Monday 20th April 2020
Second week of Easter
Acts 4:23-31, John 3:1-8
Sometimes in our lives, we do
good and think that it is not yielding any good effects. We get frustrated when
things seem not to go the way we expected. You may have invested your life in
doing what is good and the outcome is very poor. The gospel reading of today
encourages us never to give up in whatever good we are doing.
I could remember going for
apostolic work in one diocese in Nigeria, and during my visitation and
evangelism to parishioners, I encountered someone of a different Christian
denomination who argued everything Catholic from Holy Eucharist to Holy Rosary
to the Blessed Virgin Mary and so on. I was surprised when the person came to
my house on day to ask for clarification of the Catholic faith, started
catechesis and was later baptized when I had left the parish.
It is the same scenario we see in
the gospel reading of today. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews who heard the
preaching of Jesus. The Jews were very hostile to Jesus and their leader was
not expected to be an exception. It
could have been a disaster for the Jews if their ruler had decided to follow
Jesus. We see therefore that Nicodemus was already converted at heart but
decided not to make it known for fear of the Jews. This is why he decided to
come to Jesus at night to get clarification on how he could be baptized and
become a child of God.
Preaching the word of God as
Jesus has called to do in Matt 28:19 may not yield immediate fruits, people may
even insult us, mistreat and spite us and call us names, if we keep doing what
is right and do not get discouraged, the Holy Spirit will continue to do his
work in their hearts.
Let us therefore continue to pray
for all those who are not able to accept the truth and embrace the authentic
faith because of their situation and position in life, as well as for fear of
those around them. God help us. Amen
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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