Acting out of our Awareness of Christ or our Ignorance of His Presence

In today's first reading, Acts 3: 11-26, Peter draws attention to the people's  amazement that the crippled man is able to walk, saying to the people: "You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses."  It is the people's ignorance of  Jesus as the "author of life" that led to their demand for his execution and it is this same ignorance that led to their amazement that the crippled man was restored to wholeness of life.

Christ continues to be "the author of life" to this day and works through you and me whenever, because of our belief in Christ, a life of faith, hope and love is restored! However, it is also our ignorance of Christ present in every person and every thing that leads to life being diminished and, in some cases, even destroyed, whether that be the life of a human being, an animal or a plant!  When ignorance leads to us making poor choices, let us heed Peter's call:  "Repent,..., and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old...You are The children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  We are that blessing when we respect life and, seeing Christ in all things and all people, are witnesses to Christ resurrection.