Saturday in the Fourth Week of Easter

“I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). Christ has commissioned each of us to go out to the whole world proclaiming the Good News of salvation. Having been grafted to the Incarnate Word, we are called to incarnate the Gospel in the world. I am reminded of some jargon from the business world. We need to have skin in the game. This means that we need to be directly involved in building the Kingdom. “Skin” means placing ourselves at risk, following the mindset of Christ, who emptied himself to fill us. “Game” is the metaphor for acting on the field of play, like Him who laid down his life so we might have life and have it to the full.

When the Word became Man, he entered a personal relationship with every human being. When we share the gospel of salvation, we invite people to find a resting place close to the heart of God. The apostle Peter put it quite simply: “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk” (Acts 3:6). When we proclaim the gospel, we are not offering them some token, but are asking them to open their hearts to have into a personal relationship with the living God who can make them whole. May we be so consumed by the fire of divine love that we are willing to have skin in the game of salvation and walk in his name.