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From: Acts 4:23-31

The Church’s Thanksgiving Prayer

[23] When they (Peter and John) were released they went to their friends and
reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. [24] And when
they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord,
who didst make the Heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
[25] who by the mouth of our father David, Thy servant, didst say by the Holy
Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? [26]
The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered to-
gether, against the Lord and against His Anointed’ [27] for truly in this city there
were gathered together against Thy Holy Servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the peoples of Israel, [28]
to do whatever Thy hand and Thy plan had predestined to take place. [29] And
now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to Thy servants to speak Thy word
with all boldness, [30] while Thou stretchest out Thy hand to heal, and signs and
wonders are performed through the name of Thy Holy Servant Jesus.” [31] And
when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was sha-
ken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with
boldness.

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Commentary:

24-30. This prayer of the Apostles and the community provides Christians with
a model of reliance on God’s help. They ask God to give them the strength they
need to continue to proclaim the Word boldly and not be intimidated by perse-
cution, and they also entreat Him to accredit their preaching by enabling them
to work signs and wonders.

The prayer includes some prophetic verses of Psalm 2 which find their fulfillment
in Jesus Christ. The psalm begins by referring to earthly rulers plotting against
God and His Anointed. Jesus Himself experienced this opposition, as the Apos-
tles do now and as the Church does throughout history. When we hear the cla-
mor of the forces of evil, still striving to “burst their bonds asunder, and cast their
cords from us” (verse 3), we should put our trust in the Lord, who “holds them in
derision. [...] He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury” (ver-
ses 4-5); in this way we make it possible for God’s message to be heard by eve-
ryone: “Now, therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve
the Lord with fear, with trembling kiss His feet. [...] Blessed are all who take re-
fuge in Him” (verses 10-12).

Meditation on this psalm has comforted Christians in all ages, filling them with
confidence in the Lord’s help: “Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heri-
tage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (verse 8).

31. The Holy Spirit chose to demonstrate His presence visibly in order to encou-
rage the nascent Church. The shaking that happens here was, St. John Chrysos-
tom comments, “a sign of approval. It is an action of God to instill a holy fear in
the souls of the Apostles, to strengthen them against the threats of senators and
priests, and to inspire them with boldness to preach the Gospel. The Church was
just beginning and it was necessary to support preaching with wonders, in order
the better to win men over. It was needed at this time but not later on. [...] When
the earth is shaken, this sometimes is a sign of Heaven’s wrath, sometimes of fa-
vor and providence. At the death of our Savior the earth shook in protest against
the death of its Author.... But the shaking where the Apostles were gathered to-
gether was a sign of God’s goodness, for the result was that they were filled with
the Holy Spirit” (”Hom. on Acts”, 11).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

He is Risen! Truly Risen!

A blessed Eastertide to all!