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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Why do we find conversion stories so inspirational? Maybe I should be asking, why do I find conversion stories so inspirational. Just yesterday I came across a story about five medical students who were executed in 1943 by the Nazis. The story of one is unique in that he was baptized and received the Eucharist the day before his execution. Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles always intrigued me because it mentions that Saul who we know to be Paul sought out Christians and dragged them from their homes turning them over to the authorities for persecution and imprisonment and yet became a prominent missionary making Jesus known, loved and served.
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We have a beautiful quotation from Mother Teresa about “the bread of life” she says “Jesus has made himself the Bread of life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.” In the Gospel reading, Jesus declares himself as the “Bread of life” This bread of life he offers, is none else than the very life of God. This bread of life gives spiritual nourishment and eternal satisfaction to all who believe in Him.
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Every family has one, a child who is simply, inexplicably, unreasonably good. Not perfect, but just genuinely, radiantly good. They do their chores without being asked. They share their stuff without being told. They comfort a crying sibling while everyone else is still arguing about whose fault it is. And the baffling thing is, nobody taught them to be this way. They just are. And even the parents look at them sometimes and think: where exactly did you come from? And if the early Church was a family, that child was Stephen.
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Years back in my home country, a popular local diocesan priest disagreed with his local bishop and decided to found his own Church. His decision garnered immense news coverage in the country because the Catholic Church in the country is known for being highly organized and one tight knit entity. A whole news cycle developed around this priest and his new Church. I wrote an opinion piece for our national news paper that argued how flawed the foundation of the new entity was, and how the Catholic Church by giving constant media attention to the new religious outfit was giving mileage to the concerned priest and his new Church. I borrowed the words and the wisdom of Gamaliel in our first reading today, “If it is of human origin, it will destroy itself but if it comes from God it will stay.” Unfortunately, history proved it was of human origin, and everything disintegrated.
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In today’s gospel we have John the Baptist recognizing and declaring that Jesus comes from above, one who stands beyond all others. Just before this passage, John the Baptist declares that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He highlights that Jesus is the Son of God and calls on us to believe in Jesus if we are to receive eternal life.” None of this John knows, can be said of himself.
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Today’s readings present a striking contrast: fear and courage, darkness and light. In the first reading, the Apostles are arrested and thrown into prison. It seems like the end of their mission. But during the night, the angel of the Lord frees them and gives a clear command: “Go and tell the people everything about this life.” And what do they do? They return to the temple and continue preaching without hesitation. They are unshakable—not because of their own strength, but because they are rooted in Christ.
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