Two days ago, we read and reflected on the mission given to the apostles to proclaim the Kingdom. Today we hear again the injunction to proclaim the kingdom and to do that not whispering shyly, but from the housetops. Not necessarily on a soapbox in Hyde Park, but simply to proclaim courageously what we have come to hear and to experience “in the secret” of our hearts in awareness of Lord’s presence.

So, how are we to proclaim what we have experienced “in the secret” of our hearts? It is not a matter of “talking the talk”, but of “walking the walk.” People are keenly perceptive in reading who we are even without our words and beyond what we do. The beatitudes are precisely be-attitudes, not do-attitudes or speak-attitudes.

The fact that people perceive keenly what we are does not mean that they will accept our witness, but we should not take that personally. Rejection, open or covert, should not be taken personally, since it is not necessarily us they reject, but the message of our way of living. Offering such witness is our only responsibility. Accepting it or not is their responsibility, not ours.