Be Proud of What You Have Become (Monday, Easter Octave, 2021)

INTRODUCTION

It has always been the case that great faith experiences are certainly accompanied by great and lasting testimonies. The apostles had such experience and they testified, not only by their words of mouth but with and by their lives. We rely on their testimonies to build up our own faith in the Risen Lord. By faith, their experiences have become our experiences. But the question is: do we testify as they did? 

HOMILY PROPER

Have you ever encountered someone who has undergone great conversion experience (an experience that changed his or her life perspectives)? One thing I have observed about such people is that they are always at the vanguard of witnessing to what they have experienced: they become very serious and committed in bearing witness. No threat, nothing at all can change their new perspective or understanding of life. That is what it means to be converted. The person believes not just because he or she has heard, but because he or she has had a personal faith experience. 

Acts 2:14.22-33 furnishes us with powerful testimonies of the apostles, having had a ground-shaking encounter with the Risen Christ which brought about a total transformation and a change of perspectives in life. Prior to the resurrection of Christ, the apostles may not have been very sure or certain about the person they were following. Their understanding of and commitment to Christ can best be described as shallow or half-hearted. But there was a total change of attitude after the resurrection which more or less became their conversion story. Having been greatly transformed by what they have experienced, they were able to speak with great authority without fear of the Jews. Nothing was a threat to their faith, not even the false stories that were being peddled by the chief priests and the soldiers concerning the resurrection of their Master and Lord (cf. Matt. 28:8-15). 

When we examine our lives and see how half-hearted many of us are, then it will become clear to us that many of us are just baptized but not converted. It is time we began to be very much convinced about what we believe. We don’t need to have great ground-shaking experiences that the early apostles had before we can be proud of our faith and status. By their testimonies and lifestyles, the apostles (our forebears in faith) have furnished us with some evidence of Christ’s resurrection: St Peter said in the first reading, “David had prophesied about the resurrection of Christ when he said that God will not let the Holy One will see corruption”. And he went further to say, “we all are witnesses”. So, from the testimonies of the prophets and from their direct experience of the resurrection, the apostles were all out to testify with much conviction about what they have encountered. And being our ancestors in faith, let us rely on their powerful testimonies. When we rely on their testimonies and remain open to the grace and power of the resurrection, our lukewarm attitude to our faith will turn into a firebrand witnessing to the faith. Just like the apostles, let us be proud of what we have become in Christ.

PUNCHLINE

It's been the case that those who have had GROUND-SHAKING faith encounters (encounters that changed their life perspectives) are always at the forefront of witnessing to what they have experienced, fully convinced of what they are doing. That was the experience of the apostles after their great experience of Christ's resurrection. A FEARFUL band of followers later became a FIREBRAND band of courageous preachers and witnesses! Thanks to the power and grace of the resurrection experience! Be sure that your own experiences won't be different if you continue to be open to grace!