“Have Trust in God” by Colleen O’Sullivan
There broke out a severe persecution
of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside
of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the
Church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed
them over for imprisonment. Now those
who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Thus, Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ 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.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many
possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:1b-8)
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!” (Psalm 66:1-3a)
Piety
Lord, help us to place our trust in You when
everything around us seems to be at sixes and sevens.
Study
Jerusalem was a downright frightening place to be in the early days of
the Church. Saul could have been
nicknamed Persecutor-in-Chief. He had people
seized in the streets, suspected of being followers of the Way. Hiding at home did no good. Brutal home invasions were the order of the
day. People were thrown into jail for
their beliefs. Just before today’s first
reading, Saul had stood by while Stephen was stoned to death for preaching the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Despite Jesus’ warnings about future suffering and persecution, this was
not at all what the disciples envisioned, especially not James or John or their
mother. She wanted seats of honor for
her sons and had no idea what it would mean to drink of the cup Jesus drank. Yet here they and their friends found
themselves, despised and hunted, at the mercy of a storm of gigantic proportions.
The situation grew so dire that the Apostles decided they should be the
only ones to remain in Jerusalem. They
urged everyone else to run for their lives, which they did. They ended up in the countryside, far from
the city streets they had known. And
then a strange and unexpected, but wonderful thing happened! Amid all the chaos, Philip made his way to the
city of Samaria, where he began to preach and teach, to rid people of demons and
to heal the sick. Suddenly, people began
to see and hear the Truth in their midst.
They, too, began to proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior!
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the fledgling church, whose existence
had seemed so fraught with peril, began to grow and expand far beyond anything
the disciples had envisioned! God brought forth something good from the
swirling storm that had so frightened all in Jerusalem such a short time
before.
We find ourselves amid a storm of gigantic proportions, so big it extends
to almost every corner of the earth. It
boggles my mind that in December, I could have been on such a wonderful vacation
with my sister in Berlin and the Bavarian Alps.
I’d never heard of Covid-19, and, I must say, ignorance was indeed bliss. I would have looked at anyone who told me then
where we would be today as though they had two heads.
But here we are. The closest many
of us can get to family members is to visit via FaceTime or Zoom. Or if you’re quarantining with family, maybe
you wish you could have a little alone time.
Every day the news is full of stories about coronavirus, its victims, and
their caregivers. We’re awash in
statistics about how many people are sick, how many have recovered, and how
many have died. We have no idea whether
this paints an accurate picture or not because many people have been sick and
not been tested. It’s scary that people may
be walking around, appearing healthy, and yet are silently infected with this
virus. It’s also heartbreaking to think
of all the patients who’ve lost their lives without family or friends at their
side and all those who have to be buried without funerals.
The immediate future seems like a big question mark. When will it be safe to open up for business? When can kids get back to school with other
kids? Can people get reinfected? How many more will die before this is
over? Will it ever be over? I am sure that it will be over at some point,
and I am equally sure that what we know about this virus today will be a drop
in the bucket compared to what we will know and understand about its years in
the future.
The other thing I am sure of is that just as God brought something good
out of the persecution of the earliest Christians in Jerusalem, so God will, at
some point, still the winds and waters raging around us and bring something useful
from this. I am hopeful that all the
goodwill and caring I am seeing exhibited by people in my neighborhood and
church groups will continue long past the end of this Covid-19 outbreak.
Action
Please continue to pray for those who’ve been
affected in any way by this pandemic.
Some people have lost incomes and can’t pay their bills. Right here in “affluent” Northern Virginia,
there are growing numbers of people who can’t buy food and don’t know how they
will feed their families. In our
neighborhoods, some people are sick with this virus and family members who are
worried out of their minds for their loved ones.
There are many things we can do to help, the
first of which is to respect the stay-at-home and social distancing orders in
place. Getting sick or infecting someone
else will simply prolong the situation.
Offer to help your neighbors, whether it’s doing
their grocery shopping when you do yours or merely giving them a call to let
them know you are thinking of them.
Drop off food to food pantries in the area or
make a monetary donation.
And never forget to put your trust in God, who
calms our fears when we hit stormy weather.
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