Acts: 34a, 37-43
Then Peter began to speak to them: “The message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Proclaiming the Good News
The Mass of Easter Sunday has a choice of three Gospel readings and two second readings. This is the first reading. Peter proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household in Caesarea Maritima. They receive the Holy Spirit, praising God in that mysterious language called “tongues,” and he baptizes them.
The contents of his speech are what is known as the kerygma or “proclamation.” Pope Saint Paul VI said, “the Church exists to evangelize,” and the Church does this by making this basic proclamation about Jesus Christ and inviting people to faith in him. The content of the kerygma is also that of the Apostles’ Creed.
Peter speaks of the public life and ministry of Jesus, his suffering and death for our salvation, his resurrection and exaltation. Through faith in the Lord Jesus and his saving work, our sins are forgiven, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, as did Cornelius and his household, and we, too, enter the new life of grace.
—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ, is a member of a community of senior Jesuits at Saint Ignatius Hall in Black Jack, Missouri. He offers spiritual direction; gives sacramental care to the lay Catholics at the adjacent retirement community; posts reflections on his Facebook site at Bob Hagan SJ; and drives fellow Jesuits who no longer drive wherever they want to go.
Prayer
The Easter Season begins with our celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus but also looks forward to, and prepares us for, our celebration of Pentecost. This is a prayer composed by me for this season:
Loving and faithful God, you love us with infinite love. You guide us by your light. And you share your life with us.
Renew our faith in your Son, our Savior and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, now risen, glorified, and revealed as Lord of all.
And may the Holy Spirit fill us anew and remain with us that we may witness powerfully always and everywhere to the salvation and grace that are ours.
We ask this in the name of the Lord. Amen.
—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ