Homily
for the
2d
Sunday of Easter
April
11, 2021
Acts
4: 32-35
Ursulines,
Willow Dr., New Rochelle, N.Y.
“With
great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts
4: 33).
One commentator on today’s liturgical texts poses this question:
How does the resurrection make a difference in my life? Clearly, the readings and the liturgy suggest that the resurrection, while a doctrine and a creedal backbone of the church, is not only about life after death, it is about a way of living in the world because God has changed all things in Christ: we are living in a resurrected time, where Christ is truly present and living in our midst.*
Acts
records that the apostles were changed into courageous preachers of the
resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and God’s gift of life. The rest of the disciples practiced a
dramatic communal sharing of goods (4:44-45) and regular prayer in the Temple
and in their homes (2:46).
Today’s
believers are called to praise God in prayer, to evangelize our society, and to
“love the children of God” (1 John 5:2).
Altho our circumstances are obviously very different from those of
1st-century Jerusalem, we still have the power to bear witness to the
resurrection.
We pray
privately and publicly, praising God for what he does for us and for the whole
world thru Christ. In the words of the
Collect, we’ve been washed in the baptismal font, reborn in the Spirit, and
redeemed by the blood of God’s Son.
Therefore we sing “Alleluia” to the Holy Trinity among ourselves and
before the world. We pray for the world,
that every woman and man may share in this rebirth and redemption.
We’re all
evangelizers, preachers of the Good News.
We’re ready to speak to one another, to our families, to our past
pupils, to others in our circle of the great things that God is doing in
Christ. One need not be an official
preacher to be a convincing, effective teacher and to share the peace that
Christ bestows on his followers (cf. John 20:20).
The 1st
way in which we preach Christ’s Good News is by keeping his commandments,
especially by loving one another generously, compassionately,
consistently. We religious already profess
to do what the 1st believers did: “no
one claimed any of his possessions was his own” (Acts 4:32). It’s a greater challenge to share ourselves
with our sisters and brothers day in and day out by our patience, helpfulness,
and forgiveness—the sign that Christ lives among us, that his resurrection
makes an effective difference in our lives.
*Guerric DeBona, OSB, Between the Ambo
and the Altar, Year B (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2014, pp. 116-117.
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