Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Today’s lectionary first reading from Acts 16 tells us of Paul and Silas, praying and singing in prison, when an earthquake rattles the place to its foundation, throwing open the doors and breaking chains. The jailer awakes and is about to kill himself because he is sure everyone has escaped. Then Paul shouts: “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
Why didn’t Paul and Silas get out while the getting was good?
Because Christians don’t run.
Jesus didn’t urge his followers to do something, anything, to stop the soldiers from taking him into custody after the Last Supper. He didn’t bellow at them to create a diversion so that he could get away. “Thy will be done” for him were more than words in a pretty prayer.
In the same way, Paul and Silas stayed because it was the Lord’s will. And they gained souls for the Father as a result: the jailer, who went from near-suicidal to taking them into his own home, caring for them and finding his soul changed. His household, for hearing the word of the Lord and being baptized. And, surely, some of the other of the prisoners who had to have been fearful during the earthquake, and then amazed and full of wonder in the events that followed.
Around the world today, Catholics and other Christians go into dangerous areas to comfort and evangelize, well aware their safety is uncertain. They refuse to denounce the Lord, well aware their lives are at risk. They submit to God’s will and are obedient to His call, no matter where it leads. Why?
Because Christians don’t run.
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