<\/p>\n
Easter is such an exciting time of year!\u00a0 Take this Gospel for example.\u00a0 Jesus says \u201cAmen, Amen I say to you whoever believes has eternal life\u201d.\u00a0 You all believe, don\u2019t you, so you have eternal life!\u00a0 You already have it, just think about that.<\/p>\n
And then Jesus says:\u201d I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever\u201d.\u00a0 In just a couple of minutes, you will eat that bread come down from heaven.\u00a0 And that seals your fate- everlasting life!\u00a0 Jesus has said it twice in two different ways.\u00a0 We are so blessed; we have so much- our faith, the Eucharist, and a guarantee of everlasting life.\u00a0 And you should be excited about all that- the whole Easter event- it is life changing and exciting.<\/p>\n
So, just how excited are you about it?\u00a0 Are you as charged up as Philip in the first reading?\u00a0 It\u2019s a fascinating story isn\u2019t it, the story of Philip.\u00a0 Charged up by the Easter events, Philip is taking to heart Jesus command to go forward and preach the Gospel to all nations.\u00a0 And what does God do? He puts this foreigner in his path- a Eunuch from Ethiopia, and probably of a different race, who was not a Jew, and a servant to boot.\u00a0 This guy didn\u2019t belong to Philip\u2019s crowd, that\u2019s for sure. Philip could have just as easily passed this Eunuch by; but he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 He was a Judaizer, meaning a believer in Judaism, but one who is not born a Jew.\u00a0 This man is confused- he doesn\u2019t understand the prophet and he is seeking help.\u00a0 Well, he ran into the right person, Philip.\u00a0 Philip sees a need and doesn\u2019t care that the Eunuch doesn\u2019t fit in.\u00a0 Filled with the spirit, Philip evangelizes the Ethiopian right then and there and Baptizes him.<\/p>\n
A question.\u00a0 Why do you suppose this story is our reading this morning?\u00a0 So that we feel good about what Philip did?\u00a0 Or is it a sort of precursor story that foretells the Apostles mission to move out to all nations?\u00a0 Or is it something more personal?\u00a0 Because, you know, all of us were called on Easter to be a witness of the Easter events, too.\u00a0 Yes, indeed, all of us are called, especially during this year of evangelization, to show our joy and evangelize others.\u00a0 We should be spreading the joy of Easter, especially in this secular, Godless, pluralistic, hedonistic society that we live in; one in which we, as Catholics, are beginning to feel the pinch on our ability to live the morals in the Gospel.\u00a0 The time is ripe for us to share our joy.<\/p>\n
Now I know what some of you are thinking.\u00a0 Just how, how do I go about evangelizing, after all God did not send a chariot with an Ethiopian Eunuch across my path!\u00a0 Oh, but he will; he has.<\/p>\n
Yes, God exposes all of us to events in life which are just as outlandish as Philip\u2019s encounter with the Ethiopian.\u00a0 Every day we come in contact with divorced, homeless, jobless, spiritually hungry; and\/or morally confused people.\u00a0 They are people at the hospital; at Walmart; in the grocery store, in the driver\u2019s license agency line, all of whom are looking for answers.\u00a0 We just have to recognize that God has put them there for us, calling us to make time for them and to come out of our shells to do something.<\/p>\n
So, be on the look-out for someone who is hurting, who is thrown across your path in some unlikely way- like an Ethiopian Eunuch on a horse cart.\u00a0 And then take the time from your regular routine to take the initiative.\u00a0 Say something like: \u201cIs there something I can do, my friend?\u201d\u00a0 And if you are truly joyful, because God\u2019s spirit fills you with love, then you will be an inspiration, and you can be an evangelizer like Philip, one who shares the peace and joy of Easter\u00a0 That\u2019s what it is all about to be a Christian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday of the Third Week of Easter Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51 Dc. Larry Brockman Easter is such an exciting time of year!\u00a0 Take this Gospel for example.\u00a0 Jesus says \u201cAmen, Amen I say to you whoever believes has eternal life\u201d.\u00a0 You all believe, don\u2019t you, so you have eternal life!\u00a0 You already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"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=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}