Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes a shared community life as a manifestation of faith in the risen Jesus. From the beginning of his ministry Jesus gathered disciples, a community joined by faith in him rather than the blood relationships of family. Faith in Jesus and the one who sent him creates community on earth as in heaven. Christians share prayer, goods, life.
The ideal community.
The brethren devoted themselves to the apostles’ instruction and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. A reverent fear overtook them all, for many wonders and signs were performed by the apostles. Those who believed shared all things in common; they would sell their property and goods, dividing everything on the basis of each one’s need. They went to the temple area together every day, while in their homes they broke bread. With exultant and sincere hearts they took their meals in common, praising God and winning the approval of all the people. Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Acts 2.42-47
The community this reading from Acts pictures is letting go of fear and disbelief and sharing their faith, gifts, and goods. They share all they have, so no one is needy among them. Imagine a world or community today in which all who owned property or houses sell them and donate the proceeds to be distributed to all according to their needs. The first Christian community makes the breaking and sharing of bread not just a ritual meal but a total way of life.
The Church has never abandoned this scriptural ideal. In his encyclical Lautato Si’, Pope Francis calls us to a common life in our time. Earth is a shared inheritance that God intends to benefit everyone. “The principle of the subordination of private property to the universal destination of goods, and thus the right of everyone to their use, is a golden rule of social conduct”(93).
Pope Francis also stresses the common good, a concept that the Second Vatican Council defines and which applies to families as the basic cell of society as well as societies as a whole. The common good is “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment” (Gaudium et Spes #26).
Pope Francis sees an ethical imperative in the common good, “a summons to solidarity and the preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.” Every human person has dignity and the right to basic needs—food, shelter, family, education, health care—that allow the person to develop.
Could the Spirit of generosity and care for all, especially the needy, be the appeal of the early community? Was their sharing of spiritual and material goods what drew women and men of all social classes, especially slaves, to the gospel and membership in early Christian communities? What about our communities today?
- How attractive in our society might a Church be that is known for work to end poverty?
- What Christian common life do you experience in your parish?
- When has breaking and sharing bread in communion led you to sharing your goods with people in need?