St. Peter, in today’s first reading, Acts 15:7-21, tells his
brothers that the Gentiles, to whom he shared the Good News of Jesus’
resurrection, came to believe in Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit, as
they were on Pentecost. He reminded his
brothers that “God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy
Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by
faith he purified their hearts.” So,
too, today, God purifies the hearts of
all through faith. He makes no distinctions now anymore than God did then.
How often, do you and I, make distinctions, however, when
someone from another faith, another religion, another set of values goes about
doing good, proclaiming the Gospel by their lives and, if necessary, by their
words (St. Francis of Assisi). Peter says
to us, as he said to his brothers: “…[W]e
are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they.”
Our job is to remain in God’s love (today’s Gospel message,
John 15: 9-11). Savor God’s love. Bask in God’s love. Cherish God’s love as it
reveals itself in our lives and in the lives of all believers, of men and women
of all faiths, in the lives of men and women from every walk in life, in every
vocation to which God calls them, in whatever career they witness to the love
of God at work within them. “I have told
you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete” (John
15: 9-11). Yes, may you and I rejoice at what God is doing in all of us,
through all of us and with all of us!
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