Lectionary: 42
Peter proceeded to speak and said:
“You know what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power....
The world might not want to hear the Good News of Easter, but they have the right to hear it; and we have an obligation to announce it.
You might think people who don't want to know their rights should not have them; or maybe they don't really have them because they don't know about them. Perhaps they've never heard of them. But rights are funny things.
Stories are told and movies are made about the search for lost heirs who have inherited a fortune. We take it for granted that African American slaves were freed by Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation and should have been freed on January 1, 1863. But thousands of men and women, freed by the proclamation, were never told about it until June 19, 1866 -- more than three years later. So we should not be surprised that billions of people have yet to hear the Good News which we must announce to them. They have every right to know; and to know just how enormously important the Gospel is for them.
Perhaps some Texas slaves were told in 1865 that the rumors of Emancipation were not true; and they saw no evidence of their being true. So, to be on the safe side of their master's good will, they ask nothing more about it. It didn't really matter until that first Juneteenth Day, when they celebrated.
And we know that millions of Americans who know all about their rights neglect their right to vote for their local officials and state representatives. They might bestir themselves to vote every four years, for the President of the United States, after months of intense harassment from every news source. But their quadrennial votes mean almost nothing because of the electoral college.
There is great tragedy when people lose their rights because they never used them; and perhaps never know about them. The first clause of the first amendment insists upon our American freedom to worship as we choose, but I fear we might lose that right if too few people exercise it. The history of the Church is very familiar with governments and nations trying to suppress and persecute our faith out of existence. It could happen here because too few people actually worship God. And it might happen especially to that Church which does not accept so many false doctrines of our nation. Kings and tyrants have always wanted their subjects to worship the god they worshipped. It gives them better control! And if our governors worship no god, that’s what they want for us. We’ll be managed into oblivion by bureaucracies, regulations, and standard operating procedures.
As Christians and Catholics we remember the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord, and have a deep conviction about what these mysterious events meant at the time, and still mean today. We know the facts of God's Kingdom and his Saving Deeds, and they impel us to speak, even to people who don't want to be reminded. They have a right to hear, and we have the right to speak of, and celebrate, our faith. If they wish us to go away, we might do that for a while, as the Hebrews left their slavery in Egypt. But we won't go far because we were sent here, we belong here, and we are glad to be here, a free people in a nation of captive consumers.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.