5th Sunday in Easter (Year A)

We rely on Luke’s Acts of the Apostles to know something about the history of the early church which began her existence and mission in Jerusalem after the departure of Jesus, their Master. 120 believers led by the 12 apostles were the first generation Christians after Christ (Acts 1:15). The number expanded quickly after Pentecost. The members of the Jerusalem congregation were mixed: Hebrew-speaking Jews, Greek-speaking Jews and proselytes, that is, Gentiles converted to Judaism. The reading today tells us something about a division of labour as a natural outcome of expansion: the election of deacons.
The church does not take care of spiritual matters exclusively. She also takes care of mundane matters as well. Since her inception, the early church had to take care of widows. Mary the mother of Jesus was one. However, due to language problems, the Hellenists were neglected.
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution (Acts 6:1).
The church needed to address this problem. Otherwise, she would split and her development would be hampered. The church leaders must not lose sight of her primary mission, which was to preach the word of God. She should not be distracted by mundane matters. A division of labour was urgently needed. Therefore, the apostles set up criteria for the election of deacons to share part of their jobs. 7 men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom were elected (Acts 6:3). As a result,
the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).
The early Church has successfully handled a crisis. As a result, she was able to maintain her catholicity and grew healthily. To be sure, more crises would be coming as she expanded.
Lately, Pope Benedict XVI is visiting the United States. He is not embarrassed to meet with and apologize to the victims abused by American priests. He saw these scandals as a period of purification and healing for the American Church. On the other hand, what have the American Catholic Church done to those fallen priests? Of course the Mother Church will forgive them. But what sort of punishments or penance should those priests perform in order to purify and heal themselves and the Church? What actions should the Mother Church take to prevent potentially abusive priests from victimizing children under their care? Perhaps some structural changes need to be made.
Back in Tuen Mun, our parish priest, Fr. John Kwan, shared two pieces of his experience to show how the spiritual can be integrated with the mundane.
In the 1970s, there was no public hospital anywhere near Chai Wan where he was assigned to serve freshly after ordination. Once he had to accompany an elderly lady in an ambulance to the nearest hospital in Wan Chai. There was traffic congestion on the way. Luckily, the lady survived. Immediately, Fr. Kwan sensed that the Chai Wan community was desperately in need of adequate medical service. So, he joined hand with two pastors from 2 other Protestant churches in Chai Wan to fight for the building of an Eastern District Hospital. After several years, the building project went ahead.
After serving Chai Wan for several years, Fr. Kwan went to Berkeley to study. He stayed in a St. Joseph the Worker Church. Somehow, a businessman set up a Sex Shop in the community. The parish priest worried about the bad influences the shop had on the teenagers. He tried to persuade the businessman to move away but to no avail. At last, he organized a legion of elderly ladies to say the rosaries outside the shop during its opening hours. In the end, the Sex Shop closed down!
Fr. Kwan reminded the congregation that Christians cannot turn a blind eye to social problems that affect our neighbours. We need to stand up and speak up for them. The community of Tuen Mun also suffers problems. We need to pray and take appropriate actions to address them.

My sweet Jesus, You generously came down to suffer for us. You have consecrated our sufferings. Let them be Your means of purification and healing for our wounds. May we learn our lessons through our sufferings so that we can become Your instrument of peace, helping our neighbours who suffer similar pains. Amen.