(Third Sunday of Easter (C): This homily was given on April 26, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Acts 5: 17-42.)

"Better for us to obey God than men."

A young woman from the parish came up to me the other day and said, "Fr. Ray, when I was 15 years old I had an abortion. In one of your homilies please tell parents to speak to their children about this issue. Back then, when I got pregnant, I was convinced that my parents would reject me. I thought they’d be angry and disappointed, and that my relationship with them would be ruined forever—so I never told them I was pregnant. I didn’t realize--until after I had the abortion—that they would have stood by me and supported me during my pregnancy. Young people need to know that their parents will love them and be there for them even when they make mistakes and commit sins. If I had known that, I would not have taken the life of my child."

Not surprisingly, she said all this with great sadness. She said it with a heavy heart. And I immediately thought of the words of the apostles in today’s first reading from Acts 5: "Better for us to obey God than men." Like all those who have had abortions--or performed abortions--or encouraged others to have abortions, this woman needs forgiveness and inner healing. She carries around a pain inside of her that God never intended her to have. Which is one of the sad but unavoidable results of violating the fifth commandment ("Thou shalt not kill") or any of the other commands the Lord gives us in his Word. Better for us to obey God than men. Better for us to obey God than Planned Parenthood on this issue. Better for us to obey God than those who encourage us to take the easy way out.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had given a command to Peter and the other apostles just before he ascended into heaven after the Resurrection: he said, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation." That was an order the disciples received from God himself: from Jesus, the Word made flesh. The members of the Sanhedrin did not appreciate the fact that the apostles were obeying that order and preaching about Jesus to the people of Jerusalem. So they had the apostles arrested and put on trial. As we were told in today’s first reading, the high priest began the proceedings by saying, "WE gave you strict orders not to teach about that name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for that man’s blood." Peter and the others immediately responded, "Better for us to obey God than men." Notice they did not say, "Easier for us to obey God than men;" nor did they say, "Initially more pleasant to obey God than men." Because it was not "easier" or "initially more pleasant" for these men to obey the Lord. The Bible tells us, in fact, that the apostles were whipped severely before the members of the Sanhedrin released them that day. Initially their obedience made things very difficult and very unpleasant! But in the long run it was much better that they did what God wanted them to do. Without a doubt, at this very moment, every one of them would agree with that—since every one of them is now in heaven.

Of course, the real question for today is: Do we agree with that? Do we really believe that it’s in our best interest to obey God in all things? I think many people—if they answered honestly—would say, "No, I don’t believe that." They would say, "Look, here’s how I see it: One day, God was bored. He had nothing better to do, so he sat down and came up with ten arbitrary laws designed to make my life exceedingly miserable! Later his Church added on lots of others! God is none other than the eternal cosmic killjoy—the big, bad policeman in the sky who wants to keep me from enjoying life and having the fun I’m entitled to. In fact, that’s what he made hell for: he made hell so that he would have a place where he could fry fun-loving people forever."

Well, needless to say, if that’s our image of God, then we definitely will not agree with the apostles’ statement. Our attitude will be just the opposite: "Better to obey men than God--any day of the week!"

I suppose the underlying issue here is this one: Are we really convinced that God knows what’s best for us? Or do we think that we know what’s best for ourselves? I was jogging through town the other day and I noticed a sign in the window of one of the stores on Main St.—it read, "Hire a teenager--while he still knows everything!" Well, unfortunately, it’s not only teenagers who think they know more than the Lord does. For example, how many times do some of us give God instructions when we pray? Instead of saying what the prophet Samuel said ("Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."), we say, "Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking--and here are your orders for the day . . . !" Well, the fact is: we will only say what the apostles said ("Better to obey God than men,") if we realize that we are not God and that he alone knows what’s best for us!

This is something that the future St. Augustine finally came to realize after many years of disobeying God and obeying his passions—especially lust! During that time, he was convinced that he knew what was best for himself—and he lived his life by that philosophy. After his conversion (which his mother, St. Monica, prayed for for thirty-three years), Augustine wrote these words: "I remember that my mother warned me in private not to commit fornication, and especially not to defile another man’s wife. These seemed to me womanish advices, which I should blush to obey. But they were yours, O God, and I knew it not."

That was Augustine’s way of saying, "Yes, I believe it—I now believe it’s better to obey God than men (especially when God speaks to you through your saintly mother!). I believe it because I’ve experienced some of the sad results of not obeying: I used women for my own selfish purposes; I hurt them, I hurt my family and I hurt myself in the process."