Read the daily readings from the USCCB website here!
I love this time of our readings cycle. I love seeing the differences between the apostles that we hear about in the first reading from Acts and the apostles that we hear about in the Gospel. It’s crazy to think that they’re the same men.
“Whether it is right in the side of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
This from the lips of the very man who denied Jesus thrice on the day of His suffering. This from the men who did not believe the accounts of the other disciples who testified to the Risen Jesus. This from the men that we rebuked “for their unbelief and hardness of heart” by Christ when He finally appeared to them.
Yet, Jesus commands them to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature,” and now there are billions of Christians around the world.
What changed?
They did.
They are evidence to us that an encounter with the Risen Jesus leaves you radically different. They were open to receive the Holy Spirit. These men and women were no longer bound by their fear of rejection, their doubts, their fear of torture. They were so convicted that every single one of the apostles (with the exception of John… but they tried to martyr him too!) were martyred, and they were glad to share in the sufferings of Christ.
What about us? It’s easy to think that we’d be able to proclaim the gospel that boldly if Jesus had appeared to us in the flesh. Not so fast. The stakes were way higher back then Our 21st century American martyrdom often consists in simple social discomfort. Sure, sometimes things get worse, but what holds us back?
Today I challenge you to spend 10-15 minutes in silent, uninterrupted prayer. Read the readings and pay attention to what sticks out to you. Ask Jesus what He’s trying to tell you. Finally, boldly ask Him to flood you with the conviction that He is Risen, that He saves, and that He loves you. Rest in that reality, and rejoice.
-Amanda Nobis, Director of Evangelization