We cannot be the chosen race and royal priesthood, a spiritual house, without opening ourselves to one another, especially in our differences. We cannot build community without encounter. The practical is a call to what Francis describes as genuine dialogue: looking at the other with care, listening deeply, touching the other, speaking, cultivating compassion and creating a culture of encounter. Today's readings offer us practical methods and mysticism. The leaders took the problem to the community, and, as a sign of the validity of the complaint, they crafted a solution that called on Hellenists themselves to decide how the distribution should take place. The widows and their supporters spoke out because the powerful were ignoring the needs and rights of the most vulnerable. That's exactly what happened among the members of the community in Jerusalem. Authentic reconciliation does not flee from conflict, but is achieved in conflict, resolving it through dialogue and open, honest and patient negotiation." silence can lead to complicity in grave misdeeds and sins. In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis reminds us, "When conflicts are not resolved but kept hidden. This brings us back to the Christian community of Acts and its synodal way of dealing with conflict. But Peter, like Paul, insists that we are to be the dwelling place of God. We might get away with that if we skipped the reading from Peter. It's a great temptation to take that beautiful prayer and ideal and say, "Someday, in heaven, that's what it will be like." The Letter of Peter applies Jesus' words to the community, saying: "Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood." In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for his disciples as if they could enter into him as into the Temple: "May all be one in as you, Father are in me and I in you, that they may be one in us." He then identified himself as the new Temple, the dwelling place of God ( John 2:19-21). Earlier in this Gospel, he had described the Temple as his father's house, lamenting its desecration from being a house of prayer into a den of thieves. In today's Gospel, Jesus makes the enigmatic statement that there are many dwellings in his father’s house. Today's Gospel and second reading address situations of tension in the midst of diversity, showing how it can lead to something new and deeper than any of the participants would have imagined. This synod could be considered a precursor to the greater synod or council they held to decide what would be required of Gentile converts to the faith ( Acts 15). In order to find a solution, the leaders held what we could call a synod they gathered the community to decide together how to resolve the problem. Tensions came to a head when Hellenist widows felt slighted in the "daily distribution," a phrase that could refer to food given them or to their ministerial assignments. Language was symbolic of the many cultural differences among them. The Hebrews were Palestinian Jews who spoke Aramaic. The Jewish members of Christian community in Jerusalem were diverse to the extent that they identified as Hebrews or Hellenists. The Hellenists' ancestors had been in the diaspora and spoke Greek - the original language of the books of the New Testament. That reflects today's story from the Acts of the Apostles. The one thing certain: They won't remain the same. But when you gather five cooks or a multicultural group, one custom bumps up against another and causes conflicts that will either separate or transform the community. That works just fine for a closed society. Whether we’re speaking of family, a culture or a faith tradition, we develop the "expected ways" to do things so that everyone can feel comfortable and know what to expect. That's the most natural thing in the world. Parents teach us the correct way to do it. Some say that if you gather four women in the kitchen, you will hear about five correct ways to set the table and prepare the food.
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