We know from accounts of the Early Church that Peter, Paul, 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 after Christ’s death and resurrection. As told 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 go out into the Temple area where they once again preach publicly about Jesus and his proclamation of God's kingdom.
I thought about how we ourselves can imprison God’s word in the world just as the chief priests 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 and into practice. We need to have God’s word in our lives to inspire us, motivate us, and lead us along our journey. It is difficult to live out our faith sometimes. Our lives can seem so busy that we do not make time for God or for Church. But God always meets us in our reality and helps us with the ups and downs of life.
If God’s words do not infuse our own words and 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. How can we set God’s word free in our lives?
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