15 April 2021 - Thursday of the 2nd week of Easter - Acts 5:27-32

     Do we sometimes feel like we are guided by a higher authority that can contradict secular laws and the laws of man?   I hope that is the case, because as Catholics, we are called to follow God’s law and God’s will, no matter what. This is what we hear in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles this morning, as the apostles stated that they are required to follow a higher authority that dictates their consciences and that influences their actions.   The Sanhedrin may have issued an edict that stated that the apostles are required to refrain from preaching the Good News of Jesus, but Peter and the other apostles declare that they must obey God, not man. In recent years, we have seen this play out more and more in the United States.  We in the Diocese even were a part of a law suit against the federal government when we were required in our health plan to offer provisions that contradicted the values of the Church and the laws of God.  

      Today, on April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  He is a larger than life figure in our nation’s history.  Having been the president during the Civil War, he is perhaps viewed differently here in Mississippi and in the South than in most of the rest of the country.  As you all know, my first name is Lincoln and I am the fifth person in my dad’s family to have the name of Lincoln.  My great great grandfather named his youngest son Lincoln in 1866, just a year after Abraham Lincoln Dall, so I guess indirectly I am named after Abraham Lincoln as well. Abraham Lincoln’s Christian faith is perhaps complicated.  He grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. He never joined any Church, and could be characterized as a skeptic as a young man. However, he frequently referred to God as an adult and as a politician, and had a deep knowledge of the Bible, often quoting it.  He also often attended Protestant church services with his wife and children.  It also could be said that he very much respected the faith and religion of others.  In our very complicated and complex world today, let us stay true to our high power, to the laws of God, and to follow those laws even when they contradict the laws of man.