Early Church

"Then [the apostles] returned to Jerusalem . . . .When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers." [Acts 1: 12-14].

Growing up, didn't you just love to hear about how your parents met, and about how you were born? Maybe your parents met on a fluke, on the merest of whims. Maybe you were born in the middle of a huge blizzard. But born you were; and so, your family was born.

The readings from Advent through Pentecost remind me of those beloved stories of beginnings. The times when you would beg your grandfather to tell you once again about his war stories, and how he survived to come home and start a family. Or when you would plead with your parents to retell the story about the night when you were born.

Now, at this point in the Christian year, we have just about all the elements of our church. We were given the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.

In this Reading, we have this vision of the apostles gathering together with the women of the early church to pray and to remember Jesus. In the readings of this Easter season, our Christian church is born!

I love this image of the early Christians, gathering together in a simple room, to be in community and to pray. Isn't this what participating in Mass is all about? Isn't this what prayer is all about?

As I reflect, I realize, the apostles needed to pray together frequently before going out once again to serve, to minister to others, to live the message of love that Jesus taught. Their community prayer is what binds them together, what gives them strength as a group and as individual Christians.

How often do I regard attending Mass as a chore? An obligation? A ritual governed only by rote?  

How often do I think that prayer is something to go through alone?

How often do I forget to pray before I try to minister to someone?

How often do I discount the power of prayer when I pray with many Christians, many voices? ('When two or more are gathered together, God is present?').

How can we as Christians recapture that profound sense of community, that need to be together in prayer? How can we recapture that excitement, that relief, of identifying ourselves as Christians; of identifying with each other as Christians, one flock, a family?

God, I pray that You draw me towards other Christians, to the celebration at your table, to the praise and power of Your name!

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Resrved.