Paul slips through cracks
Between Easter and Pentecost, Catholics around the globe are reading the Acts of the Apostles. The readings now are about Paul’s adventures along the coast of Turkey and Greece. And today’s reading is about a time when Paul got hauled into court by some brother Jews. Paul looked over his accusers, and saw an old ideological split. Some of his accusers were dogmatic about their beliefs concerning a spiritual life that transcends daily experience, including angels and spirits and a life after death; others were equally dogmatic in denying such fuzzy-wuzzy. So he made an appeal to one side, asserting his roots in their beliefs. The two sides forgot about Paul and attacked each other. When the melee began to spin out of control, the Roman intervened and pulled Paul out. Case closed. I find the reading immensely comforting, addressing a personal worry. When I was in court in the 1970s and 1980s, pro-life activists used to argue about w...