Homily for Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter, Year II

          

First Reading: Acts 17:15, 22–18:1

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 148:1–2, 11–12, 13, 14

Gospel: Jn 16:12–15

St. Imelda Convent. Ft. Worth, TX

          There is a Jewish tradition that tells the story of a little boy who went running to his father in tears. “I was playing hide and seek with the other children. When it was my turn to hide, I found a good place in the woods and sat down. But nobody came to find me. Nobody called out my name. They left me all alone.” The father reached out his arms to his son and hugged him closely to comfort him. He said, “My dear son. That’s how it is with God, too. He is always hiding in the world, waiting for someone to come find him. But people don’t want to play. He’s left all alone, wanting to be found, hoping someone will come looking for him.”[1]

          Walking all around city of Athens, St. Paul had seen shrines and altars erected to the various gods and demigods of the Greek pantheon. When he found the altar to an unknown god he saw his opportunity to preach about the one True God. In the Aeropagus, where people gathered to learn from the philosophers, St. Paul began to teach the Greeks. St. Paul was a pretty shrewd teacher – he used the same methods and strategies of teaching many of you use today. St. Paul proceeded to demonstrate that this unknown god for whom they never looked was in fact the Creator of everything important to his audience. The Greeks were intimately familiar with the celestial bodies, the seasons of the year, the plants, animals, and minerals of the earth, and understood that human beings were somehow unique and special in all of creation. Like you, St. Paul knew that for someone to understand a new concept, one must begin with a point of reference with which the learner is already familiar. St. Paul explained to the Greeks that one had only to examine the created world to see that the ‘fingerprints of God’ are all over it. He uses the Greeks knowledge and appreciation for reason and the natural world to show that God is indeed the one God, the creator of all. Further, St. Paul quoted the words of the Greek poet Epimenides when he told the Greeks, “In him we live and move and have our being.”(Acts 17:28) Just as when you teach our youth, St. Paul grabbed and kept their attention by using language they are familiar and comfortable with.

St. Paul tried to get the Greeks to understand that all of creation was made so that we may be made curious, seek God, and strive to find him (Wis 13:5, Rom 1:20). His did not have great success that day in Athens, but he did reach a few with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our first reading tells us that a woman named Damaris, and a member of the Court of the Areopagus named Dionysius, and some others became believers. As for the rest who heard St. Paul teach that day, who knows for sure what seeds were planted?

          With Covid-19, your teaching situation has had a new challenge thrown in. Virtual online classrooms have become the modern day Aeropagus where your students gather. You are charged with finding creative ways to bring the light of truth to kiddos who sometimes may not even be looking for it. Occasionally you will see some fruits of your efforts like St. Paul did that day in his Aeropagus, but other times it may seem like many are not truly engaged or interested in what you are teaching. Persevere, and do not lose heart. Through your teaching, through your example, through your love, you are planting seeds.

In the Gospel today, Jesus said he had much more to tell his disciples, but they were not ready for it. In time, the Holy Spirit would help them to understand the truth. Likewise, when you plant seeds in the hearts, minds, and souls of your students, even though they may not be ready to bear the truth now, one day the Holy Spirit can bring forth fruit when they are ready. And by the way…that one man who did follow St. Paul that day? The fourth-century church historian Eusebius records that Dionysius became the first bishop of Athens.^[2] Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said that since the time of Adam, man has hid from God and yet claimed he cannot be found. Thank you for helping young souls to be open to the movement and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for opening young minds to come out of hiding and look for God. He eagerly waits to be found.

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[1] Richard J. Sklba and Joseph J. Juknialis, “Easter Fire: Fire Starters for the Easter Weekday Homily.” (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016), 154.

^[2] William S. Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, ed. Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 276.