Table Difficulties

Once again, let us remember that the Acts of the Apostles details the life of the early community, its phenomenal growth and the witness that the apostles and the community give.  In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles for this Saturday, we read of the selection of seven men to serve the needs of the community when they gather together for a meal. 

First of all, the reading points out that this need arose because of a bit of discord in the community.  The Gentile converts were complaining that the Jewish table servants were not paying attention to their needs.  We all know that there was a certain amount of prejudice between the children of Israel and the Gentiles which shows itself in several places in this book of the Christian Scriptures.  In order to provide for the needs of the Hellenistic Christians (Greek Gentile converts), the apostles set aside seven men, most of them bearing Greek names, to provide for the table needs of these members of the community.

We must also remember that when we are speaking of table needs, it is important to recognize that the Christians community came together not only to eat a common meal, but they also would celebrate the Lord’s Supper (their designation for what we call Mass) before the common meal.  So these seven men are rightfully called the first deacons of the Church in that they assisted at the Lord’s Supper and provided for the needs of the community at table.

This vignette from the community life of the early Christian community stands in contrast to the idealized picture of the community which we heard of a few days ago.  From the very beginning the Christian community experienced both positive and negative situations in their life together.  Notice, however, that this particular difficulty was dealt with prayerfully and with discerning hearts.  The apostles relied upon the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in making administrative decisions. 

It is very probable that the phenomenal growth of the community was a direct result of such prayer and discernment.  Recognizing the will of the Holy Spirit in their dealings with one another makes this particular book of the Christians Scriptures stand out as it fairly consistently points out the fact that the disciples recognized the action of the Holy Spirit in their midst.

Our Christian communities, now more than 2,000 years old, still experience the positive and negative.  Though the ideal is to be of one heart and one mind, we know from experience that this ideal is not attainable in this life.  Yet we must learn to live as brothers and sisters now.  For when this life is complete and we are ready for the next, those who could not live with one another in this life will find themselves in a very undesirable situation in the next life.  A good friend and spiritual mentor of mine who has since gone on to his spiritual reward used to tell me that God provided the antithesis to heaven for those who could not live with one another in this life!

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator