In today’s reading, a jail break puts the prison officer in danger. “How can I be saved?” he asks. Here’s today’s reflection from the daily Mass.
Readings for Tuesday of the 6th week of Easter can be found here
Nelson Mandela once said that “to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
In the reading from Acts, Paul and Silas are freed from their physical chains by an act of God. This in turn plunges the prison guard into a terrible dilemma. For the prison guard to want to kill himself, suggests that the punishment he would have received because there has been a jail break under his watch would be far more severe. We can only imagine and shudder at the thought. The guard seeks Paul’s advice. “What must I do to be saved?” What kind of question is this? Saved from what? Saved from punishment, torture and death? Whatever he meant by the question, Paul is quick with an answer. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
For Paul, salvation is not about survival or getting away with something, or coming up with a plan to slip the grip of authority in a harsh and violent world. Salvation is what Christ has won for us on the cross, a life with God for ever, knowing, loving and serving him. Freedom in Christ is not about doing what we want or being able to live with no boundaries. That would be anarchy. No, freedom means being liberated from the power of sin, and enjoying the life that Christ want to give us, life in all its fullness.
Mass today is in S Mary’s at 6.30pm
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