Tuesday of the
Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts 14:19-28; John 14:27-31a)
Abraham Lincoln steered the United States through its
most perilous moment. He is often
considered strong as a bull and clear-sighted as an eagle. In truth he suffered from severe depression
that made him consider suicide. But he
refused to allow himself that way out.
He rebounded from his melancholy to think himself through personal
difficulties and to give due attention to the great challenge of his time. In the first reading today we see Paul
responding to a crisis with similar resiliency.
Paul deeply wants his fellow Jews to believe in
Jesus. He knows that they will find
salvation only through him. He preaches
Jesus’ lordship in the synagogues of Asia Minor, but the assemblies continually
reject his message. In today’s reading
from Acts he is beaten and left for dead by the Jews in the town of Lystra. But Paul rises from the setback to redirect
his message. If he cannot convince the
Jews of Jesus, he surmises that the pagans may heed him. Then, he will reason later, the Jews might
convert from a sense of missing out on something glorious.
We too may feel defeated at times. Perhaps our friends don’t believe in Jesus or
are at best lukewarm about their faith.
Still to us Jesus not only is our destiny but our joy in attaining
it. We must not lose heart. Rather we can find in Jesus the wisdom and strength
to overcome the indifference of friends.
Also, we will meet others with similar experiences and convictions as
ours to support us along the way.
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