Meditation for May 12, The First Christian Sermon

I have already heard dozens and dozens of sermons and exhorta­tions. What effect have they had on me; am I better in proportion to the number of words I have heard and the number of sugges­tions I have received? If so, I ought to be a saint ready for canonization!

The sermon of St. Peter on the eve of Pentecost at Jerusalem was the first Christian sermon. The Apostle addressed a great multitude, speaking of Christ as a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders. (Acts ii, 22.) Therefore, let all the house of Israel know most certainly, that God hath made both Lord, and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified. (Acts ii, 36.)

St. Peter did not mince words but reproached the Jews for their blindness; he showed what Jesus had done for them and what they had done to Him in return. As a result three thousand persons were converted that day which has been called the birthday of the Church.

Three thousand people! One sermon! And these were conver­sions in the full sense of the word.

But St. Peter was St. Peter and there are what may be called beginners' graces; that partially explains the marvelous effects of the sermon. And I must take into account, too, the receptive dispositions and the good will of his hearers.

I will never charge my slow advance in virtue to the inefficiency of the speaker or a lack of divine grace, but rather bear in mind my own responsibility to use the graces offered me. If I do not progress in virtue, after all the aids to sanctification that I have received, is it not perhaps because my heart is not sufficiently receptive to divine grace? I must not profane God's gifts. I will welcome every grace and try to profit by it. To do this I will try to observe recollection.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)