Dear Friends in Christ,
During the Easter season, the Church’s Liturgy quite often draws from the Acts of the Apostles. The pages of the Acts of the Apostles provide to us an amazing description of what the Church at its very beginning was like. We listen to the powerful preaching of the apostles, observe their miraculous deeds, and witness their missionary zeal. We see the foundations of the Church being built up and the Gospel spreading everywhere. We see the Kingdom of God spreading like wildfire, people repenting, hearts being converted, and the Church growing.
After the Resurrection of the Lord, the newborn Church exploded with new life. That explosion of Easter newness is not relegated to some past historical era. We read Acts each year after Easter to remind us that what the Church was at its beginning is still happening now. The joy and newness of Easter reverberates over two thousand years later in a little town called Stoneham. What Christ established two thousand years ago continues to live and to breathe in every age and in every place.
The disciples would gather for “the Breaking of the Bread.” They were dedicated to being together and to deepening their communion with one another and with the Lord. They were “of one heart and mind.” They were generous. They were devoted to building up the church and to assisting the poor. They boldly preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They were joyous. They confessed their sins. They prayed. They loved one another. They evangelized. They communicated the Faith. The Church was growing.
Sound familiar? It does to me. I am very grateful to live the Catholic life here at St. Patrick’s. In this place, I experience the explosion of Christ’s Resurrection. I look around each week at all of you and am assured that what Christ did for those first disciples, he is doing for us. Your witness of Faith is for me a great sign of Christ’s Presence and of Christ’s Risen Power.
I often have the opportunity to tell you, both here in the bulletin and at Mass, how your witness of Faith is so encouraging to me. Perhaps when you are at Mass some day, you might make the effort to tell someone how their witness encourages you. Maybe it is the person whose name you do not know but who sits near you every week. Maybe it is some mother or father who brings their kids–babies, toddlers, teenagers, older–to Mass each week. Maybe it is someone who comes each week and sits alone. Maybe it is an older person who struggles up those stairs each week. I don’t know, but I was thinking it might be nice, on occasion, to tell someone, “Thank you for your witness.”
There are so many moments during Mass when I look out and some individual, couple, or family catches my eye and I am filled with gratitude for their witness. (I want to mention also those of our parishioners who are homebound and, while not able to be with us physically at Mass, are still united with us through prayer.) When I look out and see you living your faith, it is like I am one of those first disciples hearing the good news, “He is Risen!” And, to that I can only concur. He is Risen Indeed!
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. David Barnes