Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Today's Mass Reading

Today is the Memorial of St. Athanasius who was an important bishop in the fourth century and is a Doctor of the Church. The reason the Church recognizes Athanasius as a Doctor is because of the important role Athanasius played at the Council of Nicaea, where the doctrine of the Trinity was solemnly defined. The idea of God as Trinity had been discussed well over a hundred years earlier, for example, in the writings of Tertullian. But it was here at Nicaea in 325 A.D. that the Church formally accepted this language to describe God. Athanasius was faithful to God’s call. Although the Roman emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea, he did not care so much about the conclusions reached by the bishops at Nicaea, rather, he was solely concerned with the unity of his empire, which was only recently Christianized. After the Council, Constantine was unhappy that Arianism, representing those who denied Jesus’ divinity and rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, had been condemned. This was because there were more Arians than there were Trinitarians. Athanasius refused to budge, because he realized that how we view God, and how we view Jesus, has an affect on our prayer life and on our relationship with God. Athanasius was therefore sent into exile, even though he was on the “winning” side of a council which Constantine himself had called.

In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we find St. Paul in a similar situation to that of Athanasius, and like Athanasius later would be, Paul too is faithful to God. The early Christians are being persecuted because of their preaching. Again, as with the later dispute over the doctrine of the Trinity, what is at issue here is Who Jesus is. Is Jesus equal to God, as the doctrine of the Trinity states, or is He something else, somehow less than God, as the Arians held? The specific Jews who opposed Paul did not believe that Jesus was God. They saw this as a threat to the belief in one God. Paul, however, adhered to both the oneness of God and the divinity of Jesus.

Eventually, Paul is arrested for the final time by the Romans, and he is executed in Rome. He is beheaded because of his faith in Jesus, and because of his preaching. In today’s reading, God instructs Paul with the following words: “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you” (Acts 18:9-10). Paul eventually dies for the faith, but in this context, the Lord explains to him, “No one will attack or harm you, for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:10).

Even when we suffer, though, God is with us. It is still the Easter Season, and therefore, moved by the joy of the risen Lord, let us, like St. Paul and St. Athanasius, speak the truth when the situation calls for it. Sometimes this will involve us intervening in situations where someone needs to right a wrong. Whenever we speak the truth, we must do so with love and respect. Sometimes this can be difficult. And sometimes, the truth we need to speak is an apology for the wrong we have committed against someone else. Perhaps we need to ask for forgiveness. Today, let us think about a situation in our life where truth needs to be spoken. Let us also prepare ourselves for the times when we too will need to speak out, whether in order to share the faith with someone else, or else to stand up as witnesses against injustice. Let us not be silent, but speak out knowing that God is with us.

- Jeff Morrow