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3<\/strong>rd<\/strong><\/sup> Sunday of Easter \u2013 23\/4\/23<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The question I have for all us of today is this \u2013 how are you and I being witnesses to the resurrected Christ?\u00a0 Peter gives us a great witness in our first reading today.\u00a0 After imprisonment, flogging, conspiring to stone anyone who called themselves Christian \u2013 Peter stands before Israel and declares to them that in their insecurity, their fear, their jealousy \u2013 they had Jesus crucified.\u00a0 Jesus lived in a certain time in history, amongst a certain culture.\u00a0 He was a Jewish man who grew up observing the mosaic law.\u00a0 Later in life he would proclaim that he was the fulfilment of the law and that nobody would get to the Father except through him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The message that\nJesus Christ gives us needs to be proclaimed by our manner of lives \u2013 to our\nfamily and friends. How many of us shy\naway from this message due to fear of persecution, or being called\njudgemental? The response is always the\nsame \u2013 we are misunderstood, we are called bigots, we are called\njudgemental. The early Christians didn\u2019t\ncare about name calling \u2013 rather they considered it a blessing to be persecuted\nfor the name of Jesus. As a matter of\nfact, Jesus says you are blessed when you are persecuted for his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question to\nmost people is why bother when our family and friends are perfectly happy\nliving their own lives, paving their own paths, finding themselves in all sorts\nof other different philosophies in life? \nThe answer is because Jesus died for not only you and I that we might believe\nin him, but also those who do not believe in him or have fallen away from\nhim. That is why Peter proclaims the\nname Jesus Christ to all the Jewish people \u2013 this isn\u2019t rude or arrogant, it is\nan act of love. This very act of love is\nwhat we are called to do each and every day by virtue of our baptism. This is why on Good Friday \u2013 the church\nsolemnly intercedes for the Church, and those who do not believe in him, YES\nincluding the Jewish people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This prayer is a\nbeautiful one and expresses the Church\u2019s desire that all come into a loving relationship\nwith Christ. It reads \u2013 \u201cLet us pray for\nthe Jewish people, to whom the Lord our God spoke first that he may grant them\nto advance in love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty ever living God, who bestowed your\npromises on Abraham and his descendants, graciously hear the prayers of your\nChurch, that the people you first made your own may attain the fullness of\nredemption.\u201d I pray that prayer today so\nthat it may be a reminder of the zeal Peter showed to the early Jewish communities,\nso that it may be a reminder of the men and women who have gone before us\nproclaiming the name of Jesus Christ as saviour of the world. They shed their blood for his name, so that\nyou and I could live and practice faithfully in the Church Jesus began \u2013 the\none holy catholic and apostolic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now the\nquestion becomes, what is the benefit of all of this? The answer is in todays gospel \u2013 in a very\nsimple yet easily overseen detail \u2013 after their encounter with the risen Jesus\nthe two disciples say \u201cdid not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on\nthe road and explain the scriptures to us?\u201d \nThis is what happens when you come into a relationship with Christ \u2013\nyour heart burns with desire to know more, to love more, to forgive more, to grow\nin relationship with Jesus. This process\nof growing is only made possible by the openness of your heart and confidence\nin the risen Christ. It is why we need\nto be ambassadors for Christ in our families, our friendship circles, our\nschools, universities, workplaces. \nEverything these days is allowed to be promoted \u2013 sexual deviancy,\nassisted suicide, rights that oppress and kill the innocent \u2013 but when it comes\nto Christianity we must be quiet, we must retreat into our own\ncommunities. Where has that gotten us \u2013\nit has become even worse because now in our own communities we cant talk about\nauthentic catholic teaching or what our mission is \u2013 to evangelise the world \u2013\nto save souls and remind people that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pray that\nthrough this good news of the resurrection you and I might rediscover this zeal\nand passion for the Lord our God, that we might lovingly and compassionately be\neffective evangelisers in the world \u2013 starting in our own homes. If you don\u2019t know where to begin, it always\nstarts with the man\/woman in the mirror. \nRemember, a lot of struggles in life become bearable with Jesus in our\nlives, and we should be consoled by the resurrection knowing that whatever we\nare going through it is always temporary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 3rd Sunday of Easter \u2013 23\/4\/23 The question I have for all us of today is this \u2013 how are you and I being witnesses to the resurrected Christ?\u00a0 Peter… <\/p>\n