Paul did not have an easy time
preaching the Good News of Jesus throughout the ancient world. Today, we hear how Paul and Silas were
stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. Rather than bemoan their situation, they lift
it up to the Lord, singing hymns and praying for the other prisoners to
hear. I laughed when I heard how Paul
and the others remained in the prison after a great earthquake came and
provided a means for them to escape. I
thought about the prisoners whom I have ministered to in the federal and state
prisons in Yazoo City and in the Jackson area; those prisoners would have seen
that means of escape as a golden opportunity and as a gift given to them from
God. Even the jailer in the reading from
the Acts of the Apostles today was converted to the faith by the example of
Paul. We never know how God is going to
touch our hearts, do we? I have found so many of the prisoners eager to hear
the word of the God when I ministered to them in the prisons. Today, unfortunately, our state is putting a
man to death through the death penalty, which show how far we need to come as a
society to really live out the Gospel of Life.
Our parish will be having a prayer vigil this evening at 6:00 pm, the
same time that the execution will be taking place. May God use as an instrument of his love and
mercy in the way we live out the Gospel just as he used Paul and the group of
disciples in the Early Church.
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