The Community at Prayer
Reflection by Father Paul M. Baca
May 1, 2011, 2nd Sunday of Easter

See the readings
On Easter Sunday we now renew our baptismal promises and I wonder how many of us really reflect on how we are challenged by them as to how we are living our Christian faith. This exercise, in my estimation, should make us reflect on all that our faith means to us or should mean to us. Recently, as I was reading some of the quotations of the words of Archbishop Romero, I realized how seriously he took his faith. He asked the question, What kind of a Christian are you? His response was that to be a real Christian, we must live our lives in such a way that our lives reflect how Jesus lived for each and every one of us, then died for us and rose to life again. According to him we must be ready even to die for each other and in this he was recalling the words of Jesus, "Greater love than this no one has than to lay down one's life for others." The Archbishop was already facing the possibilities of being killed for his efforts to protect his people from the oppression of an unjust government.

Our first and second readings today remind us of the great joy the early Christians experienced in living their faith in their Christian communities. "They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone and many wonders and signs were done to the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need. Every day they devoted themselves to reading together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes."

Somehow or other I feel that that joy of the risen Christ is not as present among believers. For many, being a Christian seems to put burdens on them as they try to observe the rules involved that are so much of the Christian way of life today. In so many ways I miss my days in the missions, in little villages where the people made their fiestas and celebrations of life a very important part of their faith. Every birth, baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and marriage was celebrated by the whole community. The parish feast was also celebrated with great rejoicing. Somehow it seemed that the duties and obligations of being a Catholic overshadowed to some extent their joys and blessings of being a Christian.

Our gospel from St. John beautifully presents the words of Jesus more than once, "Peace be with you." As I read the words and see the actions of modern-day prophets, I have come to appreciate the fact that we are all called to be peacemakers and are challenged to work for justice in all things. I have come to believe that Archbishop Romero was one of the outstanding saints of the last century and the martyr as he lived and laid down his life for his people. We are truly blessed in having such inspiring prophets living in our day who make us really value and appreciate our faith and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it is not just in the keeping of rules and laws that we profess our Catholic faith, but more so in the sacrifices we make to obtain hope and a life with dignity for each other and especially, for the voiceless.

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