by Quin Hillyer at PJ Media:
Today’s readings are full of expressions of faith in God’s glory. It is a glory at which, as all the readings make clear, we cannot help but marvel. But what most hits home for me is the example in the lesson from Acts of how direct experience with that glory instills in men a courage they had not previously exhibited….
(later):
… even after being beaten, the Apostles “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were deemed worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
We can, and should, learn from this. No, of course nobody is calling on us to subject ourselves to beatings and then rejoice at them. But we should follow the Apostles’ examples of being willing to take stands on principle – especially when the principle involves our faith – even when there may be consequences that at least in the short-term are uncomfortable.
