In today’s Gospel reading from Mark 16, we hear Mark’s version of Jesus’ great commission: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Words to live by.
Here is how the first reading today starts from Acts 4: “Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, the leaders, elders and scribes were amazed…” Now, in honoring them as Apostles, we may think that Peter, John and the other Apostles were far from ordinary. And, of course, in a sense they were extraordinary. But they were also just regular Joes. Ordinary guys.
Sometimes we may feel that just being ordinary folks disqualifies us from doing great things. Perish the thought. The history of the Church (indeed, the history of the world) is rife with ordinary folks doing extraordinary things for Christ. I would venture to guess that every great saint would claim to be just ordinary. Never let your ordinary-ness hold you back from serving God in extraordinary ways!
Father, you know we’re just ordinary folks. Give us the grace to do extraordinary deeds in service to you. Amen.
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