The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to put into action the mission given by Jesus to proclaim to all the nations.
Proclaim the Good News
In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter speaks to a Jewish audience in Solomon’s Portico.
* [3:17] Ignorance: a Lucan motif, explaining away the actions not only of the people but also of their leaders in crucifying Jesus. On this basis the presbyters in Acts could continue to appeal to the Jews in Jerusalem to believe in Jesus, even while affirming their involvement in his death because they were unaware of his messianic dignity. See also Acts 13:27 and Lk 23:34.1
Psalm 8 praises Divine Majesty and human dignity.
* [Psalm 8] While marvelling at the limitless grandeur of God (Ps 8:2–3), the psalmist is struck first by the smallness of human beings in creation (Ps 8:4–5), and then by the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed upon them (Ps 8:6–9).2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to His Disciples and commissions them for action.
* [24:36–43, 44–49] The Gospel of Luke, like each of the other gospels (Mt 28:16–20; Mk 16:14–15; Jn 20:19–23), focuses on an important appearance of Jesus to the Twelve in which they are commissioned for their future ministry. As in Lk 24:6, 12, so in Lk 24:36, 40 there are omissions in the Western text.3
Michael Kavan comments that in both readings, we see the value of repentance. The opportunity to ask for forgiveness and for our sins to be wiped away is a “refreshment” according to Peter.
I recently listened to a homily by the Reverend Patrick Smith from St. Augustine Parish in Washington, DC. And he told the story of a man who was teaching at a university and was close to being appointed tenure when he resigned. A year later a former colleague bumped into him in a grocery store and asked what he was doing. He said he was praying and discerning and felt God wanted him to leave and to teach in an inner-city public school. The former colleague asked what it was like and he said he loved it. Then his former colleague asked the question that he really wanted to know – “So, what do you make?” For which he responded – “I make a difference.” God wants us to make a difference. So, all us should take advantage of our opportunity to repent, to refresh, and to not only witness Jesus as the Messiah, but to become disciples in our own right by engaging in acts of goodness toward others. We should want to make a difference.4
Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"We are praising God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. But provided we do not cease to live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each other's voices, so do God's ears hear our thoughts. " (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 3:11-26 comments that “Witness” could actually be a good job description for Christians. The apostles were the first witnesses, and through their preaching and healing, other people became Christians. And so it has been from one generation to the next.
For example, you might share with a friend an incident from the past when you saw God answer a prayer. Or you could talk about what you think the Lord is saying to you today. You might even want to share some of your own struggles and doubts as a way of showing that these can exist alongside real faith. It’s not just creativity that is important; you also need tact. That starts with being sensitive to where another person is coming from. It means doing more listening than speaking and refraining from forcefully pushing your beliefs onto them. Even if someone seems closed off to the idea of faith at the moment, you could offer to pray for any special need for themselves or their family.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes the kerygma taught by Peter is based on Jewish experience. Jesus offers peace to the troubled. Friar Jude notes how treating others with exaggerated respect shows the grace of forgiveness.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes it is a loss to our Christian heritage that Julian of Norwich’s mystical teachings have not received more widespread hearing. Matthew Fox points out that she was in many ways ahead of her time. Her voice and writings were sidelined by a patriarchal church and culture unable to hear her nondual message of “oneing” and her celebration of embodiment as an extension of the Incarnation itself. Perhaps we are finally ready to hear Julian’s wisdom today. Matthew Fox writes in “Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic.”
First, she was ignored because she was a woman. . . . Julian found her voice—and wrote the first book in English by a woman. She speaks out about womanhood and about mothering and about the Divine Mother. She insists on the feminine side of God as imbuing not only God the Creator, but God the Liberator, and God the Spirit. . . .She bakes into her entire book the constant theme of nondualism and of “oneing.” Sensuality and substance are one thing. . . . She talks of the “glorious mingling” of body and soul, matter and spirit. She insists on the marriage of nature and God, on panentheism [God in all things and all things in God] as the very meaning of faith, and on the marriage of God and the human (for we, too, are part of nature): “between God and the human there is no between.”. . .7
Our proclamation to others is visible in our humility, compassion, and recognition of the Love of God visibly acting in all our lives.
References
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