Homily: Easter Tuesday - Preaching from the heart

Throughout the Easter season we read from the Acts of the Apostles.  Today’s reading immediately follows yesterday’s:  50 Days after Easter, Saint Peter emerged from the upper room with the other Apostles, and filled with the Holy Spirit, began to preach.

So powerful was this sermon, that St. Luke tells us today, “it cut the audience to the heart.”  Those are the best homilies aren’t they?  They were so moved by Peter’s proclamation of the resurrection that they turned to him and asked, “what should we do?”  Peter answered, “repent and be baptized”.  And about 3000 people were baptized right then and there.

His proclamation “cut the audience to the heart.”  He convicted them.  He led them from sorrow for their sins, to belief in Jesus Christ crucified, and faith in his Resurrection. 

Peter isn’t just the model for priests whose primary ministry is preaching the Gospel.  He is the model for all of us, every Christian.

Recent Popes have spoken of the ‘new evangelization’ in which all Christian are called upon to work for the reawakening of the faith in those parts of the world where Christianity is in decline.  Each of us is called to be an evangelist.

Fr. Robert Barron has offered several qualities of the New Evangelist.

He said the New Evangelist must first be in love with Jesus Christ.  If we are to convince people that they are to love him more than all of those cultural distractions out there, our own love for him must be a fire.

We must know our story, the story of our salvation history and our great tradition.  We should attend Bible Studies and Adult Education opportunities whenever we have the chance so that we can give fuller and clearer reasons for the faith.

We must have a missionary heart.  The Catholic Church is hemorrhaging members to Protestantism and Agnosticism.  Three quarters of Catholics don’t attend Mass.  So we must hunger to bring them back into active relationship with Christ.

It is a challenging time to be a Catholic, yet, the Lord blesses us with so many opportunities to grow in our faith and to spread that faith.  We are each called to share what has been handed on to us.  May we be faithful to this privileged call to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls.