Do we
sometimes feel like we are guided by a higher authority that contradicts that
law of the land? That
is what the apostles profess to today before the Sanhedrin, that they are
following a higher authority that dictates their consciences and influences
their actions. The
Sanhedrin may have issued an edict that they refrain from preaching the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, but Peter and his companions declare that they must obey God
and not man. We
see situations like this play out in our modern world as well. We
Catholics in modern America live in a land where capital punishment is
practiced and condoned by our secular society, where abortion is a common
practice and a way to get rid of an unwanted or inconvenient pregnancy. Even
our own Diocese sued the federal government along with other Catholic Dioceses
and institutions to protest that provisions in insurance plans that we were
told follow that violate the Gospel of Life. By
refusing to obey the authorities and by refusing to keep quiet, Peter and the
others are put their lives in danger. Even
though they had just seen their Lord crucified, they felt compelled to speak
out and to follow their conscience. They
knew that God had raised up Jesus, but that human beings had killed him.
Standing
up for what is right can be very challenging and very difficult. Yet,
we are called to stand up for the Gospel, to not deny our faith. We
can become complacent in our faith, thinking we live in a seemingly safe place
like the United States where we assume we will always have the freedom to
practice our faith. But
perhaps that is a false assumption.
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