Acts 18
Probably everyone has a dream home in their mind. Housing in our times is the greatest lifetime work for so many people in our society. Since you cannot easily move your house, its location is the most critical factor when you choose your new house. Then, what is a good location? People have different ideas about good locations for home. But certainly, there are more popular regions and neighbourhoods. Beautiful scenery, accessibility to services such as shopping, banks, hospitals and schools, a pleasing climate, and the like decide an ideal place for living. And we work hard to get a place in such locations.
However, those early Christians we encounter in the Acts of the Apostles such as Aquila and Priscilla in today’s reading seemed to have quite a different standard for choosing their places to live. Aquila and Priscilla were originally living in Rome. But when persecution occurred, they moved to Corinth. Later, they moved to Ephesus. Then, finally, they went back to Rome. Certainly, they didn’t move around in search of the best location for pleasant living. All their moves were related to their faith. This faithful couple were close corroborators of St Paul in his missions. Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus had important Christians communities in the early Church as we see in the titles of St Paul’s epistles. As a married couple and laypersons, Aquila and Priscilla carried the roles of community leaders. For them, Christian communities were the critical factor for where they lived.
We take it for granted that there is always a church where we live. Yes, mostly it’s true. Wherever you choose to live, usually it is not too hard to find a Christian community nearby. But I still see many faithful Christians they consciously choose a place of living close to churches. Here is an interesting litmus test of faith: some people, as they grow older and more successful, move to pleasant and peaceful places and build impressive houses, away from everything else. You can picture a nice country mansion surrounded by woods and creeks and fields away from the town centre and busy residential areas. On the other hand, some people, as they grow older and now retired, are happy as long as they can live close by the church and go to Mass daily. What is your dream home like? Where is it?
