From “Learners” to “Bearers” (05/17/2026)

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). I read the line and it struck me. I looked up and out over the congregation. I wondered if it had struck them as it had me. Christ was calling us through the words of the reading to go from “learners” to “bearers,” from passively listening and observing to actively witnessing. And that moment of realization remains with me this morning.

Learning Christ is different from other learnings. That, too, struck me yesterday. When I learned math, it stayed with me, and I could pull it out whenever it was beneficial to me. I could use it to add grocery costs in my head or to figure the square footage of my room. But learning Christ is different. Christ isn’t only for certain moments, Christ is life, Christ is always and everywhere.

And yesterday, as I read that line from Acts, I realized He was calling not just me but all those who identify with Him and use His name to describe ourselves. We can’t stop with the adjective “Christian.” We are called to provide more information. We are called to bear witness to Him by bringing Him with us and living His love and teaching and sharing His story and love through words and through deeds everywhere, even to the ends of the earth.

After communion yesterday, as I knelt in my pew, I was filled with the sense of receiving Christ physically and being called to bear Him out with me into the world. I looked up and the statue of Mary came into my view. The word “bear” that was in my mind exploded with the realization that like Mary I was being called to “bear” Christ, to produce the fruit of His love through the power of the Spirit. I was being called to carry Him – to be Christ carrier – to take Him and my love for Him out into the world after Mass. His gift of self to me was not meant for me alone.

As the word “bear” swirled in my mind, my love for language kicked in. I thought of its use in agriculture: to bear means to yield and yield has two meanings, produce but also surrender. And I could see He was enlightening me. I will not “produce” unless I “surrender.”

“Bear with Me.” As my prayer continued, I realized that Christ was asking me to witness to Him not only with words but with my whole life and at the same time He was acknowledging that I would struggle at times as His follower. Being a “bearer of Christ” calls for awareness and intention but most especially it calls for endurance.  I found myself praying to the LORD, Jesus Christ, “Bear with me, LORD, as I seek to bear You and bear with You.”

As I left the church last evening, I wondered if others could tell I was different from the woman who entered in an hour earlier. Probably not. But I could tell. I lingered outside the church, watching others and wondering if they had heard the call to be bearers of Christ. There was a feeling of community, a feeling of companionship. God is good.

As we journey in faith, buoyed by the Hope of one who does not disappoint, and fueled by love, let us do so realizing His call to us to bear Him with us everywhere and always and to share Him and His love freely and frequently. Let us be true “bearers of Christ” in our world.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.