Witnesses

First Reading: Acts 3:11-26
Psalm: Ps 8:2, 5-9
Gospel: Lk 24:35-48

Friends,

Oftentimes in life, it is not so much of what happens, but how people react to it that is important. In our readings today, Peter makes another profession of faith, this time to a crowd of Jews in the Temple who had seen him cure a crippled man. Peter immediately makes it clear that this healing was not of his doing, but God's.

When Peter saw this, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?" - Acts:3:12

Miracles still happen in our world today. When they are noticed, crowds tend to gather. Television crew come in to broadcast the story to the world, and experts are consulted in an effort to find an explanation. In all the hassle to describe who, what, when and how, somehow the why is often forgotten. It is because a request was made, sometimes a very simple one, and through the grace of God, it was granted.

When a miracle takes place, it is for the individual who receives the blessing, but also, and perhaps moreso, for the people who are witnesses. Both Peter and Jesus remind us of this important role of witness in the greatest miracle of all:

The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses. - Acts 3:15

And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." - Lk 24:46-48

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of this day. It is of Your great love for us that we are all called to be witnesses. Help us, dear Jesus, that we may offer testament of Your Word to the nations, in our actions and in our words. We ask for the grace of fortitude, that we may persevere in times of trouble. We offer our prayers for those who are finding their task of witness difficult, that they might be strengthened, and for those in need of a miracle, that they be surrounded by faithful witnesses. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.