Thursday, II Easter
(Acts 5)
Although he may not have said it, we can easily imagine Cho Seung-Hui using Peter’s defense in the first reading today. Deranged people have often asserted, “We must obey God rather than men,” to warrant ghastly activities. Of course, God never commands killing innocent people or any other immoral activity.
Furthermore, any “private revelation” must be scrutinized with utmost care for legitimacy. Claiming God’s direction for weird behavior -- as Jim Jones and Osama bin Laden have done -- makes religion increasingly suspect. Despite the overwhelmingly positive contribution religion has made to civilization, many today are ready to dismiss it as detrimental to human well-being.
St. Joan of Arc claimed to have revelations from God through the saints. Some thought that she too might be deranged and her revelations folly. She, however, provided a test that would legitimate what God had told her. When she was asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: “If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.” Such humility – and not the illusion of grandeur and power – indicates the true presence of God.
