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| Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19 and Luke 24:35-48 |
…of
this we are witnesses
In this Sunday’s First reading we hear from
St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles (in Easter the 1st Readings
are taken from the life of the early Christians in the New Testament instead of
the usual Old Testament stories). In his passionate speech to the Jewish people
Peter is trying to convince the people of the Covenant (Jews) that Jesus is the
fulfillment of the Covenants in the
Old Testament and that in Jesus we have new life and a New Covenant
relationship with God where He is no longer far off but intimate and near. This
is the experience that the Apostles have in today’s Gospel as Jesus appears to
them in the flesh, actually eating food with them to show that He is not a
ghost, he has risen from the dead body and soul!
Peter’s rousing speech did not have to do with
syllogisms or philosophical reasoning but something more powerful and just as
true: witness. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead;
of this we are witnesses. Peter’s
passion was sourced from his personal experience of the Person of Jesus who is
risen from the dead. This experience led to his preaching, founding Christian
communities and ultimately to his own crucifixion in Rome. He believed so
strongly that he was willing to give up his life instead of lie or hide his
faith in Jesus.
As Christians living twenty
centuries removed from Jesus of Nazareth walking this earth we too are called
to claim this personal witness that is available to us even now. Where do we
experience the personal experience of Jesus? Do you experience it at all?
In a few weeks we celebrate
Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the upper room.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world that He might always be with us.
Through Baptism and Confirmation the Holy Spirit dwells within us (sometimes we
call this our conscience) and is as near to us as our breath (the word spirit
means breath). We experience and find the presence of Jesus in all of creation
(infants, sunsets, acts of love and service, etc.) and as Catholics in seven
transformative and mysterious ways (the word Sacrament means mystery) that the
Church identifies that the Holy Spirit comes to fill us with God’s
grace/presence.
Just because Jesus comes to us in the
Sacraments does not mean He is coming to us in a less real way. We are still
called to be witnesses to Jesus Christ if we are willing to see Him with eyes
of faith. This means we are called to (I) Find God’s presence/activity in our
lives seeing with eyes of faith and (II) Proclaim that presence boldly with our
actions and words.
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