Sharing can be hard

Prayer for the Day

Help me, Jesus, never to be discouraged but to be strong in faith and in love. I trust that you have overcome the world and that I can overcome in you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the power of your love!

 Reflection

 It can be difficult to share the Word of God with strangers. People can be reluctant to accepting a foreign faith or belief. Sometimes they are down right hostile towards anyone trying to alter their reality. It may be because a person's faith life is so essential to who they are as an individual, but whatever the reasoning Paul and Barnabas weren’t afraid to share God’s love. (Acts 13:44-52)

They were great missionaries for the early church and won far more souls than I could ever hope to. The funny thing is that the hostility they met didn’t come from the Gentiles, but the Jews. Paul and Barnabas were preaching for the salvation of all, not just the Jews, who believed they were the chosen people of God. The Jews who heard the words of these great disciples of Christ grew jealous, as if there wasn’t enough salvation to go around. But Paul and Barnabas did as Jesus had commanded them, shaking the dust from their feet in protest and moving on.

The jealousy of the Jews in this story is horrible, but I’m sure we’ve all seen a hint of the same selfish thoughts in ourselves. I know I have struggled with this in my heart. I begin to get prideful and arrogant in my faith, thinking God is going to bless me more for my righteous deeds and service to Him. I begin to look more like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time than his faithful disciple. This is something I have to be very vigilant in guarding against, as Christ has called me—actually, all of us—to move away from our self-centeredness to become others-centered. We can also learn something from how Paul and Barnabas react in this situation. Rather than getting disgruntled and condemning these people, they simple walk away. We have all met hostility for our faith and beliefs at one time or another. In those instances of evangelism where we find hardness in others' hearts, it sometimes is enough to just walk the other way. Knowing that you have planted seeds of faith in them, no matter how rocky the soil, your persecution and suffering can be united with Christ's on the cross.

Jesus speaks of His perfect unity with God the Father in John 14:7-14.  The communion within the Holy Trinity is so great that those blessed to see Jesus in the flesh are truly seeing God the Father. This is a hard reality to grasp, a great mystery of our faith. The amazing part is that we are offered the same encounter Jesus’ disciples experienced every single day. It is overwhelming to think of the countless blessings each of us experience in our daily lives. However, one of the greatest blessings given to each and every one of us is the true presence of our Lord in the Eucharist. In gazing upon the precious Body and Blood of Christ in Mass we are in communion with Jesus and God the Father in the same way His disciples were thousands of years ago. And our good Lord does not stop there; He allows us to receive Him that our stony, jealous hearts can be made more like His perfect heart. By this heavenly food our souls are nourished so that we may become more like our Creator and Savior. Jesus encourages us, promising that we will do great things with our faith; all we need to do is believe in Him.
What is our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ? Do we sometimes forget? Are we navel-gazing as the world continues in darkness? When we bring the light of Christ to the nations, we fulfill our calling. When we point people to Jesus, we point people to God. Blessed John Paul II said it well in words meant for us but that surely also apply to our mission to our neighbor: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.”