19 April 2022 - Tuesday of the OCTAVE OF EASTER - Acts 2:36-41

      This week, we commemorate the Octave of Easter.  Early Church Father St. Athanasius stated that “the fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated in joy and exultation as one feast day, indeed as one ‘great Sunday.’“ The first eight days or octave specifically celebrate the solemnity of Easter every day.  The Easter Octave begins on Easter Sunday and ends on the Second Sunday of Easter of the Divine Mercy with every day being another solemnity or another “little Easter.”

       We hear from the Acts of the Apostles during the Easter season, telling us about the development of the Early Church after the Lord's death and resurrection.  In our reading from the Acts today, we hear about 3,000 people who were baptized in response to the message proclaimed by Peter.  In the midst of Christ’s journey to the cross, many in the crowd cried out for Christ to be crucified.  These may have been the same people who responded to Peter’s call of repentance and baptism.  The Acts of the Apostles tells us that they “were cut to the heart” when they realized that Jesus, who was just crucified, was made Lord and Christ by God.

        Peter called the crowd to repentance.  In a society where many people see values as subjective and relative to what they want to do, repenting and adhering to the laws and commandments of God are against mainstream American society.  The message that Peter proclaimed to the crowds in the Early Church is still radical today. 

        All over the world, in the pandemic we have experienced these past two years, we in the Church are facing a lot of challenges and barriers.  How do we get past the complacency and the isolation that many are feeling?  How do we get past the divisions and divisiveness that is so prevalent in the world today?  This is not just something we are facing in the Catholic Church.  This is not just an issue here in Mississippi or here in the United States. We have a lot of new people coming to the Church or returning to the Church since we have gradually opened up since the early days of the pandemic.  But there are still a lot of people staying away.  That is the reality we are facing right now.  

         Like the crowd that Peter addressed, may we be cut to the heart ourselves as to what our reality is right now. May we give thanks for the presence of the resurrected Christ in our lives and the opportunity to live out our faith and reach out to others.