The Blessed Virgin Mary; mother of the Society of Jesus
Acts 4: 1-12
While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Living Stones of Faith
This Jesus, is the stone rejected by you the builders, it has become the cornerstone. Acts 4:11-12
Livingstone is the family name of my great-grandparents Carrie and Daniel. I hear this Scripture, and I think of them. Black Catholics in the 1920’s experienced racism, exclusion, and rejection from Catholic churches in New Jersey. My great-grandparents (and great-aunts) refused to be denied Jesus in the reception of the sacraments. Lay Black Catholics led by women challenged the racism in the Church. This led to the formation and incorporation of the historical and first Black parish of the Church of Christ the King in Jersey City in the Archdiocese of Newark. Ninety two years later, my twin cousins, Sr. Lynn Marie, SBS and Sr. Patricia Ann, SSJ, are Black Catholic nuns. The Ralph sisters live out the faith dreams of our family’s ancestors.
—Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, RN, OPA is a Lay Dominian that engages Catholic Social Teaching as a pastoral theologian through the lens of Ignatian Spirituality and the Examen for healing and reconciliation.
Prayer
Let us rise as Catholic Christians, let us embrace the presence of Christ in those who are marginalized and rejected by society. Let our prayers rise up like incense to you, Oh Lord.
Let us see our Black and Brown brothers and sisters as the embodiment of the experiences of Jesus, who was also rejected. Let our prayers rise up like incense to you, Oh Lord.
Let us embrace the Ignatian spirituality which sees that Black Lives Matter, because all life has sanctity and human dignity- created in the Imago Dei. Let our prayers rise up like incense to you, Oh Lord.
May we live in the promise of the Resurrection and rise up to serve the Catholic Social Thought on Justice and Peace in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
—Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley