St. Paul’s final exhortation to the Church at Miletus and Jesus’ final prayer for the apostles serve as a last will and testament and have a common theme — living the Christian life is not easy. Paul: “Savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.” Jesus’ prayer: “The world hated… Read More »

During the days leading up to Pentecost the gospel readings are taken from “the last discourse” of Jesus. In St. John’s Gospel this final instruction to the apostles is designed to equip them for post-resurrection life in the Holy Spirit. The discourse ends with what is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Jesus… Read More »

Faith is not a rock or even a precious gem that we hold onto. Faith is something alive and growing, that needs care and tending. We can never say “I’ve got it now.” The people of Ephesus has a partial understanding of the faith when St. Paul arrived. However, they told him, “We have never… Read More »

The most picturesque part of the story of the Ascension of Jesus as St. Luke tells it in the Acts of the Apostles consists of him being “lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight.” However, the point of Luke telling the story is not about what happened to Jesus but what happened… Read More »

“Apollos, an eloquent speaker, was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:24-25). St. Paul also mentions Apollos in his letter to the Corinthians so he must have… Read More »

The canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, is used every evening in the prayer of the Church. Perhaps over-familiarity has dulled the revolutionary nature of Mary’s words: the mighty are cast down and the lowly lifted up, the hungry are filled and the rich sent away empty. You can understand why Liberation Theologians such as Gustavo… Read More »

Paul ended up in Corinth not because of some grand design but because it provided the venue for him to make a living. Corinth was port town so there were always people coming through who needed a place to stay — the perfect place for tent maker. In addition, in non-Olympic years there were athletic… Read More »

The Areopagus is a hill in central Athens. Looking up you see the Acropolis of the city with the most beautiful buildings. Looking down you see the agora, the city center where the philosophers Socrates and Plato used to walk. St. Paul preached there because he believed the gospel is better than all that culture… Read More »

The readings for each day until Pentecost remind us the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. In the gospels Jesus speaks about the gift of the Spirit. The first reading during the entire fifty days of Easter are from the Acts of the Apostles, the so-called Gospel of the Holy Spirit. The two readings… Read More »

The Acts of the Apostles describes the rapid growth of the Jesus movement from a tiny sect within Judaism to a phenomenon impacting the entire Roman world — Jews and Gentiles alike. There is another aspect to that story that deserves attention — how the Jesus movement changed the fabric of society itself. St. Paul… Read More »