Do we really believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church?

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B
First Reading: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Second Reading: 1 Jn 4:7-10
Gospel Reading: Jn 15:9-17

As someone said, the Acts of the Apostles could be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, but also, even better, the Acts of the Apostles and the Holy Spirit.

Read Acts 10-11. God directed Cornelius, a Roman soldier, to summon Peter to Caesarea. Then Peter was told, “What God has purified you are not to call unclean.” In Caesarea, Peter explained that “anyone who fears [God] and does what is right is acceptable to him” and told the people about Jesus.

“While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word,” including, for the first time, Gentiles. (The Jews were “astounded” to hear them “speaking in tongues and extolling God.”)

It looks as though the Holy Spirit could hardly wait to illuminate the Gentiles. However, he did wait – until Peter, Christ’s vicar on earth, had proclaimed the truth.

In the Second Reading, Paul calls God the Son “the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Only God could reconcile the world to himself.

Nevertheless, Jesus, just hours after his resurrection, entrusted the administration of this reconciliation to his Church. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said, breathing on his apostles. “If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.”

He had used similar language before, telling Peter, “I will entrust to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” and all the apostles, “Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in Heaven; whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus told his apostles, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

At the same time, he promised that the Holy Spirit would “instruct” them “in everything” and “guide” them “to all truth.” When he first commissioned them, he said, “He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects you, rejects me.” Just before his ascension, he reassured them: “Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!”

The apostles understood that Jesus had given them his authority, backed by God the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, when Paul and Barnabas questioned whether Gentiles should be circumcised, the apostles wrote a letter saying, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and ours too …”

Moreover, the apostles understood that they were to pass this authority on to their successors. “I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid on you,” Paul told Timothy. “Guard the rich deposit of faith with the help of the Holy Spirit.”

During the current pandemic, the decisions of the Pope and the bishops have startled some of us. Let us take them as tests of our belief in the Catholic Church, which we proclaim every Sunday.

Even when the Pope is not clearly speaking ex cathedra, said Vatican II, we must give his teaching “loyal submission of the will and intellect,” respectfully acknowledging his “supreme teaching authority.” We must “sincerely adhere” to his decisions according to his “mind and intention,” made known “either by the character of the documents in question, or by the frequency with which the doctrine is proposed, or by the manner in which the doctrine is formulated.”

We must “revere” the bishops in communion with the Pope as “witnesses” of the truth, submitting to their decisions in matters of faith and morals “with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind.”

Pope Francis, Peter’s 265th successor, was chosen by the apostles’ successors and by the Holy Spirit. We should be ready to say to him what Cornelius said to Peter: “All of us stand before God at this moment to hear whatever directives the Lord has given you.”

Father Hawkswell is again teaching “The Catholic Faith in Plain English.” All the materials (video and print) are available online free of charge at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. Session 34, “Consecrated Life," will be available May 9.