18 April 2020 - Saturday of the Octave of Easter - Acts 4:13-21

      Today, the elders, chief priests, and scribes of the people refuse to listen to the testimony of Peter and John and the rest of the disciples.  In fact, the chief priests and elders go a step further beyond not listening: they want to silence the testimony of Christ’s Good News, not wanting it to be heard.  Likewise, the disciples do not want to listen to the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the other two witness. They do not want to believe in the resurrected Christ.  To them, Jesus is still in the tomb.  

     We need to be constantly growing in our faith as well.  Our faith cannot be static.  It cannot be close-minded.  It cannot be locked up in a dark place and left unattended, or it will not experience the richness of our faith in all its fulness. I remember that when we had a religious sister talking to us priests in the Diocese of Jackson about our wellness and mental, physical, and spiritual health, she mentioned that she worked with a client who for years neglected his prayer life and did not do much to read and grow in his life of faith.  She said that in the midst of that reality, it was not a surprise that his physical, spiritual, and mental well-being were also not doing well at all. Are we open to hearing God’s voice? Are we open to surprises in our life of faith? Are we open to the testimony of others and the ways that they experience God in their lives? Or is our faith right, self-righteous, and unyielding?  Maybe those are questions we need to ask ourselves on our journey through the Easter season.