Homily for Friday of the 4th Week of Easter
Over the last couple of days in our readings from the Acts of the Apostles, we have seen Paul going around Antioch preaching in the synagogues. What he has been doing has actually reminded me of what Jesus did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Paul is making the connections between the psalms, the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus. He is showing those who are listening to him how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures. As a result of that, he is bringing people to recognize just who Jesus was and what He accomplished for, not just the Jews, but for all of humanity. What this does is it gives us a model for evangelization, it gives us the example of what we are to do when we seek to bring others to an encounter with Jesus.
All of us are called to be messengers. All of us are called to go out and to bring the Good News, the Gospel to those we meet. But in order to do that, we must first know who Jesus is…not just in our hearts. Is that the most important part of a personal relationship with Jesus? Yes! Absolutely. But it’s only one aspect of what we need in order to evangelize. We also have to be able to tell others about Jesus and who He is as the fulfillment of the Scriptures – that requires a certain knowledge of Sacred Scripture.
I know we as Catholics often get a bad rap for not reading our Bibles. While that’s not necessarily true, let’s start showing people how much we do know! For the rest of this year, let’s commit to reading more Scripture, doing Bible studies, seeking to learn more about what Word of God has to teach us about Jesus. Because in doing that, not only will it foster a deeper relationship with the Lord in our own hearts, but it will help us go out and share who Jesus is more effectively with others. It will help us to make the hearts of others burn; it will help us bring others to an encounter with the Risen Lord.
Photo: Aaron Burden; used under the Unsplash license.
Fr. Tom Pringle 