We must obey God rather than men

Here is where we stand at this point in time:

Recently...

• A terrorist said bad things about Pope Benedict
• The Pope baptized a prominent Muslim
• A magazine cover tagged the Pope with an inflammatory word

And in less than two weeks...

• The Holy Father will come to the United States
• He will speak before all the nations of the world
• He will be scrutinized by the world’s most powerful media

And during these days, the first reading at Mass has often been showing the Holy Father’s predecessor, Saint Peter the Apostle, bravely confronting the opposition of powerful men and proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead and the only name by which humankind can be saved.

Today's first reading (Acts 5:27-33) is a great example of this:

But Peter and the Apostles said in reply,
"We must obey God rather than men."

So indeed the Holy Father shows himself obeying the commands of God rather than the political correctness of men.

We need to pray that Pope Benedict will continue this Petrine ministry of bravely proclaiming the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that God will protect him and strengthen him against the powerful of this world.

We also need to pray that the Lord will strengthen us to obey God rather than men, so that we may proclaim bravely yet prudently the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by our words and deeds and by our charity and our hope.