Reflection for Tuesday
of the 6th Week of Easter Year A
(Acts 16:22-34; Jn
16:5-11)
1.0. The Divine Absence
Have you ever felt the absence of
God? It comes like the silence of a dark night. At such moments, fear, doubt,
despair, etc and all the negative sentiments that oppose faith would begin to
surface! Now think about the experience of Paul and Silas. The Philippians
joined forces with the Jews to attack them, and they were beaten with rods. “And
when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into the prison,
charging the jailer to keep them safely.” The man decided to put them at the
inner most, the darkest end of the prison and chained their feet. Paul and
Silas suffered physically, psychologically and emotionally. It seemed like a
total moment of abandonment as the darkness of the prison swallowed them up! This
feeling of divine absence hits harder at that moment we cry to God for help as
our only hope but nothing happens... A painful silence, when hardships and
struggles from different angles gang up against us and divine intervention
seems uncertain.
Jesus prepared the minds of His
disciples about persecution and His departure. He told them that His ascension
is not abandonment. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage
that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you;
but if I go, I will send Him to you.” Then they would begin to learn how to
relate to Him by faith and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Yesterday
Jesus said the Holy Spirit will come to bear witness to the truth as the
Counsellor. Today He says the Holy Spirit is coming to convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgement. So from that inner darkness where
the world and its strokes lock us up,
the Holy Spirit comes as our light and freedom.
2.0. The Divine Manifestation
Therefore, Paul and Silas still
believed that God was not silent; He never abandoned them. Instead of crying
for their pain, they raised their voices in songs of praise to God! “And
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s chains
were unfastened.” They were set free though they were still in prison; in the
darkness around them they had the light of the Holy Spirit. The jailer who
guarded the gates got the message clearly: He realized he was the real prisoner
and begged Paul and Silas for the freedom of the Children of God. Though they
were wounded by the beatings, he asked them for healing of his soul! He
accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized, with all his family. The man was filled
with a joy he never experienced before.
The moment we thought God was absent,
He was silently manifesting His power in Paul and Silas. Such moment, dry and
painful it might be, is always a moment of our sharing in the Cross of Jesus
through which the exonerating power of the Holy Spirit shines out in us. Let us
hold firm to the string of faith no matter how tough the situation might be.
Instead of complaining how bad things are, let us learn from Paul and Silas and
offer fitting praise to God upon that very situation.
Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic
Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Tuesday May 19th, 2020.
