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SATURDAY WITHIN
THE
O
CTAVE
OF
E
ASTER
Acts of the Apostles 4: 13-21
Psalm 118:1& 14-15AB, 16-18, 19-21
Mark 16:9-15
S
UMMARY
In the above readings, despite God˅s miracles, many lacked the faith to
truly believe and the courage to spread the word of these amazing myster-
ies for fear of being ridiculed for that trust in the truth they had come to
know. In the first reading, Peter and John stand by their witness of the
man who had been cured by Jesus. Despite the threats by the elders to
never repeat what they knew had occurred, Peter and John replied that it
was impossible for them not to proclaim the knowledge they had acquired
and that God, in fact, commands that they shareˁa command that they
must obey. Then, in the Gospel, we are reminded of the declaration of
Mary Magdalene and two of the disciples, who witnessed Jesus after His
rising from the dead. When they shared this with the other disciples, their
claims were not believedˎUNTIL Jesus appears to the eleven and rebuked
them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. Jesus then commanded that
they all ˈGo into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every crea-
tureˉ.
R
EFLECTION
When has your faith been tested? How did you react? Did you proclaim
the miracles that you had experienced or seen in your life, or did you steer
away out of fear that you might be challenged or ridiculed? It takes a great
deal of courage to stand strong in your faith and declare the miracles that
God has placed in your personal path. Hence, we cannot be afraid to
share our personal wisdom with others. We must be mindful that this is
exactly what God calls each of us to do -- and, in His honor, we must not
fall to fear. The world in which we live today creates an atmosphere of the
possibility of being balked at with a proclamation of any sort of faith filled
experience. We must focus more on the beauty of the mystery and the in-
tent of its teaching rather than the possible backlash for believing and