“No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.”
The Father continually draws us to Jesus through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. The very deepest yearning of our heart is for communion with Jesus. The more we allow the Spirit to convert us to Jesus, the more precious our faith becomes. Soon we are able to say that our faith in Jesus is the very greatest gift God has given us.
Philip experienced this gift. This gift so overwhelmed him that he had to share it with others, and so with a full heart he shared the good news about Jesus with the Ethiopian eunuch. For Philip the good news of the Gospel -- the good news about “being raised up on the last day” to everlasting life with Jesus -- must be shared; never had anyone been raised from the dead. The Acts of the Apostles portrays the first Christian community as going throughout the land and proclaiming Christ’s resurrection and calling for belief in the Lord.
We today have the same mission of proclaiming Christ in our world, a world that has lost the sense of the divine. We are called as Christians to be forthright in our witness to Jesus. Parents must share this faith with their children. I am always sadden when parents tell me they do not share faith with their children because they want their children to chose their own faith without parental influence when they become adults. If we love our children we share all that is precious to us with them. If our faith is precious to us, it must be shared with them. And so each of us is called to witness in every appropriate way within our communities. This gift of witnessing our belief in Jesus may actually be the most precious gift we ever give to a family member, a friend, or a co-worker. It is a gift that lasts a lifetime because it gives meaning for life.
During this Easter Season, let’s catch the excitement of that first Christian community and allow them to inspire us in sharing our faith as they shared theirs.
Rev. Larry Gillick, SJ
I entered the Society of Jesus in 1960, after graduating from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attending St. Norbert College for two years. I was ordained in 1972 after completing theological studies at the Toronto School of Theology, Regis College. I presently minister in the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton and give retreats.
I enjoy sharing thoughts on the Daily Reflections. It is a chance to share with a wide variety of people in the Christian community experiences of prayer and life which have been given to me. It is a bit like being in more places than just here. We actually get out there without having to pay airlines to do it. The word of God is alive and well.
