NOTES for Act 3:1-26

The Apostle Peter's answer to the lame man sitting at the entrance to the Temple in Jerusalem prompts us too to consider what we can give the world around us. The world indeed most often thirsts for “silver and gold,” which Christianity is unable to give it. Yet the fact is that deep down the world thirsts for more: it awaits healing and wants to know the truth about itself and about God. The Book of Acts gives us wonderful examples of how the Apostles bring peace, healing, and meaning to those around them. Peter and John not only heal the lame man, emphasizing that this happened not by their own power but by God's; in a few extraordinarily concise words, they also reveal to the Israelites the meaning of their history and their election by God, and point them toward the center of their longings and hopes: Christ. In today's circumstances, the Lord expects all this from Christianity, from the Church, and from us as well.