15 May 2018
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
The readings from the Acts of the Apostles describe the spread of the Church and in particular Paul’s various travels and visits to Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean. Paul’s message echoes that of the Hebrew prophets, love of God, and care for one’s neighbor. The fundamental change to this message comes with the message that it is by means of Jesus Christ that we achieve this goal and have a perfect model for this goal as well. Like the prophets, Paul realizes that this message will come at some cost since it runs contrary to what Jesus identifies in the gospel as “the world.” For John, the world symbolizes those aspects of creation which take us from God, aspects which include persons as well as things. The term perhaps is unfortunate because it implies that the “world” is fundamentally evil which is mistaken notion, proven by the fact that in the same gospel John notes that Christ did not come to condemn the world, rather to redeem it (3:17). Today’s readings resonate with the First Principle and Foundation and the theme of vocation as found in the Spiritual Exercises. In the First Principle, Ignatius identifies that we must make choices as to what aspects of the “world” will help us move towards Christ. And the call of Christ the King reflects Paul’s words that this movement will come at some cost.