Standing up for what we believe

In today’s first reading, Acts 5: 27-33, Peter and John, when commanded by the high priest to stop teaching about Jesus, responded: Absolutely not!  “We must obey God rather than [human beings].”

How do we know that we are obeying God?  How did Peter and John know? How did Mary, Jesus’ mother, know? How did Mary of Magdala know? The first answer is that  the Risen Lord revealed Himself personally to each of them and they also knew Him before His resurrection.  Each received the gift of recognizing God’s way of making Himself known, whether prior to or following the Resurrection.  The person knows “it is the Lord” (Jn 21:7) and thus is open to following His will—words may not be able to explain that kind of knowing.  Secondly, the individual has developed a deeply personal relationship with God, as with a best friend. That means spending time with God, conversing with God in prayer, contemplating  the Scriptures, and sharing the intimacy of our lives with God on a regular basis. What do I mean? Letting God know what I am thinking and feeling, what excites,bothers or hurts me; what I am desiring, what challenges me, what I am afraid of, etc. It also means asking God for advice, for His counsel and requesting the Spirit to send the gifts of the Spirit.  Thirdly,  one needs to seek knowledge from above and sit at the Fountain of Living Water, drinking of that “water” that quenches the spirit. That is done through such activities as holy or spiritual reading, study of our faith and thus arriving at a deeper and deeper understanding of the faith (such as studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the encyclicals of the Popes, the social teachings of the Church, etc.); in short, seeking knowledge that nurtures the spiritual life and one’s faith life. Fourthly, we need to be growing in love of self and others, reaching out to the poor and marginalized, giving of our time, talent and energy to make the world, and ourselves (personal conversion, forgiveness and repentence) a better place that puts God first. If we do these things, our openness to and knowing God’s will becomes well tuned as, for instance, in the case, of St. Francis of Assisi, Ven. Mother Frances Streitel (the Foundress of my religious community),  Mother Teresa of Calcutta,  Martin Luther King, St. Kateri Tekawitha, Mother Seton,  and so many others.