You may notice that Acts of the Apostles is the source of the first readings during the Easter season. This book describes how Christianity grew from a handful of disciples to a major religion. This weekend’s reading about an ideal Christian community is meant to show ordinary believers how to be extraordinary, using three examples – power, property, and prayer.

Power means the “signs and wonders” (Acts 2:43) performed by the disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit. This should be named last, because it takes a lot of faith to heal the sick. If you had the same faith as the apostles, you just might be able to cure the sick. Or you might become a doctor and cure them with medical skills. If you acknowledge that God gave you the brains and the talent to become a doctor, you are doing God’s work.

Property means sharing what you have with those in need. Many disciples were moved to sell their goods and share them with the poor, and word of that must have spread. If you are not called to sell all your goods and become a monk or a nun, you can still tithe to your church or to the poor. You can donate time as well, perhaps tutoring disadvantaged kids, helping build or repair houses in poor areas, or bringing meals to shut-ins. The point is that followers of Christ are not just individual do-gooders. They are a community of believers who care about each other and care about the non-believers who need help of any kind.

So where did these first disciples get the faith to cure the sick and the love to help the needy? The answer is the third example—prayer. We hear how “they devoted themselves . . . to the breaking of the bread” (Acts 2:42, 46). Breaking bread was their name for the Eucharist. They also went to the temple to pray, because at that time most disciples were Jewish Christians. As they heard the Hebrew scriptures, they saw how God’s promises were fulfilled in Christ. Later, they added readings from the letters of Paul and preaching about Jesus’ works and teachings. All these practices helped unite them to Christ and to each other.                                      -Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications

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TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
 Second Sunday of Easter

One of the great Easter traditions is “mystagogy,” an ancient word meaning “reflection on the mysteries.”  It is a style of catechesis or passing on the faith. People who have shared an experience, in this case those who have been baptized at Easter, are urged to recall their experience, reflect on its meaning, and apply their insights to their new way of life.

There is an aspect of an experience that is simply not available until you’ve had it. For example, you may think you know weddings inside out; you’ve been to dozens, seen hundreds in the movies or on television, but until you’ve said “I do” to another, there is a certain knowledge unavailable to you. Those who go down into the waters of baptism as adults have similar experiences; they have all taken baths before, but not like this one! Mystagogy helps such persons to uncover the deep meaning of the experience, their sense of a new beginning, of God’s abundant love, of forgiveness, of community.

It takes time for the power of the Easter Vigil to work its wonders for us. Those who are newly baptized are called “neophytes,” meaning “newly planted.” The tender buds of spring need care and nurturing, and our new brothers and sisters need your prayer and your faithful example.              —Rev. James Field, Diocesan Publications

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SAINT BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS (1844-1879) – April 16th

With Immaculate Mary’s “Ave Maria” for its refrain, Andy Williams’ “Village of Saint Bernadette” peaked at #7 on Billboard’s Top 40 at Christmas 1959, airing on radio stations all over America. Imagine! In some dioceses, today marks the feast of Bernardette Soubirous, the teenager who, combing a refuse heap for firewood, saw a “beautiful lady” who identified herself in words Bernadette faithfully reported to the bishop, though she did not understand their meaning: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Relentlessly interrogated, she never wavered in her story or sweetness. Chronically ill all her life and dead at thirty-five, Bernadette left behind the shrine at Lourdes where healing waters still flow from the spring that her “beautiful lady” pointed out to her.

—Peter Scagnelli, Diocesan Publications