Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
If we are to receive the joy of the Lord we must be open to it. Philip received a counter intuitive call from the Lord: “Get up and head south on the road… the desert route.” (Acts 8:26) For someone who has just found great results in preaching and ministering in the city of Samaria, the call to leave the city and head for the desert surely seemed odd. And yet, he was open to how the Lord called him. So too the Ethiopian eunuch. Although in charge of a royal treasury, he spent his time reading and praying over the sacred texts of a people not his own. He even travelled over a great distance to worship in Jerusalem the Lord about whom he had merely read, and read without understanding! Such a heart that was not trapped by attachment to riches or homeland, but rather was willing to seek the Lord among whomever and whatever circumstances He was to be found, such a heart was humbly open to receiving the joy of the Lord. And this joy was given to the eunuch, “…and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39)
How is it that the eunuch came to experience this joy? Through docility to the working of the Lord in his heart. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. … Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.” (Jn 6:44-45) Do I allow silence in my day for the Father to speak to me, to teach me? The Lord is teaching us lessons throughout our day, but unless we take time to stop and review the day, we may miss the lessons He has given. He gives lessons through small inspirations, through the reading of Sacred Scripture, through the words of a wise friend. Today let us ask, what time will I set aside for listening to and learning from the Lord? When will I pause, even if for five minutes, to be still and let the Lord (who desires my joy so much!) speak to my heart?