From Idols to the Living God: the liberating power of the Gospel
April 29, 2024 - Monday, 5th Week of Easter
Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Acts 14:5-18; Ps 115:1-2, 3-4, 15-16; John 14:21-26
After healing a crippled man at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas were considered by the witnesses to be incarnations of Greek gods, Zeus and Hermes. Zeus was the chief Greek deity, and Hermes was the messenger of the gods and the Greek god of oratory. The apostles restrained the people from worshipping them by proclaiming the message about the One true and living God. This message is further echoed by the psalmist.
The apostles told their audience that "the good news" was that they should turn from idols to "the living God" (Acts 14:15). However, their Gentile audience could ask: where is this living God? The prophet Isaiah once stated that Israel’s God tends to hide himself (Is 45:15), presenting a problem for many. The idols of the Gentiles could be seen in their human-made images, but the God of the Bible cannot be represented by any carved image. Isaiah’s statement reveals the mystery of God that infinitely surpasses our understanding. But many misunderstood it, and so idolatry was born: we began to create artistic representations of other people, animals, or mythical creatures that never existed and began to worship those images.
The psalmist states that “our God [who] is in heaven” exercises sovereignty over the entire creation and the history of humanity. On the other hand, the gods of the Gentiles could do nothing - neither good nor bad - for their worshippers. Certainly, neither Zeus nor Hermes could heal that crippled man in Lystra. The Church teaches that God’s Providence is “concrete and immediate”: “God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history” (CCC, 303). This statement calls us to trust in the providence of our Heavenly Father who knows our needs (see Matt 6:31-33).
Moving to the Gospel, we realize that "our God" dwells not only in heaven but also on earth. In his explanation about love that binds us together with God, Jesus declares the following incredible statement: "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). In the diary of St. Faustina, Jesus tells her: "Your heart is my heaven." Love turns us into God's temple. Each one of us becomes a dwelling place of God on the planet earth.
The good news proclaimed by Paul and Barnabas two thousand years ago remains valid in our times. We also live in societies that worship the objects of our hands - carved idols and technological tools. Idolatry and atheism are on the rise. And so we have the obligation to preach the Gospel, to help the people of our world turn from their idols to the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the Redeemer of humanity.