Today is the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C. Today from the Acts of the Apostles, we continue to hear about the heroic deeds of the Apostles; since after the resurrection of Christ. Today the Apostles standing before the Sanhedrin proclaims once more the resurrected Christ. This brings to mind for you and me, as followers of Christ and Disciples of Christ in our own time, the need to listen to the voice of God at all times. This calls to mind the question, what voice do you listen to in your life? Do you listen to the voice of the world, as represented and presented by human persons or you listen to the voice of God, as heard from the scriptures, from homiletics from priest’s and other people, or in the sacraments? God speaks to us in various ways, through all these means that comes from God, do we listen to them and put them into practice in our daily lives? God continues to invite us in a very special way to imbibe this culture of listening to his word, putting it into practice in our lives, as against going with the voice of the world. The voice of the people will often times, lead us far away from God. The voice of the people can take us far from our destination; which is salvation. There is no better place to listen to the voice of the Lord than in his words in the scripture, in the homilies of his priests and also in the sacraments of the church.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, on this 3rd Sunday of Easter, we see the Apostles glorying in the fact that they were dishonored as a result of the resurrected Christ. They gave thanks to God because they had to pay that price because of their faith in God. In our own time, when we are faced with such difficulties, do we lose faith in both men and God? Do we lose faith such that we do not see the presence of God in the situation anymore? Today the action of the Apostles challenges us. It could be in our market places, our place of business, in our schools, it could be in our offices, and it could be in our parishes, when we have to suffer as a result of standing for what is right, as a result of been upright and following the injunctions of God. Today the action of the Apostles calls us to act, and such moments should not be the time for regrets, but rather the opportunity to give glory to God for the privilege and opportunity to partake in the suffering and in his challenges. Believing and trusting that our reward awaits us.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, in the gospel reading on this 3rd Sunday of Easter, we see Jesus giving a command to the Apostles, the Apostles listened to the command of Jesus and they decided to cast their nets like Jesus directed and that led to a great catch for them. What this action is saying to us today, is that we should learn to listen to the voice of God. As long as we listen to him, something positive will come out of it. The question today my brothers and sisters is, do we have time to listen to him? He never comes late! He comes when it matters most; his time is always perfect, we must learn to be patient and listen to him at all times. The more we do that the closer we get to our destination, the more fulfilled responses we equally get to the challenging situations in our lives.
We pray on this 3rd Sunday of Easter, that God will make us listening disciples, open our hearts and make us more courageous to stand for what is right; to listen to God at all times like the Apostles did, so that at the end of our earthly journey we will be crowned with the crown of unfailing glory. Peace be with you! Amen.