The first reading this weekend, from the Acts of the Apostles, gives two responses that reveals the transformation that only comes with living in Christ, living a life of the Spirit.
    We are told by the author, St. Luke, that the Apostles were arrested by the Sanhedrin because they continued to preach Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Peter simply responds, “We must obey God rather than men.” He is showing us here what it looks like when one possess the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in particular the gift of fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is not being afraid of the wrath of God, meaning how His justice may come upon us due to our sin. If one has fear of the Lord, they are more concerned with the demands that comes with living as a Christian more than anything else. Christians have a certain responsibility because they have been washed by the Blood of the Lamb in Baptism. Part of this responsibility is serving God and not the world, as St. Peter, the first pope, shows us here. The world only has a temporal stake on us, but God has an eternal one.
This is the first example, serving God before the world, being more concerned with divine consequences rather than temporal ones. The second response is how the Apostles reacted after they were released by the Sanhedrin. St. Luke tells us that they rejoiced because they had been found worthy to suffer in the name of Jesus. They had just experienced persecution for being Christians, and they do what all of us would do in their shoes. No! None of would likely rejoice in the face of religious persecution.
There is Christian persecution going on all over the world right now, just in different ways. 3 Christian churches were bombed in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, two of which were Catholic.
We face persecution here in the United States too. For example, there is a recent trend of both former and current politicians to talk about “freedom of worship” rather than “freedom of religion.” This subtle difference is an ideological persecution against Christians, and any other religious group here in the U.S. Living out our Christian faith is not one that is confined to the walls of a church building for one hour on Sundays. Being a Christian permeates our whole being, and our whole life, and it affects every moment of every day. In fact, Christians are seen more by what they do outside of church walls, not inside them. Right now this persecution is on the level of words, but is still a persecution nonetheless.
If this became stronger, meaning it had the force of law limiting how we are allowed to behave as Christians, how would we react? These early Christians rejoiced, which is how the Beatitudes are closed out by Christ. He tells us, “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven...” (Mt. 5:11-12)