Called to be Witnesses to Christ: Are We Listening?

Rembrandt: The Stoning of St. Stephen

During the Easter season I like to read the Acts of the Apostles and the post Resurrection gospel passages. They are all about Christian witness, i.e., evangelization. Peter uses the word witness over and over after the Resurrection of Jesus. He tells the crowd on Pentecost Sunday about Christ saying, "This is the Jesus God has raised up, and we are his witnesses." (Acts 2:32) After curing the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the temple Peter proclaims to the amazed crowd, "Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by some power or holiness of our own? The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus....