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E
ASTER
W
EEKDAY
Acts of the Apostles 5:27-33
Psalm 34:2 & 9, 17-18, 19-20
John 3:31-36
S
UMMARY
In the Acts, the Apostles are before the Jewish authorities who forbid them from
preaching the risen Christ. The Apostles reply they need to follow the voice of
God, not men, even in the face of death.
R
EFLECTION
There is a startling similarity between the time of the Apostles depicted in Acts to
our time. The Apostles were forbidden to preach Jesus Christ, even threatened
with death. In our increasingly secularized time, mention of God and religious be-
lief is relegated to personal preference of only private interest like the choice of a
movie or a car. Religion, one˅s faith, is a strictly private affair.
Yet, in the face of this secular spirit of our times, we are called to a new evange-
lization by the Church. How are we to do this?
Certainly it is not by an in-your-face holier-than-thou religiosity. Rather it is
more in line with St. Francis˅ famous dictum, ˈpreach always, use words when
necessary.ˉ This means that we actually believe and live our faith; that God truly
is our loving father, that all
persons are our sisters or
brothers, equally loved by
God; that each day, our
world, our life - even its
struggles and pains - is a
gift. It is to live with the joy
of one who loves and is
loved. This is the reality our
faith reveals, but it is also an