Testimonies of true joy!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 3rd week in Easter time

April 29, 2020: Acts 8:1b-8; John 6: 35-40

There was great joy in the city. In spite of having to desert their hometowns and go into diaspora, the community of believers bring joy wherever they go. Earlier we read, that the apostles where flogged for having preached Christ and when they left, they went with joy because they were able to suffer for Christ. How was it possible for them! It was because, they carried the Risen Lord in their hearts. 

The resurrection experience filled the apostles, the disciples and all the believers with joy, with a joy that could not be replaced by anything else under the sun. The words "Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ" (Rom 8:35) was a concrete life experience of the early Christians. The source of this experience is the total and loving self giving of the Lord. 

Jesus was so filled with his Father that in his total self-giving he rejoiced and brought joy to all around him and to the entire humanity. Imitating their Lord and Saviour, the first Christians were filled with Christ, and in their self-giving to each other and to God, they brought true joy and eternal hope to each other. We are today called to accept the challenge of living our Christian vocation, even in these moments of crisis and anxiety, emanating divine joy, in our joyful and loving self-giving. 

How joyful is our testimony as Christians, today?