Daily Reflection for Monday, April 26, 2021
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Monday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042621.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Acts 11: 1-18
Responsorial: Psalm 42: 2-3; 43: 3,4
Gospel: John 10: 1-10
Our reflection on Monday’s readings:
Send your light and your fidelity, that they may be my guide; Psalm 43: 3
I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. John 10: 9-10.
In today’s reading from Acts 11, the early Christians hear St. Peter speak of his vision from God, telling him that the Gentiles can also be saved. They proclaim: “God has then given life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” This may have been shocking to those Jewish people who had come to know, love, and believe Jesus, the Jewish teacher who had said “whoever enters through me will be saved”. John 10: 9. Whoever. Anyone. Not just those who ate the correct foods or followed other orthodox customs.
Yet soon the early Christians accepted this new way, and all their sisters and brothers who wanted to share in the peace and love of Jesus likely felt the same way, perhaps thinking, “The more the merrier. The Jesus we know is inclusive, not exclusive. The God of love, whom we now know better because we have experienced the love and the example of Jesus, is love for all.”
And the idea of even thinking about excluding Gentiles, soon became so out of date and passé.
God had sent light and fidelity, and the people began to see the truth and the light. They were “enlightened”.
Similarly we become enlightened. In this 21st century, we find it hard to imagine legal segregation and apartheid. Yet they were accepted. At first, anti-apartheid and civil rights movements were shocking. People in wheelchairs demanding access to parking stalls, restaurants, and stores were shocking. Women voting was shocking. Now a woman is Vice-President. Rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity remain shocking to some but are gaining acceptance.
We are becoming more enlightened. We’re learning to accept God’s light and fidelity, that all are created equal in the image and likeness of God and that all may have life and have it more abundantly.
Peace and blessings,
Al Mytty