Our Destiny: Written by the Hand of God

In today's first reading, Acts 18: 1-8, Paul encounters opposition in Athens and leaves for Corinth, where he meets a man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla, Jews who were expelled from Italy.  To this very day, people are discriminated against for various reasons.  Within our very nature both sin and holiness abide. Good and evil battle each other in our very thoughts and emotions and at times we follow the voices within us that direct us to treat others disrespectfully. At other times we listen to the good spirit within, the voice that flows from our God-self. 

The Spirit in Paul directs him to stop proclaiming the Good News to his fellow Jews and enter Gentile territory to bring the news of Jesus Christ to them.  He becomes known as the Apostle to the Gentiles. At times we might be unaware of our destiny, yet everything in our lives will direct us to carrying out God's plan for us, the purpose for which we were created. Many times we are directed to other tasks, other locations, other situations to be an instrument in the hands of God. We may say "I can't believe I did that or accomplished that. I didn't know I had it in me but with the grace of God I endured, I worked, I made a difference in the lives of others sent to me for reasons God alone knows.

Maya Angelou, a black woman who was the victim of rape and of racial discrimination.  She rose to her potential and made a great impact upon the world. She became a woman of inspiration, of courage and incredible talent shared with the entire world. Who would have thought that such was her destiny.  Everyone and perhaps the person/s considered the least among us in elementary, high school or college surprised us when we learn of the wonderful things that person did in building up God's kingdom in a world of discrimination, hatred and ignorance. Yes, in God's plan,  no one is left behind, neither  you or I. We have a purpose that will be achieved even if it is like the tree growing out of the side of a mountain because of Master is the One who triumphed over death itself.

Peter's Discimination Challenged by the Lord

In today’s first reading, Acts 11:1-8, Peter is given a vision of all kinds of creatures, ”four-legged animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky,” and hears a voice saying to him: “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” Peters immediately objects: “No way.” He insists on remaining true to the Jewish dietary laws.  God retorts him: “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”  The Spirit then instructs him to accompany three men to the home of uncircumcised men: “Accompany them without discriminating.” I wonder, what instructions the Lord would give the Church and  us, as we continue to discriminate against one another, men against women, women against men, Christians against those of the Jewish, Islamic, Muslim, Hindu, Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and other religions and them against us; Whites against Blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese,  Arabs,  Mexican,  Indian, Native American and other races and them against us.  “Accompany them, include them, speak to and about them ‘without discriminating’; stop your prejudice,” I think the Lord would say to us, challenging  us,  and the Church, for the ways in which we discriminate against anyone in our everyday practices.

As Peter insisted upon the Jewish dietary laws, upon what man-made laws do we continue to insist?  Where do we need the Lord to say to us, as He said to Peter: “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane”?