FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER APRIL 17, 2020

MASS READINGS:

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 4:1-12

"He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,

which has become the cornerstone."

(Acts 4:11)

REFLECTION:

During this semi voluntary quarantine, many of us were lost initially when we were told that we could no longer receive Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We can celebrate mass on You Tube or we can drive by and spend a few minutes with the Lord in adoration in the confines of our car. We now spend more time praying, watching TV, reading, cooking, eating, planting or Spring cleaning.

Doubts start creeping in when I am asked to do something I am not accustomed. Normally, I enjoy staying within the boundaries I have so successfully built in my lifetime between the rest of the world and me.

It is all about faith. It is all about the Holy Spirit working in us. It is all about walking away from the familiar and stepping out to the unknown. Indeed we are in unchartered waters.

Whatever, whenever and wherever, it is all in God’s divine plan: His destiny for us, known by Him before we were even born. It is up to us to accept His Will. We are scared with the “What if’s of the world”. “What if I misspeak, what if I misunderstood the Lord, what if I don’t trust the Lord?" "Oh, God only knows the many times I have made mistakes: What if I make a mistake this time?”

I am a weak vessel but I need to remember that Abraham, Moses, King David, Peter and all the apostles, who ran on that night of betrayal, were also weak vessels and messed up. Yet, God takes up His weakest and uses them for His purpose.

I don’t like change but, then again I do. Sometimes I need God using His megaphone saying, “ Yes, you, who can’t quite get it right, yes you, I want you to follow my plan”. "Pick up your belongings and venture out for me." God wants us to be like Peter and the disciples as we read in the Acts of the Apostles. It is all about action.

God is the architect and the builder and has laid out the foundation, has started building up His Kingdom: He is the cornerstone. Let's go out now and spread the good news of this Easter!! Pray, call your neighbor, buy groceries for those who can't go out, clean your homes and give away the excesses of our lives, do a kind deed, encourage your priests to set them on fire for Jesus and His Church, the Body and Bride of Christ, and give gratitude daily. Then when all is okay, we can venture out more and restart our PAPA mission, "Go and make disciples of all nations; behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28: 18, 20)

God Bless You