The beautiful beginnings of the Church

"[The believers] persevered in the doctrine and communion of the apostles, in the breaking of the bread and the prayers ... All the believers were in the same place and they had everything in common." Acts 2. 42-44

The first verse of the day emphasizes the lived unity of the first believers. It presents the characteristics of the nascent Church, which should be those of the Church of all times: love for the Lord and love for one another. The abandonment of true love explains the divisions and the weakening of the church.

It is these virtues that make the Church a living community.

The first believers share the same spiritual nourishment: the teaching of the apostles who, in their oral comments or in their writings, explain and develop the teaching of Jesus. It roots the Church in the Word received. The fraternal communion is made visible by the sharing of goods to help the most deprived. We are far from Communism, because it is a spontaneous solidarity, born of reciprocal love that avoids jealousies so harmful to true communion and true spiritual sharing.

Love for their Savior and Lord is kept alive by participation in the Lord's Supper, the breaking of bread. A powerful way to unite hearts is to remember together that he gave his body and that his blood was shed for us.

Prayer in common is an exercise in which the first believers engaged. They showed a real dependence, recognizing their need to rely on God.

Brushed by Luc, this painting is of great importance. Believers engage in a fidelity of life together and the Holy Spirit causes the birth of a community that organizes a true "living together". The United Church thus makes alive in the eyes of the contemporaries the prayer of Jesus concerning the believers : "It is not only for them that I make requests, but also for those who believe in me by their word ... so that they so be one in us, so that the world may believe that it was you who sent me" (John 17:20, 21). We know what has unfortunately happened to this beautiful unity of the beginning that aroused a real admiration among the people of the time : the individualism of our societies and human pretensions have undermined.

Where the Lord has placed us, seek these virtues to maintain the mind of the Lord : a Church united around Christ and living in love and truth.

Source (To please the Lord)