\u00c2\u00a0 April 27, 2008<\/p>\n
Sixth Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n
Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17; 1 Peter 3: 15-18; Jn 14: 15-21<\/p>\n
Presented 4\/24\/08 at Westminster Tower<\/p>\n
Dc. Larry Brockman<\/p>\n
Did you know that all of you share something in common with Phillip?\u00c2\u00a0 You see, Phillip was evangelizing the Samaritans.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the first reading was all about.\u00c2\u00a0 And, by virtue of your Baptism, you, too, are all called to be Evangelizers.\u00c2\u00a0 That means you are all called to bring people to the Faith just like Phillip.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the way, that is a theme of our whole Diocese this year- Evangelizing.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a Diocessan festival in works at OCCC from May 8 to May 10.\u00c2\u00a0 Thousands are expected to attend, and the theme is our need to Evangelize.<\/p>\n
Now I know many of you think that evangelizing is for someone else.\u00c2\u00a0 “Certainly not me!” you think, “What can I do”?\u00c2\u00a0 “I am not going to bring thousands of Samaritans to the Faith”.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, take a closer look at what Peter has to say in the second reading.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter is talking about evangelizing, too.\u00c2\u00a0 First, Peter says that you should always be ready to give an explanation of your hope.\u00c2\u00a0 Hope- let’s look at the hope part.\u00c2\u00a0 All of us that are here at this Service- we are here because we have hope.\u00c2\u00a0 We believe that Jesus is risen from the dead, and that he went to the Father, and that he is coming back to take us to the Father with him- if we love him by keeping His commandments.\u00c2\u00a0 We all have that hope, right?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next, Peter says that when we give an explanation of our hope- that means we do it; we are not silent.\u00c2\u00a0 Then we do are to do it out of our conviction with gentleness and reverence.\u00c2\u00a0 All of us can do that, no matter what our status is- young or old; healthy or not; married or single; whatever.\u00c2\u00a0 It does take courage, and we’ll get to that.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Peter goes on to say that you may have to suffer- suffer because of your testimony to your faith and hope.\u00c2\u00a0 And that just goes to show that the world hasn’t changed much in the last 2000 years.\u00c2\u00a0 Because people now, just as people then, have to suffer when they tell an inconvenient truth or they stand up for their belief.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter’s contemporaries were put to death by the Roman emperor.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortunately, most of us here won’t have to suffer that way.\u00c2\u00a0 But, when you are called upon to defend your hope and your faith, you may have to suffer in other ways- or to make a sacrifice.\u00c2\u00a0 It can be as simple as making a commitment to attend Mass or this Communion Service- that can sometimes involve a sacrifice; or living with a disability or an illness.\u00c2\u00a0 If you bear those circumstances with dignity and maintain your Christian faith and hope throughout, then you are evangelizing others.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, people are watching how you behave in difficulties.\u00c2\u00a0 So, you can be evangelizing them whether you know it or not.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, when you stand up to people who challenge you, just as the people of Peter’s time you are also evangelizing.\u00c2\u00a0 It can be things like defending the right to life; defending marriage; the Eucharist; the trinity; and that Jesus really is God and became man.\u00c2\u00a0 All of you have discussions with others about your faith like this.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you defend your faith, with gentleness and reverence, you are evangelizing.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I mentioned, you can do it, but it does take courage- courage to bear pain; courage to say or do the right thing, courage to be gentle and reverent.\u00c2\u00a0 Where can we get the kind of courage we need?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, all things are possible if we are filled with the Spirit.\u00c2\u00a0 In the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he will send the Spirit, the advocate.\u00c2\u00a0 We know that the Spirit is real; and has power to work through us.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the story of Phillip again.\u00c2\u00a0 One man, so filled with the Spirit, that he cast out many devils; one man who converted the Samaritans, a people who were considered hopeless by the Jews at that time. \u00c2\u00a0Yes, indeed, the Spirit of God is the source of the courage and wisdom we need.\u00c2\u00a0 And, He is just a prayer away.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 April 27, 2008 Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17; 1 Peter 3: 15-18; Jn 14: 15-21 Presented 4\/24\/08 at Westminster Tower Dc. Larry Brockman Did you know that all of you share something in common with Phillip?\u00c2\u00a0 You see, Phillip was evangelizing the Samaritans.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the first reading was all about.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}