Today is May 28, Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter.
Paul boldly declares in a speech in Athens, which we hear in today’s Mass, “The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-28).
Standing before the men of Athens, St. Paul does something breathtaking: he speaks their own language, quotes their poets and gently removes the veil from their “unknown god.” Using the tools of what the Church later calls natural theology, he shows that every honest search for truth ultimately leads to the one who made all things.
Pope Benedict XVI notes that Paul “echoes the Judaic faith in a God who cannot be represented in anthropomorphic terms” while meeting his listeners “on a religious wavelength they knew well.” Paul’s deft approach reminds us that the Gospel is never a set of slogans dropped from the sky; it is a living Word that can be translated into every culture without losing an ounce of its power.
Seeking the ‘Areopagi’ in your life
Our own age is filled with spiritual seekers — people who sense that the universe must have a cause yet hesitate to name him. Paul challenges us to do what he did: to look at the altars of today — the quests for meaning in science, self-help, art and activism — and proclaim the God who is “Lord of heaven and earth,” who “does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands” (Acts 17:24). We speak clearly not by watering down doctrine but by revealing its astonishing breadth: the God we worship needs nothing from us, yet he chose to need us, calling us into a covenant of love through Christ.
Where are the “Areopagi” in your life — classrooms, offices, family tables — where a thoughtful word about the living God could open a searching heart?
Let us pray,
Grant, we pray, O Lord, that, as we celebrate in mystery the solemnities of your Son’s Resurrection, so, too, we may be worthy to rejoice at his coming with all the Saints. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
