Holy Cyril and Methodius, Teachers of the Slavs; The Holy Hieromartyr Mocius. Polyeleos Feast.
Acts 17:1-15; Hebrews 7:26-8:2; John 11:47-57; John 10:9-16.
Read Acts 17:1-15
Today we encounter Paul and Silas on their missionary journey preaching Christ in the cities of Greece. The scripture says that, “Paul went and…argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’” (17:2-3).
The people who heard Paul’s preaching react in two ways: some of the people were converted and began to follow Paul and Silas, but others, the scripture says, were jealous or envious. The Greek word that Luke uses to describe their reaction is ζηλόω / zēloō, where we get our english word zealous.
This is not the godly zeal, of which we read elsewhere, “Zeal for Thy house shall consume me” (Ps 69:9, John 2;17). Rather, these men “gathered a crowd, set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason” (17:5).
St. Benedict of Nursia explains that, “As there is an evil zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from vices and leads to God and life everlasting. Let [people], therefore, practice this latter zeal with most fervent love: that is, let them in honor anticipate one another; let them bear most patiently one another’s infirmities, whether of body or of character; let them endeavor to surpass one another in the practice of mutual obedience; let no one seek that which he accounts useful for himself, but rather what is profitable to another; let them practice fraternal charity with a chaste love; let them fear God…let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ” (Rule of St. Benedict, 72)
The good zeal that St. Benedict talks about proceeds from an inner transformation of the heart. We do this by living the life of the Church, prayer, askesis and works of charity towards our neighbour. It should not be something that comes purely from the intellectual knowledge that we gather in our reading and study. This week – when we feel the fire of zeal rising within us, let us take a moment to consider where this comes from and what it is leading us to, lest we, “have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened” (Romans 10:2).
May God have mercy on us and lead to a true zeal for Him, that we may love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength, and our neighbor as ourself.