This one heart and mind is not an ideology or a belief system. One heart and on mind does not mean we have to agree on everything. We cannot be effective witnesses to the resurrection if we are not. As Christians, and as Catholics, we need to set as our goal to be of one heart and mind. The verse in Acts is a challenge to us as to who we are and what we need to become. It is easy to create distance from people who don’t share your beliefs. Unfortunately, this divisiveness is spilling over into our Church. The term “Cancel Culture”, non-existent five years ago, is now part of our vocabulary. With the click of a mouse, we can unfriend or unfollow a person. Signs of discord can be found everywhere in our culture. Would you describe our “community of believers” in our parish as being of “one heart and mind? Or Catholics who have stopped coming to church? Or Christians of all religious denominations? Would the unbelieving observer on the street comment, “See how they love each other”? They saw a “community of believers of one heart and mind.” A second century historian said of the Christians, “See how they love each other.” The people in the early centuries may not have chosen to become Christian because of what they heard, but because of what they saw. The Acts of the Apostles describe the early Christians this way: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.” (Acts 4:32) There are many ways to explore that question. Today, as Christianity is on the decline and being attacked, we might ask: Why were the early disciples so effective in their witness? Or more to the point, what are we missing? Through their witness to the resurrection, they added new believers from all over the world. Because of the inconsistency of what the disciples were saying – We have seen the Lord – and what they were doing – hiding in fear – he refused to believe.įortunately, the disciples went from cowering in fear to spreading the good news. Like so many people who have drifted away from the church, or who are now attacking the church, Thomas saw hypocrisy. He entered the room “where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” The disciples proclaimed, “We have seen the Lord.” At this point in the narrative, Thomas could have been thinking, “If you have seen the risen Lord, why are you still hiding in this room in fear of the Jews?!?” I could make the argument that Thomas was not a doubter. This is not a good way to witness to the resurrected life in Christ! They were locked in a room filled with fear. In the gospel (Jn 20:19-31), the disciples that Thomas encountered behind closed doors were horrible witnesses to the resurrection. Sometimes Christians make the worst witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. The comments contained a little bit hate, a little bit of ignorance, and unfortunately a little bit of truth, pointing out some of the inconsistencies in Christian beliefs and behavior. They were vicious attacks on God and Christianity, written by both unbelievers and people that seemed to have it out for the church. I made the mistake of reading the most replied to. I thought it was a nice little Easter message.” Then I noticed that there were 650 comments. Bishop Barron wrote a guest editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “ Recovering the Strangeness of Easter.” Like most of Bishop Barron’s material, the article was contemporary, well-reasoned and engaging.
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