We are in the seventh day of the eight day Octave of Easter.
This octave sets the tone for fifty days of celebration, which St. Athanasius
called a "fifty-day Sunday."
One of the great themes of these fifty days is proclamation.
It is the Church’s task to celebrate and proclaim Easter: to
proclaim Christ’s victory, to spread his Gospel to the ends of the earth. Though, it is the task of the Church to
proclaim Easter, it seems it is the task of the powers of darkness in the world
to stop the Easter message from being proclaimed. As we heard in the Acts of the Apostles,
Peter and John were warned by the Sanhedrin to stop teaching in Jesus’ name.
Can you imagine being so bold of a proclaimer of the Gospels,
that the powers-that-be issue edicts against you?
Our society attempts to pressure us not to teach in the name
of Jesus—it seeks to suppress the witness of the Church.
But, we mustn’t allow anything to hinder us in this mission,
especially not fear of suffering, rejection, or persecution. For, we heard in the Gospel, Jesus himself
rebuked his followers for their stubbornness and hardness of heart for not
doing their job. When he said, go and
proclaim, he meant it.
In recent years, following the call of Pope John Paul II,
Pope Benedict, and now Pope Francis, there Church is mobilizing for the new
evangelization, bringing the Gospel anew not only to mission lands but to the
secularized post-Christian cultures of the West. Blessed John Paul encouraged Christians to
allow themselves to be filled with the ardor of apostolic preaching.
It seems like an impossible task, but we see in the Acts of
the Apostles, how these early witnesses change the world. Despite those impossible odds, despite the
powers of darkness that inspire to suppress the truth, despite the hardships,
these ordinary people change the world. For
the Risen Lord is with us, just as he was with the Apostles.
May we be found faithful in this call to spread the Gospel,
and may we know the constant accompaniment of the Lord as we preaching and
teach in his name, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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