Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells us “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” He also tells us “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” If we want to know what it looks like to live by these two sayings of Jesus, we see a perfect example in the first reading for today. In the first reading Paul is stoned and left for dead. He survives, however, and his friends help him back into the city, and when he has recovered enough, he leaves with them for other cities. In the following paragraph, we are told that when Paul is able, they return to Lystra and then to the cities of Iconium and Antioch, preaching the Gospel in all three cities. What today’s reading does not tell us, but which we can figure out if we look at the verses that come before today’s reading from Acts, is that Lystra is the city in which Paul was stoned. So when Paul has recovered enough, he returns to the city and the people who tried to kill him and continues to preach to them. That is what it looks like live with Christ’s peace in your heart, and to be unafraid because you know the Lord is with you.

There are many other such examples throughout church history. One such example is Bl. Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma. He was sent by his diocese as a missionary to Guatemala during the civil war in that country. He learned that his name was on a hit list and left Guatemala for a time. However, he chose to return to the country because he did not want to abandon his flock. He was murdered in 1981, and beatified as a martyr in 2017.

We don’t need to be facing death in order to live by Paul and Bl. Stanley’s example. We all will at some point in our lives face trials that test our resilience, and our trust in God, but with Jesus’ words in our ears and hearts and following the example of these two saints, we also can rise to the occasion, knowing that Christ is with us.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB