St. Catherine of Siena
Acts 4: 32-37
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations
True Easter Peace
Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other; that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. —Mother Teresa
Today, we hear of the Apostles’ and early Christian community’s way of proceeding. They were of one heart and mind, they held nothing in common, and no one was needy among them. They had life and love, and it was shared. We do not share in this same kind of community today.
It brings me no peace to know that people go hungry each night, no certainty of food arriving when they awake. It brings me no peace to know that people sleep on the streets each night, no chance that there will be a home available when they awake. It brings me no peace to know that men and women sit in cells alone each night, with no hope of a visitor when they awake.
What do you need? Is it so hard to imagine that every other person on earth needs those same things? Invite the resurrected Christ into your heart, ask him for the strength and generosity to look bravely into the eyes of the other, the forgotten ones, and say, “Just like me, they want to be happy. They don’t want to suffer.” And then, do something more. As Anthony De Mello says, “Peace is only found in yes.”
—Eric Immel, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic of the Wisconsin Province is studying philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
We are one, after all, you and I. Together we suffer, together exist, and forever will recreate each other.”
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.