“Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region.”
Pretend that you are in the audience as Paul spoke, so convincingly. Place yourself in the shoes first of the Israelite and see how well you accept or reject what you hear. You were urged to remain faithful to the grace of God. Now change your shoes and see you too are destined for eternal life and believe.
The magic of Paul and Barnabas is God’s grace and we all today, gifted with eternal life and the Holy Spirit, are to live and bring that life to others. We hear and listen and become witnesses as well. One of the encouraging words of Pope Francis is that we speak out ‘boldly’ of the Christ we know.