DAILY HOMILIES

God knows how to write straight on crooked lines. The selection of deacons stemmed from the crisis that ensued over food. What the devil thought would bring an end to the church became an opportunity to discover great talents that would eventually succeed the apostles. St. Augustine says, “God will never allow His children to suffer unless it is because He wants to bring something good out of it.” If God permits a crisis in your life, know that He is planning something big.

Every great tree starts with a seed. When you hold the seed in your hand, it takes faith to see the tree. The council never imagined that this group of uneducated fishermen would amount to anything. Philip said to Jesus: “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” (John 6:7). You don’t need two hundred denarii to start something great. Start with whatever is available, no matter how poor or inadequate it may seem. As Jesus prayed over the bread and fish, pray over the little you have and leave the rest for God.

The fact that the high priest and his council dared to face the men who miraculously vanished from prison and even threatened them teaches me that no matter how many battles we fight and win, our enemies will not rest. Satan knows how powerful God is, but he never stops waging battles with God’s children. Temptations never really end.

When the apostles were arrested, God was silent. God allowed the jailers to secure the prison doors because He wanted to prove that no chain, padlock, piece of metal, wood, bronze or any created object could stop the Gospel. Even those who never heard the Gospel heard that the apostles were imprisoned but found in the temple preaching. In other words, throwing the apostles in prison further helped to spread the Gospel.

The secret to practising what these early believers did is refusing to be possessed by what you own. Becoming rich is not a sin, but being possessed by one’s wealth is a sin. Once upon a time, a rich young man asked Jesus about the secret of inheriting eternal life. Out of love for him, Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, after which he could return to follow Jesus. The young man walked away sorrowfully. The believers in today’s first reading did exactly what Jesus asked the young man to do. They did this because their possessions did not possess them.

Anytime we reflect on the earliest Christian communities, as we have them in the Acts of the Apostles, we cannot help but feel sad at the situation in our churches today. The principle at work back then was: “When one member suffers, all suffer with him or her.” Does this principle still operate in our churches today? Do we still gather to pray for ourselves? Or have we become too busy to pray? Do we still have faith in the power of prayer?

When you go for confession, and a priest says, “Your Sins are forgiven,” know that you are enjoying the Divine Mercy of God because the priest has received the Holy Spirit at ordination and has been empowered by Jesus to forgive sins. In the sacrament of penance, you are not confessing to a man; you are confessing to someone reborn through the breath of Jesus, as we read in today’s Gospel passage.

Regardless of the apostles’ weaknesses, Jesus still entrusted them with the mission: “Go into the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation.” You don’t have to be perfect to become God’s instrument of salvation. You only need to be willing to accept correction and to develop a strong daily desire to improve. Do you notice that the apostles did not defend themselves or offer excuses, unlike Saul? They did not pass the blame like Adam and Eve; they accepted their faults, learned their lessons and moved on stronger.

Peter’s failure that night was God’s way of telling Peter that he is called to be a fisher of men (not of fish). It was also God’s way of teaching him about divine providence. Are you experiencing failure in some aspect of your life? It is time to ask: “Am I doing what God wants of me?” If God has given you an assignment, it will be hard to succeed in something else if you abandon God’s call.

The man clung to Peter and John, and everyone ran together into Solomon’s portico. Peter addressed them: “Men of Israel, why do you stare as though we had made him walk by our power or piety?” Never worship God’s ministers; even the devil can heal in the name of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, never assume you are too small (or too sinful) to invoke the name of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be ordained to be a healer.

Although Jesus worked many miracles demonstrating his concern for our material well-being and physical health, He was more concerned about eternal life. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) Like the lame man who asked for alms, we would always be disappointed with the church until we realised that Jesus did not establish the church to replace the government.

In response to their question, Peter mentioned two points: a. “Repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of your sins” and b. “Save yourself from this crooked generation.” What sins are holding me down spiritually? If today we make up our minds to turn a new leaf, God, like the Prodigal Father, is ready to receive us. Today’s Psalm says: “His merciful love fills the earth.” One great saint said, “God is never tired of forgiving us; we are the ones who get tired of asking His forgiveness.” Never assume your sins are too much. Repent today and return to God, your first love. The second aspect of Peter’s recommendation is connected to the first: repenting means we save ourselves from the evils in the world.