Called Through The Doubt

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Saturday in Easter Week 

Today's Readings:
[ Acts 4:13-21; Ps 118:1-4, 22-29; Mk 16:9-15 ]

There is something both wonderfully human and deeply hopeful about today’s readings. The disciples in the Gospel reading are slow to believe. Mary Magdalene announces, “I have seen the Lord,” yet they do not believe her. Others testify, and still they doubt. When Jesus appears, he rebukes their unbelief and hardness of heart. And yet… he sends them anyway: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”

Franciscan spirituality has always held this tension gently: we are not sent because we are perfect, but because God is good. The mission does not begin with our certainty... it begins with God’s initiative. Like St. Francis, who did not wait until he understood everything before rebuilding the Church, we are called to go, even while our faith is still being formed.

In Acts, Peter and John stand before the authorities, described as “uneducated and ordinary men,” yet recognized for one extraordinary thing: “they had been with Jesus.” That is the mark of discipleship. Not brilliance. Not polish. Presence. They cannot keep from speaking “about what we have seen and heard.”

And the psalm gives us the lens through which to understand it all: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. God delights in working through what the world overlooks—doubters, fishermen, ordinary people. This is the Franciscan way: humility as the doorway to grace, littleness as the place where God builds something eternal.

So today, if your faith feels imperfect, you’re in good company. If you wrestle with doubt, you’re still invited. The risen Christ does not wait for flawless belief before calling you—he meets you, forms you, and sends you.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. And then go, just as you are, and proclaim that goodness with your life.

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