That the Lord may grant you times of refreshment

To send you the Messiah already appointed for you

Today’s reflection is built upon the readings for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

First Reading Acts 3:1-10
Responsorial Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
Second Reading  Galatians 1:11-20
Gospel John 21:15-19

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day pours out the word to day; and night to night imparts knowledge.

Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard; through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message. 
(Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5)

Image by Petra

In our digital age — a post-prophet, post-scroll, post-letter, post-book, post-film, and post-TV world — we see the viral implications of instant messaging and online immediacy. As wide-eyed news and wiley-worped replays flash unceasingly, audiences morph from eager readers to hardened skeptics. We doubt the veracity of the words and images we see. We crane our necks over the sounds and even the weather, questioning what’s real, sometimes before seeing or hearing them.

Soon, every Tom, Dick, and Harriet begins analyzing, debunking, denigrating, and denying, and a fog surrounds what might have been reality. We cannot be sure. Rather than declare that our temporarily modern communication systems are secure and trustworthy, we realize today’s information is no better than the rumor mill whispers of 55 A.D.

That’s one way of looking at it.

Yet, if the heavens declare the glory of God, and “not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard,” truly reach through “all the earth” and to the “ends of the world,” then Saint Paul’s message is credible.

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 1:11)

Paul found it necessary to tell us, “As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.”

This is how we Christ-followers look at communication today. We see our vagaries, the unpredictable happenings, as similar to the time of Jesus.

Two things to review from Paul's plea about the truth of his hearing the Gospel. First, Paul is compelled to tell us he is not lying because someone must have called him a liar. Second, placing his very life under the protection of God, he separates himself from the world’s prognosticators and judges. He declares the living presence of the God, to whom he testifies, as his source, teacher, and witness.

We know about Paul’s predicament. Who can believe such things? Paul's refrain holds little weight in today’s pre-judged ether of noise and proclamations. We’re used to incessant, loud, and questionable testimonies too bizarre to believe.

However, within the context of history, Paul exhorts what the apostles held to be true. He is not the first to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition, for almost 2,000 years, as we creep toward 2033 (based on the prevailing notion for the resurrection of Jesus at 33AD), our bookshelves and digital file folders contain innumerable, consistent, and remarkable testimonies about Jesus as Messiah and risen Son of God.

Is that enough for us to be convinced of the truth in 2024?

When Peter and John channeled the Holy Spirit, invoking the healing of a crippled man, what was the response of those who saw? Did everyone buy into Christianity?

When all the people saw the man walking and praising God, they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him. 
(Acts 3:9-10)

Was a miracle enough for them? Amazed and astonished, yes. Belief in Jesus, though? Peter recognized the weakness of hearts.

Peter responded well to those who observed. “When Peter saw [all the people hurried in amazement toward them], he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety? 
(Acts 3:11)

Their excitement doesn’t lead to conversion, acceptance of Jesus’ resurrection, or that the risen Christ had conquered death. They don’t know where Peter and John’s power comes from. They connect the healing only to the two men they see. In the next verses, Luke reports on Peter’s teaching about what we must do after seeing the truth of testimonies and miracles.

Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Messiah already appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. 
(Acts 3:19-21)

Rather than depend upon a miracle for belief or follow a prophetic voice to find the truth, Peter tells the audience who saw the miracle to do something completely counterintuitive. Repent.

Our repentance converts us. Our sins, the burden of shame, are “wiped away.” In that cleanliness, we experience “refreshment.” How lovely is that? This internalizing of a miracle's sign is an awakening which helps us to step toward God happens to only a few who grasp that Jesus will heal us, too. For that, we have the task of turning to God.

Peter, in a tightly written summary about conversion, ask us to recognize the one who loves us as the one who renews us. Instead of settling for amazement, we must allow God to “heal” us also.

Healing is great, but the consequence of renewal, a refreshment, is that we become prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. God will dwell in us. That’s what is amazing.

Paul’s Gospel message is true, because he is not lying. God told him. Peter’s fixation upon repentance in order to accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is true because God is the power behind the miracles. Testimonies and miracles point to God.

For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
(Wisdom 2:23)

God’s indwelling is just the beginning. We are still not done. This short life, with indwelling accomplished, does not end at our death. We are heading to a longer, immortal life amid God’s Kingdom. And there is even more to come. We live here with God in us, and then there in God’s abode, to await the “times of universal restoration.”

You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
(Psalm 30:12)

Miracles are not enough; they are merely signs to get our attention. Testimonies are not enough. They are more like brochures pointing to and explaining what God is up to. 

God in us is what we must have with repentance as our weapon against the vagaries, the doubts, and the liars.

“Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Messiah already appointed for you . . .”