"Now the company of those who believed were one of heart and soul and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.(Acts 4,32) ST LUKE, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, gives us this description of the life of the community in Jerusalem, so that we have a model for the Church in every age.
He emphasises the spirit which animated the community in Jerusalem: the deep union of hearts which made the believers one family in which everything was in common and everything was shared. The most tangible expression of this union and its logical consequence was the sharing of material goods.
Some believers even decided to sell their lands or houses and give the proceeds to the Apostles so that they could be distributed according to the needs of each person. This meant that there was no longer anyone in need; the true Christian community had been established.
"Now the company of those who believed were one of heart and soul and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common."
While reading these words we might think that everything worked perfectly in the community but Luke himself points out incidents where members of the Church of Jerusalem fail to live up to this standard (chap. 6).
However despite these failures which are understandable, the tone of the community was set by this effort, which animated everyone, to achieve the Christian community. It is this effort which Luke wants to emphasise.
The examples of those Christians who sold their property, show the revolutionary power of the Gospel, i.e. its capacity for creating totally new social relationships, with concrete effects also on the economic level.
Nobody was forced to dispose of their goods. Luke wants to show us how the Gospel, while respecting each person's freedom, is able to make us overcome all the barriers that divide us and of these barriers the selfish use of private property is one of the most serious causes of division.
"Now the company of those who believed were one of heart and soul and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common."
Naturally this social revolution starts from an inner power, from faith in and love for Jesus. For Luke this practical sharing is the unit of measurement for meaning authentic Christian love.
No matter what economic system the Christian finds himself in, with the power of this love he will be called first and foremost to overcome every form of attachment to earthly goods, in which fear, greed, selfishness, mean calculation continually tend to imprison him.
"Now the company of those who believed were one of heart and soul and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common."
These words, which invite us to examine our conscience, cover a very wide field of values. We need to review our relations with the political community in all that concerns our duties as citizens who are called to contribute to the common good as a sign of solidarity by paying We need to review our relations with the social community by committing ourselves to the building of a more just society.
We need to review our relations with the church community, by giving our spare time, energy. and material goods in order to help those in need. We need to review our relations with our neighbours whose difficulties are known perhaps to us alone.
in the first community in Jerusalem, no one claimed any possession as his own. This is the heart of the problem. We must ascertain whether we feel we are absolute owners or feel we are children of _God and brothers and sisters in Christ who act as administrators of the goods they receive and keep others always in mind.
In the first centuries love for Jesus, by inspiring consciences, transformed pagan society, opening it out to the progressive liberation of long-standing situations of institutionalised injustice (slavery, the exclusion of women from society, poverty, the position of the defenceless and of children in society, etc.) Why should our love for Jesus not do as much again today in the face of the serious situations of injustice in the world?
Chiara Lubich