Fr. Paul Donohue, mccj
Fr. Paul Donohue has been a Comboni Missionary for more than 50 years. He currently resides at the Cincinnati Mission Center and serves in various ministries around the city.
by: Fr. Paul Donohue, mccj
29 June 2025
This Sunday’s readings offer us the possibility of looking back at the experience of the first apostles. We can see how the Lord’s intervention in their lives formed their leadership for the community of believers. It does not originate from the powerful of this world, but rather through their missionary efforts and through persecution. In every way, Peter and Paul were like the “poor ones” of this Sunday’s psalm, in need of constant grace and rescue from Jesus, who ascended above.
This Sunday’s first reading from Acts introduces King Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, as the worldly leader in charge of an escalating persecution of the followers of Jesus. “He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:2-3). James was martyred in the year 42 AD. A noteworthy message for the current U.S.A. administrative actions.
The rest of today’s first reading recounts an angelic “search and rescue mission” of an imprisoned Peter. The rescue, recounted in detail, is clearly a miraculous divine intervention told in such a way that no one would doubt the cause of Peter’s release. “Now I know for certain,” cried Peter, “that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod” (Acts 12:11). God saved the poor man. This experience provided the credibility Peter needed to witness and advance the word of God. In other words, it was because of persecution that the word of God advanced, not in spite of it.
This Sunday’s second reading recounts Paul’s own self-offering with the same themes of distress and rescue, all for the sake of advancing the word of God. In Paul’s own words, “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed” (2 Tm 4:17). Paul saw his life as a “poured-out libation,” an ancient term for a sacrificial offering of wine that was given in full. He had poured out his entire life so that the word of God may advance.
For both Peter and Paul, the experience of full self-offering was an experience of grace. They recognized in Jesus Christ the living voice of God, and they offered their entire lives to helping others hear that same voice. When they encountered suffering, they trusted that it would lead to God’s intervention. When that same saving God continued to call them into new situations of difficult opposition, they sought out ways to advance the Gospel even then. This is the lesson of leadership among Christ’s disciples, to be ever at the task of sharing the Gospel, finding moments of grace even in hardship. In other words, the current U.S.A. administrative action will lead missionaries io pour out their entire lives so that the truth of God’s word may advance for the benefit of the poor.
