Our Mutual Friend

Monday of the 6^th Week of Easter

Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4a

In Seneca Falls, New York, in 1851, a young woman named Elizabeth went out for a walk, possibly to blow off some steam. She had just been denied a seat at an anti-slavery convention because she was a woman. During her walk, she came upon a friend out walking with her friend Susan, who was in town to attend a temperance meeting. The two strangers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, struck up a life-long friendship which led to great civil rights advances, such as the right of women to vote and to own property. And all because of a chance encounter on a street corner!

In the first reading, we hear of another encounter, this one by a river near Philippi. Paul and his companions, looking for a place to pray, came upon Lydia and her friends who had gathered there. We don’t know much about her, but it’s not hard to see that Lydia was devout, spiritually hungry, and open to the gospel; soon, she and her household became Paul’s first converts in Europe. Not only that, she opened her home to the grateful missionaries. We can’t know, but it may be that when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians years later, he fondly remembered that chance encounter with Lydia.

I shouldn’t say “chance.” Scripture is clear that God was behind it all along. The whole reason Paul was there was because the Spirit twice prevented him from going anywhere else, then explicitly told him to go to Macedonia (Acts 16:1-10). Of course, the Holy Spirit was still there, leading the mission, and in that meeting by the river, Paul did exactly what Jesus said to do in the gospel: he testified to him (John 15:26).

Every Mass we attend is a meeting by the river; not the one near Philippi, but the Living Water of Christ. Here, he testifies to us in Word and Body; here, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. The question is, do we remain as devout, hungry, and open to the gospel as Lydia was? It’s hard enough to keep our hearts open to its challenges, but what about our church home? So often we have strangers among us, especially on Sunday. These are no chance encounters. How are we keeping our hearts and parish home open to them?

Equally important, God sends us out from this home and into the mission fields of our own homes, neighborhoods, and communities. That makes every meeting with every person outside these walls no chance encounter, either. How are we testifying to Christ? Can those who meet us or come by our homes tell that we are his followers – not by the number of religious things we own or talk about, but by the way they are treated?

Let us remember today and every day that in reality there are no strangers, only friends we have yet to meet through our mutual friend, the Holy Spirit.