The disciples were filled with joy and the holy Spirit. (Acts 13:52 NABRE)
Imagine how it would feel to visit some friends because you had great news to share, the news is so great that word spreads and everyone in town shows up to hear it. Now imagine some of the townspeople become angry at the news, incite others to anger, and soon you are run out of town, lucky to be alive. How would you feel?
Immediately after this happened to Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch, we are told they were filled with joy!
What a paradox. I think it is a powerful statement of the impact of the Spirit, and the truth of their message. First, no one risks their life for a story they don't believe, so we know with certainty that these men believed in Jesus' resurrection. Second, no one dedicates their life to frustration, rejection, and hardship for a story they know to be false, so we know with equal certainty that they believed the truth of why Jesus suffered and died.
Their joy, like ours today, comes, not from the fleeting circumstances of life, but from faith in the promise of Jesus and the company of God's own holy Spirit dwelling in each of us who invites him in.
Today, I will live joyfully with the holy Spirit, present in me.
Saint George, patron of boy scouts, soldiers, England, Germany, and Portugal, pray for us.
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