30 April 2018
Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
It is amazing what others can see in us. Barnabas and Paul find this out in the first reading, while proclaiming the good news in the countryside—the people declare that they must be gods! Paul and Barnabas are rightly enraged at how the people have misunderstood their message. Yet in their error, there is a nugget of truth. Barnabas and Paul are behaving in God-like ways. They heal the sick, they proclaim truth. They do wonderful things because they are children of God.
We are also children of God, just like Paul and Barnabas. Not all of us can heal a sick person with only a word, but we can all tend to those who are suffering. Not all of us can preach as well as Paul, but we can all witness to the truth of God by living well and speaking truth with quiet conviction. Whether or not we can give people miracles, all of us can give people God’s love and God’s truth. As children of God, we resemble Him more than we might realize. Hopefully others can look at us and see God.