First Reading (Acts 4:13-21)
Reading of the Acts of the Apostles.
In those days, the chief priests, the elders and the scribes, were amazed to see the confidence with which Peter and John spoke, as they were simple and uneducated people. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. However, they saw the man who had been healed standing next to them. And they couldn’t say anything to the contrary. They ordered them to go outside the Sanhedrin, and they began to argue among themselves: “What are we going to do with these men? They performed a very clear miracle, and the fact has become so well known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem that we cannot deny it. However, so that the thing does not spread even more among the people, we are going to threaten them, so that they will no longer tell anyone about the name of Jesus.” They called Peter and John again and ordered them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus in any way. Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight for us to obey you and not God! As for us, we cannot remain silent about what we have seen and heard.” Then, insisting on their threats, they let Peter and John go free, since they had no way of punishing them for the people’s sake. For everyone glorified God for what had happened.
– Word of the Lord.
– Thank God.
Gospel (Mark 16,9-15)
Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark.
— Glory to you, Lord.
After being resurrected, early on the first day after the Sabbath, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast seven demons. She went and announced this to the followers of Jesus, who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not want to believe it. Then Jesus appeared to two of them, with a different appearance, as they were going into the field. They also returned and announced it to the others. They also did not give credit. Finally, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples while they were eating and rebuked them for their lack of faith and their hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature!”
— Word of Salvation.
— Glory to you, Lord.
Reflecting the Word of God
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
There are moments in our lives when we are called to make a fundamental choice: to remain silent in the face of the pressures of the world or to courageously proclaim what we have seen and heard. Today’s readings present us with exactly this dilemma, through characters who faced this choice in ways that continue to inspire and challenge us.
In the first reading of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we find Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court. These men, who only a few weeks earlier had fled in fear during Jesus’ arrest, now stand firm, unshakable in their testimony. The text tells us that the members of the Sanhedrin were amazed to see “the courage of Peter and John, knowing that they were uneducated and simple men.”
What an extraordinary transformation! What changed in these Galilean fishermen? What transformed them from fearful men into intrepid proclaimers of the truth? There can only be one answer: the encounter with the resurrected Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on them.
Observe the reaction of the authorities. They recognize that Peter and John “had been with Jesus.” The time spent in the Master’s presence had left an indelible mark on them, a mark so visible that even their adversaries could see it. Being with Jesus had transformed them in profound and irreversible ways.
And now, faced with the order to be silent, to stop talking about Jesus, their response is clear and direct: “Judge for yourselves whether it is right, before God, to obey yourselves rather than God. As for us, we cannot stop talking about what we have seen and heard.”
What a powerful statement! “We can’t stop talking.” It’s not just a matter of choice or preference. It is an inner compulsion, a need as fundamental as breathing. They have seen the resurrected Christ, experienced his transforming power, and cannot remain silent.
This experience of Peter and John connects directly with today’s Gospel, where Mark tells us about Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection. First to Mary Magdalene, then to two disciples on the way, and finally to the eleven apostles gathered together.
It is remarkable how Mark does not hide the disciples’ initial disbelief. Mary Magdalene tells of her experience, “but when they heard that he was alive and that he had been seen by her, they did not believe.” The two disciples on the way report their meeting, “but they did not even believe them.” Finally, Jesus appears to the eleven himself and “rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart.”
This honesty about the difficulty of believing is deeply comforting for us today. If those who walked with Jesus for three years had difficulty accepting the reality of the resurrection, we should not be surprised if we sometimes struggle with doubts and questions on our own journey of faith.
But the resurrection is not a truth that we can accept only intellectually. It is a transformative encounter that completely changes our perspective and our lives. It is what transformed a group of fearful, unbelieving disciples into courageous apostles, willing to face arrest, persecution, and even death for what they had experienced.
And this is where we reach the culmination of today’s Gospel: Jesus’ missionary mandate. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” This is not an optional invitation, but an imperative for all who have had a genuine encounter with the Resurrected One.
Reflect with me: both the apostles and the Sanhedrin authorities saw the same facts – the man who had been healed, the empty tomb, the witnesses of the resurrection. But while the authorities tried to silence the message, the apostles were impelled to proclaim it. The difference was not in the observed facts, but in the personal encounter with the living Christ.
And this brings us to a crucial question for each of us today: Have we had a genuine encounter with the resurrected Jesus? Or is our faith just an inherited tradition, a set of intellectual beliefs, a religious routine without transformative power?
True faith is not just believing that something happened two thousand years ago. It is experiencing the power of that historic event in our own lives today. It is to know Jesus not just as a figure in history, but as a living presence who continues to heal, transform, and commission.
When we have this genuine encounter, we are transformed like Peter and John. We gain courage that goes beyond our natural capabilities. We develop an inner compulsion to share what we experience. And no external pressure – whether from authorities, colleagues, culture – can silence us.
My dear brothers and sisters, we live in a time that, in many ways, is not so different from that of the first Christians. We face subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle pressures to keep our faith private, to not bother others with our beliefs, to conform to the expectations of the culture around us.
But today’s readings challenge us to a different stance. They call us to be courageous witnesses, people who have “been with Jesus” and whose lives have been so profoundly changed that they cannot help but talk about what they saw and heard.
This does not mean being argumentative or aggressive in our testimony. Peter and John did not threaten or condemn the authorities; they simply stated their experience and refused to be silenced. Likewise, our testimony must be marked by a quiet, unshakable confidence that comes from knowing the truth firsthand.
And this testimony takes many forms. Sometimes it is through explicit words, sharing our faith when the opportunity arises. Other times, it is through actions of love and service that reflect the character of Christ. And always, it is through transformed lives that provoke the same reaction that the authorities had with Peter and John: recognizing that “we have been with Jesus.”
So today, I ask that each of us do some honest soul-searching. Was our encounter with Christ so real that we can’t help but talk about him? Has our experience of the Gospel been so transformative that it naturally overflows into our words and actions? And when we face pressure to remain silent, do we have the courage to remain true to what we saw and heard?
If the answer is “not yet”, don’t despair. The same disciples who initially did not believe in the resurrection eventually became its most powerful witnesses. The same Spirit that transformed Peter and John from fearful fishermen into fearless apostles is available to us today.
Let us ask for the grace of a renewed encounter with the risen Christ. Let us seek to know him not only as a historical character, but as a living presence in our midst. And when we truly find it, we will discover that we cannot do anything other than talk about what we saw and heard.
And may the God of peace, who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, equip us with everything that is good to fulfill his will. May He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
