April 21, 2010
Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Thus Philip went down to (the) city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. Acts 8:4-6
And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day. John 6:39-40
Piety
Take one world:
A globeful of people, most of whom are victims;
A handful of people passionately committed to justice;
A God overseeing and supervising without usurping total control;
An exemplary human life, in which the globeful of people and the handful of people and the overseeing God are united,
so that the particular human life is uniquely transparent to the divine;
A healthy respect for the past and a healthy skepticism about institutions that have an unhealthy respect for the past;
Human hearts in which anger and love are two sides of the same coin;
A willingness to risk judgments that might be wrong;
And an ultimate optimism combined with a provisional pessimism.
Mix well, and see what happens!
[For the next six months, Reach and Teach will donate 100% of the purchase price -- $5.00 -- of a poster with this prayer to help the people of Haiti.]
Study
There was great joy in that city. Acts 8:8
Something tells me it would be hard to convince the Jews living at that time of this "great joy." In the lives of the disciples after Jesus was crucified, life was not easy. Just consider what is described in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles about life in the years after their leader was crucified as if he was a common criminal:
1) “There broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem.”
2) “All were scattered throughout the countryside…except the apostles.”
3) “Devout men buried Stephen.”
4) They “made a loud lament over him”
5) “Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church.”
6) Saul was “entering house after house and dragging out men and women.”
7) He “handed them over for imprisonment.”
Do those sound like conditions for great joy?
Despite these conditions, the crowds listened to what the apostles were preaching and heeded the message.
After Jesus rebuked the church leaders for their spiritual blindness and deafness, the common women and men of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria had eyes to see and ears to hear. That is the condition for great joy because it lives out the prophecy of Jesus in today’s Good News. They did not see but act on their beliefs just as Jesus had foretold. Jesus is indeed the “all-you-can-eat” banquet for our spiritual life. That is the reason for the great joy.
Action
(From the JustFaith Ministries newsletter):
Tomorrow, April 22, is the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. More than one billion people around the world will observe Earth Day. It was on this day, one year ago, that 24 national Catholic organizations helped launch the Catholic Climate Covenant: The St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. This initiative continues to gain momentum. Will you reach out to neighbors and friends and parishes and schools and ask them to join in taking the St. Francis Pledge-- AND to register their Pledges at the Catholic Coalition website: www.catholicclimatecovenant.org.
