18/04/2018
*Have Faith in God; Sorrow May Last in the Night, but Joy Comes in the Morning.*
(Homily for April 18, 2018).
“And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria.” Acts 8:1.
Our first reading today presents a perfect description of how God works. It begins by telling us of how a great persecution arose against the church following the death of Stephen, but ends with this line: “So there was much joy in that city.” Acts 8:8. God knows how to write straight on crooked lines.
We can completely trust God because so long as we hold on to him, even our most negative experiences often turn out to be for our own good. Perhaps Philip would not have known he had the gifts of preaching and healing to work great signs if he had not fled Jerusalem at the time of the persecution.
Truly, you never know what God has deposited in you until you face hard times. Like food that has to be cooked before its nutritional value for our health come out, hardship and crisis help to cook us in the fire so that our true value comes out. As Denzel Washington once said: “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.”
In fact, we can say “Thank God for persecution, the church would have simply remained in just one position.” Thank God for your bad days. Thank God for your failures. Thank God for your sorrows. Thank God for what appears to be hardship right now. Why must we be grateful? Because we know God can use anything, any situation to bring about our ultimate good.
God never promised that if we serve him, everything will be smooth in our lives. No! The book of Sirach 2:1 says: “My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.” Jesus also makes us understand that following him entails carrying a cross, drinking the bitter wine of persecution:
“You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:16-19. In Matthew’s version of this passage, Jesus adds: “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.” Matthew 10:23.
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus continues his conversation with the crowd who had come to seek him because they wanted bread and he is now telling them that he himself is the bread they must eat not only to sustain our life on earth but even to guarantee eternal life for ourselves.
When we juxtapose both our first reading and our Gospel passage today together, this is the picture we get: Trials and hard times would surely come our way as long as we continue to serve God, we may even lose our lives due to such trials but even if we die, Jesus promises to raise us up on the last day. Like an athlete running with the pole to take the high jump, we must take away all fear from our lives knowing that when we go up so high to take that jump, we are not going to land on ordinary ground.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, save me from all forms of discouragement and despair. Keep my faith alive and strong no matter what life throws at me, may nothing ever spoil my relationship with you. Amen.
*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 8:1-8 and John 6:35-40).*
Fr. Abu.
