and filled with the Holy Spirit, and so too must we be so filled!

The other two readings simply reinforce this vocation to mission, Revelation 7, gives us a vision of who we are now and in the future, followers of the true Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world and always has mercy on us, but who will gather us into one without distinction of office, status, gender or intellect. This is our destiny:

' They will not hunger or thirst anymore,

nor will the sun or any heat strike them.

For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them

and lead them to springs of life-giving water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes'.(Rev 7: 16.17) That image alone should give us enormous joy and hope!

But to remind us all of his own continual promise and presence, Jesus reassures us with words of great solace and love:

'My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. (Jn 10: 26-28)

Christ is risen, He is truly risen!

May His peace be with us always!

Lectio

Two extracts from Pope Leo's first address and first homily

Address from St Peters May 8th 2025

"Peace be with you all.

Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts, to reach your families: to all people wherever they may be, to all nations, to the whole earth: peace be with you.
This is the peace of the Risen Christ: a disarmed peace, a disarming peace, humble and persevering, it comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.
We still hold in our ears that weak yet ever courageous voice of Pope Francis as he blessed Rome-the Pope who blessed Rome, who gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that Easter morning. Allow me to follow up on that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil shall not prevail. We are all in God's hands.
Therefore, without fear, united, hand in hand with God and with one another, let us move forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us; the world needs His light, humanity needs Him as a bridge to be reached by God and His love. Help us as well-help one another-to build bridges through dialogue, through encounter, uniting everyone to be one single people always in peace.
Thanks to Pope Francis.

Extract from Homily May 9th 2025

"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" If we reflect on the scene we are considering, we might find two possible answers, which characterize two different attitudes.

First, there is the world's response. Matthew tells us that this conversation between Jesus and his disciples takes place in the beautiful town of Caesarea Philippi, filled with luxurious palaces, set in a magnificent natural landscape at the foot of Mount Hermon, but also a place of cruel power plays and the scene of betrayals and infidelity. This setting speaks to us of a world that considers Jesus a completely insignificant person, at best someone with an unusual and striking way of speaking and acting. And so, once his presence becomes irksome because of his demands for honesty and his stern moral requirements, this "world" will not hesitate to reject and eliminate him.

Then there is the other possible response to Jesus' question: that of ordinary people. For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel. That is why they follow him, at least for as long as they can do so without too much risk or inconvenience. Yet to them he is only a man, and therefore, in times of danger, during his passion, they too abandon him and depart disappointed.

What is striking about these two attitudes is their relevance today. They embody notions that we could easily find on the lips of many men and women in our own time, even if, while essentially identical, they are expressed in different language.

Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.

These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.

Today, too, there are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism.

This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Saviour. Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16).

It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a Church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all (cf. Lumen Gentium, 1).