We must obey God rather than men

Peter and the Apostles stood before the Sanhedrin. They again faced the jealous high priest who had thrown them into prison the night before. 

“We gave you strict orders did we not, to stop teaching in that name,” the high priest said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

The Apostles were not afraid. They replied: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5: 17-29).

We encounter these words in the first reading today, and they hold profound meaning for each and every one of us—we must obey God rather than men.

In this “world of men”—this culture—the option to obey God rather than men is often hidden behind a wall of distractions.

Just picture it: A young woman wakes up in the morning and immediately turns on the news to fill her mind as she drinks her coffee and prepares for the day. She puts her headphones in after locking the door, blasting music throughout the entire commute. She gets to work and immerses herself in it, filling up any breaks with texting and YouTube videos. At the end of the day she walks home to the same soundtrack, planning to spend the evening with her favorite shows.

If we want, we can spend every day like this. “Noise” serves as an entertaining tranquilizer in the face of a terrifying loneliness that threatens all men. This “noise” is dangerous, though, and the more we fill our hearts with it, the more difficult it becomes for us to understand God’s love and how much we need it. We lose our true identity in Him, and we forget to listen.

How beautiful it is then, when young men and women defy the world of temporary highs and listen to God! Those who uniquely die to this culture become more alive, because in dying to these distractions we open our hearts to the glory of God and His Church. This may seem paradoxical, but it is so.

We all have unique gifts to offer, and God needs each and every one of them. We also need God to bring our gifts to their true and beautiful fullness. If we can hear God, He will tell us how best we can serve Him. Therefore, we must cast off the “world of men” and obey God by listening to Him.

This month the general papal intention is “that many young people may hear the call of Christ and follow him in the priesthood and religious life.”

This call is most beautiful and most special, what Blessed John Paul II describes as an “extraordinary adventure.”  In his 1979 message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, he goes on to say, “He needs, and he wants to need, your persons, your intelligence, your energy, your faith, your love, your holiness.”

Blessed John Paul II, you were deeply immersed in a world of evil and suffering when you heard your call. Please intercede for young men and women around the world, so that they may cast off the distracting “world of men” and obey their God who is calling them.