A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 17:15, 22-18:1
After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens,they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothyto join him as soon as possible.Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:“You Athenians, I see that in every respectyou are very religious.For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.The God who made the world and all that is in it,the Lord of heaven and earth,does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.He made from one the whole human raceto dwell on the entire surface of the earth,and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,so that people might seek God,even perhaps grope for him and find him,though indeed he is not far from any one of us.For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’as even some of your poets have said,‘For we too are his offspring.’Since therefore we are the offspring of God,we ought not to think that the divinity is like an imagefashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.God has overlooked the times of ignorance,but now he demands that all people everywhere repentbecause he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the worldwith justice’ through a man he has appointed,and he has provided confirmation for allby raising him from the dead.”When they heard about resurrection of the dead,some began to scoff, but others said,“We should like to hear you on this some other time.”And so Paul left them.But some did join him, and became believers.Among them were Dionysius,a member of the Court of the Areopagus,a woman named Damaris, and others with them.After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.
REFLECTION
"God has overlooked the times of ignorance,but now he demands that all people everywhere repentbecause he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the worldwith justice’ through a man he has appointed,and he has provided confirmation for allby raising him from the dead.”
Our deliberate acts belong to us, making us the sole responsible party for all we do. Sometimes our responsibility for actions can be nullified by ignorance, duress, fear or psychological or social factors. But we are not allowed to say or do anything just because we have the freedom to do it or its expedient for our cause or our very lives. The human heart can justify our deplorable or poor behavior; however, the question then is, is ignorance or fear an excuse to do wrong? Can we enjoy life purely for the sake of our satisfaction and because we have the freedom to obtain what we want? Moral law helps us choose between good or bad acts.*
In the first century Saints Nereus and Achilleus were royal guards for the Emperor Trajan. They carried out the cruel orders of the tyrant, persecuting the Christians, mainly out of fear for their lives. They listened to St Peter and were baptized by him. Their miracle of faith had them toss their swords and shields and leave the army. Eventually they were hunted down and beheaded for not obeying the Emperor. This miracle of faith, this change of heart, helped them witness to the Word of God.
In 1962 Adolf Eichman, the architect of the Nazi holocaust, wrote a plea for his life as he excused himself as being a low level officer obeying his superiors. This Nuremburg defense was not accepted.
In 2021, the federal government through HHS is trying to mandate hospital personnel and catholic hospitals to perform sex reassignment surgeries on minors, and to not discriminate if a person is pregnant if they want an abortion.
No one can be ignorant of the moral law which is written in our conscience. And it is with this conscience that we must act, and upon which we will be judged, for it is through our conscience that we are ‘alone with God'.
So when do we know when obedience is good? In the end we must obey the law of God and not man.
Are we up to the task of defending God's laws to the extent of laying down our lives?
Great courage is needed. Our many Catholic priests are out locally and in many foreign countries, doing just that: Spreading the Word of God and standing up for what is right. Please join in praying the PAPA Prayer for Priest.
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