THE PRIORITY OF PRAYER AND PROCLAMATION

 


SATURDAY, Second Week of Eastertide

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; Jn 6:16-21

Theme: The Priority of Prayer and Proclamation

The active proclamation of the word of God caused the community of believers to increase daily. The hostility of the Jewish religious authorities and their frequent attack on the new Christian community abated with the wise counsel of Gamaliel, as we read yesterday. The peace allowed the apostles to preach freely and make new converts to the faith. “They preached every day both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ was never interrupted.” The increase in the number of disciples put a strain on their common resources. There is no gainsaying that the many conversions to the community were motivated by different things. With the increase in number, more attention, and concern for the distribution of resources, the human element started creeping into the community with less attention given to the proclamation of the word of God. The community started losing sight of the heavenly ideals of the Risen Lord. “The Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked.” These experiences of the apostolic Church are to act as reminders to us in our various communities and families. We must remain focussed on the word of God and listen to the Holy Spirit in prayer to work with God. It is easy for human tendencies to replace the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when we grow weary in prayer or lose our focus on the Risen Lord. As given in the gospel, the boat of our personal lives, family, society, group, or community gets ruffled by storms when we row without Jesus or fail to notice him in our midst. “It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not joined them. The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough.”

We must learn our lesson from the apostles on what to do when such situations of doubt and temptation arise in our lives. They immediately redirected their attention to Jesus Christ for the solution to their problem. In the new community, the apostles called a meeting to put back prayer and the proclamation of the word of God on the position of priority. This decision was in accord with the mind of God and immediately brought about the solution to their problem by their discovery and the institution of the diaconate Order. “So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.’” We do not know how the apostles arrived at this decision, but as we said earlier, a clear understanding of the importance of the word of God for the salvation of men and the coming of the kingdom of God among us, coupled with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each Christian soul, would help the Church resolve any problem at any time and age. The same solution applied to the problem of the apostles who were rowing their boat in rough water without Jesus. They desired the coming of the Lord, who miraculously came to them. The Risen Lord is always present when we pray and prioritise his word.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to appreciate your word and the presence of your Spirit within and among us, that we may discover your divine plan in all things and follow it.      

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