Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
If you ever needed a “get out of jail free card,” look no further than today’s first reading. The Apostles were apprehended and thrown into the public jail at the order of the high priest and Temple authorities. Prison life is hard today. I can only imagine how bad prisons were in the time of the Apostles. This trial did not perturb the Apostles or their companions. They remained faithful to the Gospel and kept preaching the truth. An angel let them out of prison that night. They went back to the Temple and continued to teach in the name of Jesus. They understood that popular quotation of John’s Gospel, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son…” (John 3:16) They lived that truth in everything they did. Eventually, the Sanhedrin comes to find the prison empty. They are at a loss as to how to defeat the Apostles’ mission. They had not accepted the light of Christ.
The term “light of Christ” or “lumen Christi” is said three times during the Easter Vigil, as the congregation comes back into the Church by candlelight. This beautiful part of the Vigil represents the choice we all have; to accept the light of Christ or not. John’s Gospel speaks of those who rejected the light in order to remain in darkness. There are those who have not accepted the light but still can, like those in prison. The Apostles were innocent when they were imprisoned. This doesn’t deny the fact that even the guilty in prison can return to Jesus’ light.
No one is beyond redemption in God’s plan. Along with John 3:16, we can also remember John 3:21, “Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”
Reflection Question: Can you think of someone who seems to have rejected the light of Christ? Pray for them to receive that light, and for your heart to be open to that light as well.
Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB
Posted in Article for Easter, Daily Reflections