DAILY REFLECTION

Liturgical readings are available here.

The Acts of the Apostles offer a beautiful description of the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem:

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common… There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

It is almost too nice to be true. And in fact, the text of Acts 5 continues (not in our reading) with another example, where Ananias and Saphira also sell their property and bring the profit to the apostles, but keep a part of the money to themselves, lying to the apostles (Acts 5:1-11). And later in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul repeatedly deals with some people who are richer than others and they support Paul in his mission.

Thus the story about shared property is to be seen against the background of shared faith: With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. It was faith in the risen Lord that was common to all of them. Faith cannot be built upon shared property, but generosity will grow from true faith.

Even the first Christians never experienced golden age; there was nothing like that and we would be wrong if we perceived our world as distancing itself from the alleged ideal beginnings.

Instead of dreaming about something that has never been there, our effort should be set on transforming our life by our faith in the risen Lord.