Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles was not intended as “absolute history.” For example, Paul’s itinerary in Acts differs extensively from what he wrote with his own hand in the seven authentic letters attributed to him. Acts was composed 60+ years later than the events it describes.
Above all else Acts is “parallel narrative” — paralleling the ministry of the Apostles with that of Jesus: “In the first book (Luke), Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.” Began indicates that the Lord is still ministering through the Church. Acts does that throughout. This matters to Luke far more than getting the facts straight.
In today’s “parallel,” the miracles of Paul & Barnabas in Lystra are misunderstood in a similar way as Jesus' miracles were misunderstood in Luke. After the cripple responded to Paul's command, "Stand up straight on your feet" (Jesus makes a similar command in Luke) the people cried out, "The gods have come down to us in human form." Then, to the dismay of the apostles, they gathered oxen and garlands to sacrifice in honor of them, their new-found deities.
The miracles found in Luke-Acts are signs of the omnipotent presence of God. The crowds in Galilee in Luke and those today in Lystra didn’t understand this. They want supernatural events for their own sake and risked missing the God who is ever in their midst.
Aren't we sometimes like that? Do we need a miracle to be reminded of the constancy of our God? Or do we agree with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. who wrote: "God is not remote from us, but at the point of my pen, my paintbrush, my needle — in my heart and in my thoughts." St. Ignatius Loyola instructed us to "find God in all things," not just in the extraordinary but especially in the ordinary. For in truth the ordinary is miraculous, too.
The Eternal One must love the every-day, having made so much of it. “God walks amid the pots and pans” (St. Teresa of Avila). Ordinary? There’s no such thing!
Let us set aside time these last two weeks of Easter to recognize the countless "miracles" occurring each day all around us; waiting to witness a miracle on the street - or on YouTube - before we are reminded of how God breaks into our present.
If you want to see a miracle to strengthen your faith all you need do is look in the mirror, for the miracle is you.
-Timothy J. Cronin