(Many people may not be familiar with this Scriptures passage – it is not read at any Sunday or weekday Mass.) On his way home from his final missionary journey, Paul spends a week at Troas, a coastal city in what is today northwest Turkey. He is apparently presiding at a Sunday Eucharist. (It is probably a Saturday evening – by Jewish reckoning, that is when Sunday begins.)
”On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight.“There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus who was sitting on the window sill was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Once overcome by sleep he fell down from the third story and when he was picked up, he was dead.
“Paul went down, threw himself upon him and said as he embraced him, “Don’t be alarmed; there is life in him.” Then he returned upstairs, broke the bread, and ate; after a long conversation that lasted until daybreak, he departed. And they took the boy away alive and were immeasurably comforted.” (Acts 20:7-12)
This is a fascinating story, filled with graphic details – the oil lamps, Paul talking “on and on,” the boy sitting on a window sill, falling from “the third story.”
Luke clearly sees the boy as really dead. When Paul says “there is life in him,” this is the miraculous effect of Paul taking the boy in his arms. It is another example of the Risen Lord’s power over death.
There is only one week left in the Blessed Season of Easter.
Each day there are two posts, the first maybe dealing with a personality, the day, something from church history, miscellaneous subjects.
The second post (other than Sundays where "people coming back from the dead" has been the topic of discussion) pertains to the reading of the day.
It only takes a few minutes -- very insightful reflections.
May you continue to grow as we pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!"