4/6/2016 – Acts 5:17-26 – Wednesday of the 2nd week of Easter –

     We know from history and from the accounts of the Early Church that Paul and Peter and the rest of the apostles were imprisoned many times for the way that they publicly preached the Gospel to the world in the years right after Christ’s death and resurrection. This time, as recounted in today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter and a group of apostles are imprisoned, they are miraculously set free and they go out into the Temple area where they once again preach publicly about Jesus and his proclamation of God's kingdom.  
      We can imprison God’s word in the world just as the chief priest and the Jewish authorities did when they put Peter and the other apostles in prison. The Gospel message needs to be more than just words to us.  Christ's message needs to be more than words that fascinate us and touch our imagination.  We need to put those words into action.  We need to practice our faith each day.  We need to have God’s word in our lives to inspire us and to motivate us and to lead us along our journey.  It is difficult to live out our faith sometimes, that is for sure.  Sometimes our lives seem so busy that we do not make time for God or for Church in our hectic, chaotic lives.  But God always meets us in our reality and helps us with the ups and downs of life.

If God’s words do infuse our words and our actions, if God’s word does not have a place in our reality, then his word will be imprisoned just as at was when the first apostles were put into jail.