17 May 2018 – Thursday of the 7th week of Easter - Acts 22:30; 23:6-11

    We are going through an era where the world seems to be going toward the secular and away from the religious, but we forget that this has happened in other time periods throughout history as well. I thought of the founder of the religious order I worked with when I was in Canada.  Eugene de Mazenod was a child and a youth during the French Revolution. Europe had been experiencing the Age of Enlightenment, in which human reason, philosophy, analysis, and individuality were emphasized over the Church and the traditional seats of power and authority in society.  Even though many in France turned away from the Church during those years, de Mazenod chose to enter the seminary.  He eventually became the Bishop of Marseille, a larger trading port and a place where there was a lot of poverty on many levels.  He eventually founded the Oblates of Mary of Immaculate.  Pope Pius XI called the OMI the missionary specialists of difficult missions. In fact, two of the most influential priests in the United States in recent years have been members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate - Father Ron Rolheiser and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago.  Both of these men embody the missionary spirit of the order that de Mazenod founded. 

       We hear of conflict and the difficult circumstances Paul faced today in his ministry in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, of how he was beaten and brought before the Sanhedrin, of how that body got into a fight amongst itself between the Pharisees and Sadducees. Facing challenges and persecutions in nothing new in the lives of Christians, is it?  That is why it is so relevant to look at the daily readings and the lives of the saints that we have throughout our liturgical calendar.  We never know how these readings are going to speak to us as we look at them in the context of the reality of our own world and our own lives.  St Paul used a creative and cunning way to get out of a difficult situation.  He could have been put to death, but was able to escape with his life intact.  As we enter the last days of the Easter season, may we ask the Lord to continue to speak to us and guide us.