Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Thursday of the Second Week of Easter | USCCB
In
our first readings from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the ongoing persecution
of the apostles as they continue to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead on
Easter Sunday. They faced imprisonment and harassment for proclaiming the Risen
Lord.
The
apostles persisted in preaching the Risen Lord and so serve as an example of how
we are to live out our faith in Jesus Christ. When challenged by the religious leaders (who could not bring
themselves to mention Jesus' name), Peter famously says, "We must obey God
rather than any human authority" (Acts 5:29). There will always be
people in our families and friends that may say to us, “…to stop teaching in
that name.” People simply don’t want to hear about Jesus and the fact that
he is Lord and Messiah. But we must be persistent in our sharing our faith in
Jesus Christ. It doesn’t need to be as dramatic as with the apostles where we
may be arrested and thrown in jail. Or we may not be called to stand on the
street corner with bible in hand preaching Jesus. But we are called to live out
our lives in a way that people will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ.
We are called to preach Jesus by loving God and loving our neighbor. Like the
apostles, we are to be counter-cultural in living out our Christian Faith,
which is contrary to how society sees things.
Frequent
attendance at Daily and Sunday mass, regular time for daily prayer and treating
people with love and respect is how we are to preach Jesus Christ to a world
that may reject who the Lord is. But, like the apostles we are to be persistent
in our faith in the Risen Lord. We are to place God first in all our actions.
The
Lord has Risen, indeed he has Risen from the Dead.
I absolutely agree 100%. Sandy Yankow
ReplyDeleteFrom Connie Watz
ReplyDeleteSo we live in different times from when the early Christians were being persecuted, there is a different sort of persecution today in free world countries. It comes in the form of your job takes precedence over your worship on Sunday as an example. And sometimes you have to go against the business Authority and demand that one hour of praise to God. Also there's pressure from others, sometimes even family members who may feel you are too spiritually minded. However that is what we are on this Earth for, that is our final destination to worship and praise God in the hereafter which begins here on Earth.
We can think it's commendable for men and women to enter the priesthood and religious life; yet sometimes parents, relatives and friends play devil's advocate by trying to keep a person from following that vocation.
Especially when a mother may have an only son or daughter & wants to see grandchildren.
In regard to contemplative life, which is a more secluded lifestyle, some priests have tried to detract women from joining saying, why do you want to waste your life locking yourself away. One wonders how they got their own vocation. However, a lot of these older religious Orders are being replaced by newer ones, which seem to be flourishing.