Homily: 4th Week of Easter - Saturday - ""the disciples could not but be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit"

Earlier in the Easter Season we heard how Peter and the Apostles had been arrested and imprisoned and were taken before the Sanhedrin, the jewish Supreme court, and were threatened that they best stop preaching in Jesus’ name.  Refusing the order to stop preaching, the Apostles were flogged.  Bleeding and wounded after having been whipped and humiliated, the acts of the Apostles, says that they left the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus.

Now, several chapters later, Paul and Barnabas are preaching to the Gentiles, but once again the powers of darkness conspire to silence the preaching of the Gospel, and the two are driven out of town, yet we hear how "the disciples could not but be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit." 

Are these guys crazy?  The things that would normally make us think ourselves as failures, they saw as opportunities for rejoicing.  Bloody and beaten, they rejoice, driven out of town, they rejoice.

Would you or I be rejoicing after that?  We find it hard enough to put up with traffic on broadview Rd!

When our love for Christ is mature, we are glad to suffer for his sake.  Immature love, is not willing to persevere, it’s not willing to be generous, it doesn’t look to the sufferings or needs of others out of fear that it might be asked to go beyond its comfort zone.  Pope Benedict once wrote how the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit must continually break down the barriers that we men and women continue to build between us; that, though we continually close our doors because we want to feel secure and do not want to be disturbed by others and by God, the grace of the cross alone is able to transform the world and build peace.

These apostles were willing to suffer for Jesus because of their deep, vibrant love of him and their conviction that the Gospel message must be lived and preached, even when, especially when it requires something of us.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do”  Jesus says in the Gospel.  He particularly speaks here of his ability to reconcile souls to his Father through the embrace of the cross.

When we, with Christ, embrace the Cross, new souls will find life, miracles will be performed, disciples will be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.