Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
The angel, so central in the 1st reading of today’s mass, is in reality the Holy Spirit, and it he who urges the apostle Philip to take the road where he encounters a politically prominent Ethiopian official seated in his chariot reading Isaiah.
The Holy Spirit then encourages Philip to join him. This he does; instructs and baptizes him and bids him farewell forever in this life. What should we draw from this rather bizarre encounter? Three points.
First. The eunuch testifies how the faith develops from a desire for the spiritual to a rapid acceptance of the truth. Philip was the means, the instrument the Holy Spirit used to achieve this end. Second. The Holy Spirit implants joy. We are sometimes inclined to forget how underlying joy is in the soul of a Christian, even if he suffers hardships.
Third. When this event took place, Ethiopia began at the first cataract of the Nile, that is, in Sudan of today. So, Christ and his teachings were known in black Africa before they were brought to white Europe. What should this tell us about discrimination based on race or physical differences?
Resolve: I shall ask the Holy Spirit, who poured out such an abundance of grace to Philip and the eunuch, that he be as generous with the cardinals voting to name our future pope. I shall also ask him to bless in a special way our black American brothers and sisters and bring more converts to the faith from within their ranks.