Season of Joy

Today's Season of Joy reflection on Acts 5 verses 27-32, 40b-41 is by Benjamin Jacoby. Benjamin is a Miami University Junior originally from Zanesville, Ohio. He currently studies Marketing and Emerging Technology Business and Design, but his true passion is the Catholic Redhawk campus ministry, where he leads the marketing team. He enjoys spending time outdoors. Today's first reading from The Acts of the Apostles happens to contain a verse that I've always felt to be one of the most inspirational, yet intimidating, passages in the Bible. "So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name." I remember reading my Bible in prayer one day—flipping through Acts and reading that line—and being incredibly humbled. The Apostles had just been examined by the same court that had had Jesus crucified shortly before, and they're eventually released and able to see another day. Rather than go forth and thank God for sparing them from death or torture, they rejoiced in the dishonor that they had received. The same people that hid when Jesus suffered and died, now celebrated that the persecution he warned that they would face was beginning to take place. How can these men have that courage, knowing full well their mission is going to continue, and the dishonor that they suffer would undoubtedly get worse? As I read about the Apostles spreading the teachings of Christ to a society that despised him, I was reminded of my experience trying to live witness to Christ on a college campus. I'm in my junior year at a college commonly regarded as one of America's biggest party schools. Trying to live a well-ordered, boldly Catholic life, almost feels like it's against the rules. The culture of death that grips our society does its best to choke out Christ's light, and silence his voice, in the hearts of the students here. The empty promises fed to his children are now the same ones told to the Apostles in the early church. You're wrong. His teaching should not be shared. Doing so brings guilt and condemnation to his people. Living witness like we are called—and like so many before us have done—is treated as hateful, close-minded, and obsolete. We are told that it is better for everyone if we keep our views to ourselves, but at the same time embrace and celebrate the views of others that we know lead only to death. The Apostles were not content with silence. They weren't okay with watching those around them slowly be consumed by emptiness, when they had the cure. The teachings that Christ had given them, and the power of the Holy Spirit within them, was greater than any dishonor that they could suffer. And as they went about healing the disease of sin in their world, the dishonor and resistance that they encountered, was proof that their cure was working. Thanks to the perseverance of the Apostles, and their willingness to share the love of Christ—even through danger and dishonor—we can still profess that cure today. We know the one truth that is so great that it's worth sacrificing everything for. Why then, is it so hard to share it? Why is it so much easier to stay silent, fly under the radar, and to just fit in when you know that what you are doing lets the devil win? I don't really have to worry too much about being martyred here on a college campus. I may get weird looks walking to class with a rosary. I may get called hateful, untrue things, if I choose to defend the right to life of unborn children. But I know that even though my views may not be too popular here on campus, any disrespect I receive is far from the true persecution that so many before me have faced. Why then is it still so tempting to be silent? Why then is it so hard to put up with dishonor, let alone rejoice in it. It can be scary to live boldly in Christ in today's world, but the Apostles were probably a little scared too. The Apostles knew that if the God that they proclaimed could heal the sick, raise the dead and save the world from sin, then he could overcome their fear too. They could rejoice, knowing that as they faced oppression from the enemy in those they encountered, their friend and redeemer was with them ready to measure out as much strength as they needed to overcome their test. They could rejoice, knowing that through their trials we would stand you're almost 2000 years later, sharing the same teachings with all of God's children. The same God stands next to us every day when we follow in the footsteps of the Apostles. He wants to reach his people through us. Weird looks and nasty comments we receive, are worth even the entrance of one more soul into heaven. I pray that through our witness, and our willingness to rejoice in discomfort, we may one day enter into heaven as a multitude, rejoicing together in the God who saved us.