May the Lord grant you grace and peace in the Risen Lore. It is 19th April 2023. We reflect on Acts 5:17-26; and John 3:16-21.
Are you liberated or lacerated?
When we work for the Lord, God sends God’s angels to set us free from all that people put us through. No prison can hold God’s freedom and goodwill. Good News unlocks the gates of all that is closed. No human ideology, philosophy or systems can ignore theology. The presence of God and God’s love assures for all those who are willing to work without counting the cost.
The first reading explains how God sent God’s angels to set the Apostles free to proclaim the Good News. “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” (Acts.5:18). No human power or authority could intercept, interrupt or intervene the presence and the power of the Word of God. God protects God’s interests.
The responsorial Psalm praises, “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” (Ps.33:6).
The Gospel highlights the purpose of the mission of Jesus on earth. Easter is all about experiencing the light of Christ and sharing the same with the rest of the world. God sent His Only Son to offer as the taste of God’s love for humanity. Jesus continues to bless us and in turn we are to bless the others to come closer to the light of the world. We cannot contradict ourselves and lead others to light when we ourselves are living in darkness. No one can shine brightly without the light of Christ. Somehow our longing is towards the darkness. “But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (Jn.3:21).
God is right from the beginning interested in freeing us from the bondage of sin and shame. God does not tolerate or bear to see a human in an abject condition as God does not want to be undermined or overlooked when we live in abundance. God gave us wealth so that we could be happy but in reality and at times our wealth made us to be far from God and neighbours.
Once we are freed, we need to live a life of freedom and liberation and leading others to breathe the same. At times, due to our closedmindedness, we hurt, wound, and even wish to condemn the others so maliciously using our religions as shields. We who are claiming to be perfect, pure and the better-breed even now during these hard times of humanity wish to imprison others. No religion can teach or justify its members who promote hatred, division and abuse on the vulnerable members of the community.
People who love lies and darkness promote the unseen flames that tries to choke and silence the voices of the marginalized, the vulnerable, and the minorities. But the people of light cannot be hidden by the shadows of the mighty and the powerful. People who live in light and follow the path of light are guaranteed to continue enjoying the eternal light after their life here on earth.
The blanket of fear, anxiety, stress, sickness over the humanity cannot imprison the inner freedom and obtained liberation. With faith in God and light in our life we can get through all that we go through as a challenge at this point of time in our life. Let us not continue to fret and fear when the Risen Lord, the light of our existence is near. May you have a good day. God bless you.