Tuesday, May 12, 2015



Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)

A hospital patient had the fortune of being placed side by side with a charismatic priest.  The man was encouraged to speak about his life.  In the process, he discovered how God was directing him to make much needed changes.  Similarly, the jailer in today’s first reading is blessed to have had Paul and Silas for captives the night the earthquake shook the prison doors open.

The jailer then prepares to kill himself. It may be that he feels disgraced in losing prisoners.  It is also possible that he recognizes that the days of jailers from whom prisoners escape are numbered.  In any case Paul saves the sensitive man from suicide.  The act of graciousness impresses the man so much that he accepts Paul and Silas’ faith as well as their presence in his home.

Every once in a while we too meet a truly holy person.  He or she is not necessarily a priest or a sister; nevertheless, the holy one speaks about God with both simplicity and conviction.  We do well to heed what is said and to thank God for the sign of His presence.