How The Acts of the Apostles Shows Us How To Work
Start reading the Acts of the Apostles. Maybe you're doing that right now. After all, after Easter, everyday at Mass, we hear the Acts of the Apostles read. Every year it's the same. If you attend daily Mass, you're hearing these readings now. A suggestion: pay attention, plus read them on your own. You'll find great lessons there to help you sanctify your daily work.
What really strikes me every time I read the Acts is the work of the Holy Spirit after Our Lord's Ascension into Heaven. It starts with a big splash on Pentecost, but doesn't stop there. Just read each chapter and you'll see how Peter, Paul, the other Apostles and the first Christians were touched in various ways by the Holy Spirit. It's as if God wanted to be absolutely certain that Jesus teachings - the Good News - was spread throughout the world, just as Jesus told the Apostles they must do.
So Jesus didn't just put a heavy burden on the Apostles. He helped them by sending His Holy Spirit, just like He said He would. And the Holy Spirit lifted them up from time to time to keep the momentum going - until eventually the Christians grew in sufficient numbers.
Let's learn from the experience of the first Christians. It's important that we do, because things haven't changed all that much since those first heady days after Our Lord's Ascension, when Peter and Paul were still on this earth teaching and working miracles in Christ's name.
The fact is, we're all called to spread the Good News too. For most of us, though, this doesn't usually mean preaching and working miracles. Most of us spend our time at work and with our families.
With our families, we're called to be good husbands and fathers - Godly men. This can be tough on some of us. Marriage gets bumpy sometimes. Kids can be tough to discipline in the loving but tough way they need. And, especially these days, family finances challenge us in ways many of us may never have experienced before.
When we face these sorts of difficulties and challenges, we really have to remember that the Holy Spirit didn't just come for the Apostles after Our Lord's Ascension. The Holy Spirit didn't leave after the first Christians did all that hard work of spreading the Good News. The Holy Spirit is just as present now as He was then. And He's just as willing and able to help us now.
Do you know this; do you believe it? If you have faith and hope, call on the Holy Spirit for help.
As for our jobs, well, we talk about the difficulties we all face in the workplace all the time at Catholic Men at Work. And in all those difficulties we can call on the Holy Spirit.
That's why I suggest you read the Acts now. You'll see how receptive and responsive Peter, Paul, et al were to the Holy Spirit then. And you'll start to understand just how we need to be receptive to the Holy Spirit now.
The burdens God places on us - those crosses we are all called upon to bear - won't be any more difficult than the burden the Apostles faced of spreading the Good News in the face of the Jewish leaders who felt threatened by the message of Jesus, or the Roman authorities who, for the most part, considered these Christians an annoying, and sometimes threatening, radical sect.
In the face of incredible odds, the early Christians persisted. The Holy Spirit helped them every step of the way.
Nothing's changed. We too must persist. We must face the challenges of being good, holy husbands and fathers, and good examples to our families and to those we work with. And we've got to persist even in the face of knowing just how imperfect and sometimes even how sinful we are.
But in our persistence, we know that the Holy Spirit works the same wonders and miracles He worked back in those days after Jesus Ascension.
Read the Acts of the Apostles. Nothing's changed.
What really strikes me every time I read the Acts is the work of the Holy Spirit after Our Lord's Ascension into Heaven. It starts with a big splash on Pentecost, but doesn't stop there. Just read each chapter and you'll see how Peter, Paul, the other Apostles and the first Christians were touched in various ways by the Holy Spirit. It's as if God wanted to be absolutely certain that Jesus teachings - the Good News - was spread throughout the world, just as Jesus told the Apostles they must do.
So Jesus didn't just put a heavy burden on the Apostles. He helped them by sending His Holy Spirit, just like He said He would. And the Holy Spirit lifted them up from time to time to keep the momentum going - until eventually the Christians grew in sufficient numbers.
Let's learn from the experience of the first Christians. It's important that we do, because things haven't changed all that much since those first heady days after Our Lord's Ascension, when Peter and Paul were still on this earth teaching and working miracles in Christ's name.
The fact is, we're all called to spread the Good News too. For most of us, though, this doesn't usually mean preaching and working miracles. Most of us spend our time at work and with our families.
With our families, we're called to be good husbands and fathers - Godly men. This can be tough on some of us. Marriage gets bumpy sometimes. Kids can be tough to discipline in the loving but tough way they need. And, especially these days, family finances challenge us in ways many of us may never have experienced before.
When we face these sorts of difficulties and challenges, we really have to remember that the Holy Spirit didn't just come for the Apostles after Our Lord's Ascension. The Holy Spirit didn't leave after the first Christians did all that hard work of spreading the Good News. The Holy Spirit is just as present now as He was then. And He's just as willing and able to help us now.
Do you know this; do you believe it? If you have faith and hope, call on the Holy Spirit for help.
As for our jobs, well, we talk about the difficulties we all face in the workplace all the time at Catholic Men at Work. And in all those difficulties we can call on the Holy Spirit.
That's why I suggest you read the Acts now. You'll see how receptive and responsive Peter, Paul, et al were to the Holy Spirit then. And you'll start to understand just how we need to be receptive to the Holy Spirit now.
The burdens God places on us - those crosses we are all called upon to bear - won't be any more difficult than the burden the Apostles faced of spreading the Good News in the face of the Jewish leaders who felt threatened by the message of Jesus, or the Roman authorities who, for the most part, considered these Christians an annoying, and sometimes threatening, radical sect.
In the face of incredible odds, the early Christians persisted. The Holy Spirit helped them every step of the way.
Nothing's changed. We too must persist. We must face the challenges of being good, holy husbands and fathers, and good examples to our families and to those we work with. And we've got to persist even in the face of knowing just how imperfect and sometimes even how sinful we are.
But in our persistence, we know that the Holy Spirit works the same wonders and miracles He worked back in those days after Jesus Ascension.
Read the Acts of the Apostles. Nothing's changed.
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