Several other photos, however, showed the hanging of several Negro runaway slaves. Obviously, this punishment was common practice in post-Civil War days in order to defer others from doing the same.

But get this: What astonished me was the crowd of people witnessing the “event.” This could have been a Sunday afternoon outing. Some, (including many children) sat on the grass having their picnic lunches, eagerly waiting the final moment of the drop. The people did not seem disturbed or embarrassed to be watching someone’s death up close. They were not holding their hands over the eyes of their children. They were simply sitting around, waiting to see how a human being died, an act gross beyond belief.

Who were these people? They were ordinary folks who just had come to witness (remember that word); witness an “ordinary action.” It was probably not even considered a violent act, just Sunday afternoon entertainment in an age when true entertainment was hard to come by.

So, who were they? They were witnesses, on-lookers. Mind you, however, these people did not witness to, stand against, the indescribable violence; they did not rise up to object to it. No, rather I should imagine that they stood in agreement with it. So, my point is that these photos showed people who came to watch (witness) but they made no effort to “witness” against the death of a human person or even against the grossness of the entire event.

So, my point is that we, ordinary human beings, can either stand around and look at (witness) something without demonstrating any emotions, or, on the other hand, we can stand and witness our feelings about some particular act that we find unjust. The more honorable of the two, of course, is to witness our concern, our standing against an issue.

I am saying all this because the word witness threads its way through many of the scriptures during the Fifty Days of Easter.

There are numerous occasions, for instance, when the disciples of Jesus witnessed his suffering and death, but also occasions after the resurrection when they speak of seeing him, eating and drinking with him, hearing him refer to the Jewish scriptures as predicting his future apostolate.

So important were these events in Jesus’ life that, for the early Church, it would be unthinkable not to say what they had witnessed. This was too important to be left behind without notice.

Think then what Christian life would be like today if those early Christians, apostles, disciples and just ordinary folks had decided that those events were just not important enough to be witnessed, remembered and passed on. What would our faith look like if that had been the case? It is a rhetorical question, of course, because we know that these Christians did, indeed, pass on the stories of Jesus that form our faith today.

Of course, that leaves us with the most important question? If we claim to be Catholic, where is the witness to that? How do we stand after having witnessed the stories of Jesus’ life in the gospels?

Does any other person, Christian or non-Christian, have any sense that we have “been there,” that we are a witness to Christ?

On the quality of Christian witness, Thomas Merton, the Cistercian monk, once said that a saint preaches sermons by the way he/she walks and the way he/she stands…the way he/she picks up things and holds them in his hands.

Well, that sounds pretty easy, but, truly, our body posture tells others a lot about ourselves. How do we stand, where do we stand, that’s the question? Witnessing and standing-for are practically the same thing, right?

The scriptures: Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2: 1-5; Lk 24:35-48