Faith comes to action in today’s first reading. The apostles are men of fire, and they would have to be. Paul is near-death, people are scared and confused. Prayer and fasting help win people over to Christ. Maybe today’s reading applies quite well to the world today.
There are many worries that can occupy our day. There are many reasons for confusion and disagreement. The call of a Christian today seems to be, “How can you bring people closer to Christ?” How can you bring those around you from worry to worship, from confusion to Christ? What would help today? Is it prayer and fasting, or something else? What are you doing to bring others closer to Christ? What could you do to bring others closer to Christ? What will you do to bring others closer to Christ? As a Christian, you share in a missionary call. How can you begin to fulfill it?
—Patrick Hyland, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic of the Chicago-Detroit province, is studying philosophy at St. Louis University. He lives at the Bellarmine House of Studies.