Some missionaries in the olden days
took the attitude that they were bringing God to the people of a foreign land
for the very first time. However, now we
missionaries are taught that people have God present to them and working in
their lives in so many ways, even before they formally adopt Christianity as
their faith. Many times they are unaware
of the different ways God is working in their lives.
I thought of this in light of today’s
first reading, as we hear of Paul preaching to the Athenians in the Acts of the
Apostles. It's astounding to hear about
Paul's travels throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, but it's even more
noteworthy to hear how he speaks not only to those Greeks educated in
philosophy, but also how Paul can relate so well to peasants, city dwellers,
rural residents, and slaves alike, helping to bring so many diverse people
together in the Way of Jesus. In today's
reading, Paul makes use of a shrine “to an unknown god” to introduce the faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ to the Athenians, telling them that they unknowingly have
worshipped the God who made heaven and earth, the God who gives life and breath
and all of creation. He is the God that
the poets and the philosophers of the world have in common.
As we hear the words of Paul today in
modern America, in a culture and a time so different from the context in which
they were originally proclaimed, let us give thanks and rejoice for the
privilege we have in hearing the truth of God preached to us, in setting our hearts
free by the words of our Holy Scripture.
Let us pray in our own words and from our own hearts for what we still
need to know in order to be able to follow Jesus without reservation. May the honesty and integrity in which Paul
preached the Good News of Jesus always be an inspiration to us on our own
journeys of faith.
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