Tuesday | April 30, 2024
Acts 14:22
It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.
St. Pius V
Move On
If you want an idea of how the early Church survived and grew, look no further than today’s reading from Acts. Put bluntly, here we discover a church on the move. The disciples’ method was simple: proclaim, pray, sail, repeat. Even Paul, after being stoned and thought to be dead, “got up and entered the city” (v. 20) and the very next day moved on to this next stop.
No matter what, the first Christians kept going.
There’s simple wisdom for us here and now. How often do we feel discouraged? Defeated? Do we feel our faith drying up? Do we think the world is against us? When we feel beaten down or broken, often the best thing to do is to take a page from Paul.
Defy expectations. Get back up. Keep going. Don’t stop.
But how? “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel (John 14:27).
That was what helped fuel the first Christians.
It can still keep us moving today.
- Deacon Greg Kandra
Acts 14:19-28 • Psalm 145:10-13, 21 • John 14:27-31a
