Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
     and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
         so he does not open his mouth.
 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
     Who can describe his generation?
         For his life is taken away from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

When someone we care about comes to us and vents about something in their life, how quickly are we to offer advice instead of sitting with them and seeing what they would like? Today, we read about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. How differently would this story have gone if Phillip had just assumed what the eunuch wanted to know? Instead, Philip waits for the eunuch to ask him a question and invite him to explain. When we talk about Jesus to others, do we see ourselves as leading them to the right answer or as walking with them on a journey towards Christ? Instead of placing ourselves at the center with life’s answer key, can we let the Spirit guide us? Before rushing to baptize and correct others, what would happen if we started simply as companions and listeners?

—Austin Kleman, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province working as a therapist at Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago. 

Lord, give me the grace to labor with you without seeking myself – to live the Kingdom in its full reality. Amen.

—Help Me Live Your Kingdom by John Futrell, SJ