In today’s first reading,
Acts 14: 19-28, we read further about the problems Paul encountered in his
efforts to spread the Good News about Jesus’ death, resurrection and
ascension. Some “Jews from Antioch and
Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him
outside of the city, supposing that he was dead. …[When]the disciples gathered around him, he
got up…[and] on the following day left with Barnabas for Derbe. …[T]hey… proclaimed the good news to that
city,…made considerable…disciples [of Jesus and then] returned to Lystra and to
Iconium and to Antioch, …[where] they strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in faith, saying, ‘It is necessary for us to
undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.’”
Wow! What inspiration and
instruction for us Christians today!
Living the Christian life has always involved obstacles to be overcome, misunderstandings
to address, and, yes, persecutions, martyrdom, a dying and a rising with Christ
to new life to be endured in faith. Like
Paul, to get up after being down, whether downed by others or by ourselves, we
need other disciples, others persons living their faith in Christ, to help us
up! Getting up from whatever problem or
tragedy we’ve encountered in being faithful to the Gospel, we, in turn, are
called to “proclaim the good news,” make “considerable disciples,” and
strengthen “the spirit of [other disciples].
That is what my mother and father have done for me, and, hopefully, for
you as well. That is what Mother Frances, the Foundress of the Sisters of the
Sorrowful Mother and many of my fellow religious have also done for me. Who does that for you and for whom are you a
strengthening companion in the faith?
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