Thursday of the Octave of Easter
(Acts 3:11-26; Luke 24:35-48)
During the years of Communist rule in Russia the peasants
were controlled by local commandants. Once
the commandant of a village gathered the people for a lecture on the truth of
atheism and the benefits of Communism.
After speaking for an hour or so, the commandant gave the parish priest
an opportunity to say something in response.
He told the priest that he might speak no more than five minutes. The priest said that he wouldn’t need so much
time. Standing before the people, the
priest said, “The Lord is risen.” The people responded in unison, “Yes, he is
truly risen!” The priest sat down after making a more than satisfactory rebuttal
to the commandant.
In today’s first reading Peter speaks in a similar vein to the
people who witnessed the cure of the paralytic.
He says that the man was not healed by any inherent power of his but
through invoking Jesus’ name. He then
boldly accuses the people of delivering Jesus for execution. But, he says, they may be forgiven the sin if
they too invoke Jesus’ name.
The Lord is waiting for us to call on his name in
faith. He will come to our aid when we
are in need. Even more importantly, the
invocation of his name in faith will prepare us for eternal life.
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