With the ever increasing amount of information flying at us all day long, it would appear that we are all losing the ability to simply pay attention. Some want to blame technology but even the most advanced technology is still a thing, not a person who can be held responsible. Technology may be attractive but we human beings are always the moral agents, responsible for our actions.
Today we reach the end of chapter 5 of Acts and it ends with a powerful image of the apostles,
And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus
In a world where we are so easily distracted and allow ourselves to be pulled in a variety of directions we need to be regularly reminded that the what we teach and proclaim is JESUS.
It's 2017 and we Catholics are still fighting battles from the middle of the previous century: what language should mass be in, which direction should the priest face, is a priest in a cassock or a nun in a habit somehow holier.
Worse yet, we now seem to want to divide ourselves in Pope John Paul vs. Pope Francis Catholics. In parishes, we allow ourselves to get so attached to a pastor that a change can rip the community apart.
We are like the Christians in Corinth who had divided their allegiance between Paul and Apollos. It was Paul himself who had to remind them that it must all be about Jesus.
Jesus himself established the three unchangeable realities: the irreformable truths, the seven sacraments, and the hierarchical structure of His Church. All the rest changes, legitimately, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Change is a constant and inevitable part of life.
As Christians, our most powerful tool for dealing with it is to follow the example of the apostles by constantly proclaiming the Christ, Jesus, in our words and in our actions.
