Brief synopsis of the readings: We have a choice this weekend to read the readings from the Seventh Sunday of Easter or the Solemnity of the Ascension. It’s my custom to go with the normal readings and I’ve chosen the Seventh Sunday. We are again reading from the Acts of the Apostles but much earlier in the book. Here Peter addresses a group of about 120 disciples. He tells them that they need to choose someone to succeed Judas Iscariot. Peter then prayed for guidance in the choice. “Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.” John’s Gospel recounts a speech Jesus gave shortly before his arrest. It takes the form of a prayer from Jesus to God where Jesus asks for protection for his disciples. He outlines how they have taken his word and have become hated for it “because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.” Jesus does not ask that they be taken out of the world but that they be consecrated by the truth.

Going through the readings during the season of Easter can be a little puzzling. This is about the only time of year where read from the Acts of the Apostles but from week to week we appear to bounce around the book. The Sunday after Easter we read from the 4th chapter of Acts; the next week comes from the 3rd chapter; then back to chapter 4; then chapter 9. Last week was Acts chapter 10 and today we’re all the way back to chapter 1.

But there is a method to this madness. Luke (who wrote Acts) wrote a rough chronology of the events of the early church but as we read these readings we can see how the earliest days of the church were built. The irony, of course, comes from the fact that they likely thought Jesus’ return was so imminent that there was no point in setting up any organization.

And that raises an interesting question: why replace Judas? Judas, after all, betrayed Jesus and then killed himself (thereby preventing any opportunity for reconciliation). We all know the number 12 was an important number back then. They were descended from the 12 tribes of Israel and the number symbolized completeness. The inner circle of Jesus’ followers were the Twelve and the case could be made that this was done to restore the importance of the Twelve. On the other hand maybe there was a deeper meaning. Catholics today look at our bishops as the successors of the Twelve. Today we can look at the structure of our church and find early roots; even before there were priests there were bishops. We can look at this as dusty, old history or we can see how it makes a difference even today.

History buffs like me sometimes forget that history doesn’t fascinate everyone. I blame how history is taught, but that’s a subject for another day. It’s more than “what happened long ago and far away.” Ancient events set the trajectory of where we are now. This structure, over 2000 years, has become the hierarchy we see now. Now obviously any structure can stray off the path, become obsolete, or betray its mission. And God knows we’ve had those moments. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century resulted directly from the hierarchy’s unwillingness to observe the needs of the time.

But that same hierarchy did recognize the need to reform and called a council to address some of the issues. We certainly didn’t fix everything but we did address some of Martin Luther’s concerns. That reform continued in the 1960s and today we celebrate mass in our own languages instead of Latin.

It also provided the structure of spreading God’s truth throughout the world. Yes, churches, but also hospitals and schools were set up because we already had the template. I knew a Paulist priest, Fr. Alvin Illig, who saw the explosion of Catholic schools in the United States in the 1950s. He recognized that they would all need libraries and set up (through the order’s publishing house) a Catholic school “library kit.” Pastors and school principals could order that and have their library set up; what was previously an obstacle now became possible. Anyone could do it because really smart people set it up and built the template.

But our readings also point to our place in this structure. We’ll talk about this more at Pentecost but we find our place in the church. After the Resurrection, Jesus was among us for a fairly short time before he ascended into Heaven. When he did, he left the keys with us. It was, in a sense, a graduation for us.

And while I confess that I’ve always tried to avoid graduation ceremonies with their canned speeches and synthetic pomp there is a real truth there. When we graduate from anything we move from student to faculty. There are times when students do some teaching and God knows good teachers never stop being students but this is a new reality.

We’ve talked about how Jesus’ earliest followers made their way from stumbling disciple to early leaders. We also see that in disciples through the ages. St. Francis was born into wealth and became the saint who embraced poverty as a way to God and founded the Franciscans. St. Ignatius of Loyola began as a soldier who found himself convalescing from a shattered right leg from a cannonball when he saw that his life would now change direction to follow God. He then founded the Jesuits.

We also know people in our own lives. When I administered a CCD (Sunday School) program I watched parents reluctantly agree to teach the faith to children only to find themselves blossom. They provided lessons and experiences that enlivened the faith of their neighbors. Others don’t find they have the gift of teaching but make rosaries to give to prison inmates who find the meditation of their prayers the opening notes of the faith symphony that will change their lives.

As I’ve said before we can easily read the Easter readings thinking that this is yet more dusty history we should want to memorize. But it’s so much more. In their stories we find our own.