The Daily Word
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Take Your Place!
When the Apostles were locked up by the Jewish leaders, the angel of the Lord came and freed them and led them out. They were instructed to go and take their places and to “tell everyone everything about this life.” What life? The life of the beloved. The people today are told about the lies and false comforts of this worldly life. They need to hear about the truth and the true life — the life in Christ.
Click on the title for the full reflection.
“But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said,
‘Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life.’”Acts 5:19
Out of jealousy the Jewish leaders placed the Apostles in the public jail. They couldn’t stand them. They were getting tired of this Jesus business, putting up with Him while He was alive was tiring enough, and now even after He has died, they still have to hear about Him? Well, little did they know that Jesus IS alive! They put Jesus to death, but He has risen and dies no more.
Even in prison, the Apostles kept their faith. The angel comes and frees them in the middle of the night. Jesus appeared to them in the upper room behind locked doors offering them peace. Now, again the messenger of the Lord goes to them amidst the locked prison doors and frees them. There is no place that Jesus won’t go to reach us. The truth cannot be contained.
Like the Apostles, we are invited and encouraged to go and take our places and tell everyone everything about this life. Not this worldly life, but the life of the beloved. But we can’t if we choose to remain behind those locked prison doors. Maybe there is some comfort behind those prison doors. Maybe we even feel free there. But it is not true freedom. Jesus comes to offer us true freedom so that we may live and live fully and to tell others about this.
May we take the hand of the Lord as He leads us out from behind those prison doors and take our place in the world and tell everyone about living in the freedom of the children of God. There are too many people out there telling everyone about the false comforts of the worldly life. They need to hear about the free life, the true life, the eternal life in Christ. They’re waiting for you.
One Heart and Mind
As Christians we have been baptized into the one family of God. We must be of one mind and heart. What does that mean? Does it simply mean we ought to recite the same creed and celebrate the Mass and sacraments all over the world? Yes, but not just the actions. We must be one in mind and heart. Click on the title to read the full reflection.
“The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”Acts 4:32
The portrait painted about the early Church by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles was one that expressed unity and communion. We are told that "the community of believers was of one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32). Then we are given a description of how they had put that "one heart and mind" into action - by sharing their time, talent, and treasure. They were able to do so because they had one mission and were One in the Father.
Are we a people of one heart and one mind? This means do we have God in our hearts? Do we root our identity and all that we do in the Father and His love? Then we must ask do we see our mission as one. The mission Jesus gave to His disciples was to proclaim the Good News to all nations and creatures. This Good News is the Resurrection. This Good News is the hope of eternal life. This Good News is the ransom paid for our freedom from slavery to sin. This Good News is the love of the Father. To carry out this mission in proclaiming this Good News to others, we first must ourselves receive it into our own hearts.
To live fully, which is also why Christ came: "I came to give you life and to have it more abundantly" we must be of one heart and mind (Jn. 10:10). We can try our best to make it on our own out there, but that's not living, that's surviving. Jesus came so that we can have life and to live it to the full! We must walk together with the same heart and mind. Let's get on our way.
Father, thank you for loving me and for having called me to this mission. Open my heart so that I may receive your love and in turn may show this love to others, so that together, we may all live life as you intended it - living it to the full with the one heart and one mind in You.
Born From Above
Today we have the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in John’s Gospel where Nicodemus is trying to learn more about Jesus and all that He has been doing. Jesus tells Nicodemus something very fascinating - in order for anyone to see the Kingdom, he or she must be born from above. What does that mean? Jesus goes on to explain this. We who are baptized are born of water and spirit and not the flesh. The flesh dies and passes with the world, but the spirit does not. Do we live our lives as such?
Click on the title for the full reflection.
“Jesus answered and said to him,
‘Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.’”John 3:3
Here in the beginning of the Second Week of Easter we are presented with the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in John’s Gospel. Nicodemus was sure Jesus was from God, otherwise He couldn’t have done all the works that He has done, and Jesus replied with our quote of the day, “…unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Jesus later explains further that one must be born of water and the spirit (something we heard and read in yesterday’s readings). Jesus is saying that we must be born from above, of water and spirit.
By our baptism we have been reborn, reborn of water and spirit. No longer are we simply born of the flesh, but we have died with Christ and our lives now point to what is above. At the beginning of the Second Week of Easter we are reminded of who we are — we do not belong to the world or the flesh, but rather we belong to what is above, we belong to God. Do our lives and actions show that?
May we today be reminded about our great identity — beloved sons and daughters of the Eternal Father who has loved us with an everlasting love and who calls us each by name and whose mercy is with0ut end.
