Overview:

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

A Reflection for the Friday of the Third Week of Easter

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias,
and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.”
He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”
The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on him,
that he may regain his sight.”
But Ananias replied,
“Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,
what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon your name.”
But the Lord said to him,
“Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine
to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel,
and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name” (Acts 9:10-16).

Find today’s readings here.

The story of Saul’s conversion, which is related in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, is one we know so well that we may hear it or read it without paying full attention to its details. 

I noticed, reading it this time, that the disciple Ananias is not only reluctant but afraid to meet and minister to Saul when the Lord tells him to. Of course, after a moment’s thought, this is completely understandable, even before Ananias goes on to explain it: “here he has authority…to imprison all who call upon your name.”

When we read this story as a set piece, focused on Saul’s journey to becoming Paul the Apostle and rushing forward to its conclusion, it is easy to miss that the persecution he was part of presented an existential threat to early Christians within the immediate memory of Jesus’ crucifixion. 

Two points are worth noting here. 

First, Ananias does not wrestle silently with his fear. Instead, he names it explicitly to God, and then listens for God’s response. Note also, however, that God does not respond directly to the fear with reassurance but instead points forward toward mission, to the good that Saul will do and even the suffering that he himself will face. 

Second, Ananias’s ministry to Saul is an example—one of the first examples among Jesus’ disciples—of the Christian ethic of enemy-love lived out. “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). It is, perhaps, the most demanding and least practiced of Jesus’ teachings, and we should not let this early instance of it, and the effect it may have had upon Saul’s own understanding of Christian discipleship, go by without pausing to absorb it.

At a time when division both within society and within the church feels deep and toxic, we need to be reminded not only of the command to love our enemies but even more of the possibility of doing so. It starts with being honest, as Ananias was with God, about our own fears and reluctance, and allowing God to lead us out of that fear into hope, courage and trust. 

Sam Sawyer, S.J., is the editor in chief of America Media.