By Most Rev Prakash Mallavarappu,
Archbishop of Visakhapatnam –
Participation and contribution is not just in the material aspects of the Church’s life. It is through recognition and accepting the various gifts and talents that the individual members are blessed with. Apostolic Community relied on God through prayer: One of the major decisions the Apostolic Church was to fill in the place of Judas Iscariot and this was done after setting up some criteria and after invoking God’s help through prayer: “Then they prayed and said, “Lord you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship…” (Acts 1: 24ff).
This was even before anointing in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They depended on the Lord and sought His will through prayer. They wanted to know what was good for the Apostolic Community and the mission at hand. See things not according to their own perception but see according to the will of God.
When the Apostles Peter and John were arrested and warnings were given against preaching about Jesus Christ, the believers prayed for “boldness” to speak about the Lord Jesus, “Lord, look at their threats and grant to your servants to speak your word with all Boldness” ( Acts 4:29). And they were granted the favor, “and the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4: 31).
When the apostles and the believers were faced with persecutions and imprisonments, the community was in prayer seeking the intervention of God in the difficult situations they were facing. One of those instances was the deliverance of the Apostle Peter in a miraculous way:
“While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him” (Acts 12:5). To their amazement and joy, Peter was delivered from the prison by an angel of the Lord! What do we see and what do we learn from the Apostolic Church which depended on divine Providence and which sought God’s interventions through prayer?
First of all, we should see how the community sees the situations with a feeling and earnestly seeks God’s help. The whole community feels for those who are persecuted and who are subjected to violence. We should have this feeling for the Church and praying for the needs of the Church, universal Church and the local Church.
It is important that we feel with the Church towards issues and situations, events of attacks and persecutions, tensions and problems the Church in another of the country or region or world is facing within the local church of a diocese or one or more of the clergy in the parishes or institutions facing difficulties or problems.
It is a test to our faith and love, whether we feel with them and with the church trying to deal with the situations. For many issues or problems or situations we do not always have immediate solutions within our reach.
But, the accounts of the life and mission in the Apostolic Church should inspire and teach us that “there is God whose refuge we should seek,” for both, our individual and community issues. The bottom line is, “do we love the Church?” “Do we truly love one another as members of the believing community and therefore, we feel for one another and be with one another”
“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; …the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2: 43 -47).