Take Refuge in the Lord"

Today's Mass Readings

In today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the book describing the early church, we continue our journey this Easter season, as we follow the apostles in their ministry, preaching the word of God and healing others of both physical and spiritual ailments.

In this reading, we find Peter and John preaching and healing. They had healed a crippled man, and so the authorities arrested them, disturbed that Peter and John were gathering followers for Jesus. The question they wanted to know was in whose name Peter and John healed. The apostles boldly answered, in Jesus' name. We might not catch the boldness of this response at first glance. In this context, Peter and John are not executed, but in later contexts, when they are under Roman arrest, all of the apostles were tortured and most executed (John was boiled in oil but survived). The Romans tortured and killed them because of their faith in Jesus: Bartholomew was skinned alive, Paul was beaten and whipped numerous times and finally beheaded, and Peter was crucified upside down.

Today's responsorial psalm describes how Jesus was the stone the builders rejected, and yet He became the cornerstone. Elsewhere in that same psalm, we read: "Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one's trust in princes" (Psalm 118:9). This is precisely what the early apostles did. They placed their trust in the Lord, they found their refuge in God. The apostles we read about in Acts did not put their trust in earthly rulers.

We too must take refuge in God. The same God Who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us up as well. The same God is there for us to trust. Earthly rulers can help us in some matters, but we must always recognize, as did the early Christians, that our citizenship is in heaven. We are pilgrims on a journey. It was perhaps easier for the early Christians to grasp this because they were in perpetual danger of physical martyrdom.

The twentieth century, however, saw more Christian martyrs than all previous centuries combined. So far the twenty first century has not gotten off to a better start than the previous one. Let us trust in the Lord that He will be our refuge. Then we too may boldly preach Christ in the world as did the apostles.

Preaching Christ, however, is not only about speaking about His resurrection to those who do not believe. It is also about bringing Christ's peace and justice to those around us. Let us think about some ways in which we may bring Christ's peace to those nearest us. Perhaps we know of a friend or family member, or neighbor or co-worker, that needs to experience the peace of Christ. Let's think of a tangible way we can help them experience the peace of Christ, the joy of Easter, throughout the rest of the 50 day Easter season. And then let's boldly help meet that need, in the power of the risen Lord.

- Jeff Morrow