PROCLAMATION OF THE NEW HEAVENLY LIFE

WEDNESDAY, Second Week of Eastertide

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP

Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21

Proclamation of the new Heavenly Life

A reluctance to give up our material goods for Christian spiritual goods, as we noted yesterday, comes from a shallow or lack of understanding of the values of the spiritual goods. The misconception or ignorance of the Christian spiritual goods also causes a lack of enthusiasm to proclaim the Good News. The contributions the early Church gathered around the apostles made of their physical properties showed their conviction in the Gospel they received from the apostles about the kingdom of heaven ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their willingness to support those proclaiming the Gospel was part of their effort to live the Gospel message. A deep understanding of the Gospel results from good reception and communion with the Holy Spirit. One who drinks deeply of the Spirit of God attains a deep conviction of the heavenly message and has a deeper grasp of our communion with the living God. A good understanding of the love the Father has lavished on us in sending us his beloved Son evokes a richer response of love from a Christian soul. “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.” Thus, the reception of heavenly life draws us into God’s love and makes us share his desire to save souls.

The growth of this love and desire for the salvation of others depends on individual willingness. Again, the willingness of a Christian soul is a measure of his understanding of the heavenly or spiritual Commonwealth. A reluctance to follow God’s example of love and desire for the salvation of souls, commanded by Jesus, attracts condemnation because we are refusing to believe God’s act of love for our salvation. “No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.” Given that we may lack a good grasp of the Gospel message at the beginning of our spiritual life, we should not remain complacent in our spiritual growth year after year, listening to the story of God’s love for us. We are to practice what we have heard; even a practice of prayer for a year, will yield amazing results in our life in spirit. The new converts to Christianity immediately invested in their belief when they understood the Gospel message in yesterday’s first reading. They contributed to the common good from what they had, while the apostles continued the proclamation of the Gospel. We are to give all we can to support the Church’s life and mission of preaching. Both those who support and those who proclaim share the same reward. Not everyone is called to the apostolic duty of proclamation of the Gospel, but we are all called to the same heavenly life as our reward. “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.” The mandate to preach the Gospel is so crucial that imprisonment could not deter the apostles from this duty. It is the will of God the Father that all who partake of this new heavenly life must share and help spread it.

Let us pray:  Grant us, Lord, the grace to enter deeply into the mysteries of our heavenly life and eagerly help to spread it everywhere by words and actions. 

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