The conversion of St. Paul was a pivotal moment in the life of the early Church. It was so important that St. Luke tells it three times in the Book of Acts. However, the way Acts reports the story seems somewhat inaccurate to the actual event. In the Acts, Saul (St. Paul) has his encounter… Read More »

As St.Luke tells the story in Acts, the Jesus movement began to ripple out. After the martyrdom of St. Stephen the persecution of the followers of Jesus causes them to move away from Jerusalem. At first they spread the message in Samaria — among Jews who were not well regarded by the Jerusalem elite. The… Read More »

The Vatican on Friday published Pope Francis’ eagerly-awaited Apostolic Exhoratation on the family, called the Joy of Love drawing together almost three years of consultations with Catholics in countries around the world. One observation the Holy Father makes in the document is that receiving Holy Communion is not a reward for a job well done.… Read More »

ST. Luke tells the story of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr or protomartyr as the old Latins put it, to connect his death with that of Jesus. Like Our Lord Stephen commends himself into the hands of the Heavenly Father. Like Our Lord he forgives his enemies. The message is that the… Read More »

St. Luke describes the beginnings of the Church something like a rock dropped into a pond. The ripples from larger and larger circles. The first ripple is the conflict between the Greek and Hebrew speakers found in Acts 7. Out of that experience new models of leadership develop. St. Luke calls them the “deacons.” The… Read More »

Go, jump in the lake. Back in the olden days if you wanted to get rid of a pest or dismiss someone who was bothering you that’s what you would say: Go, jump in the lake. Get lost. Go jump in the lake. But I grew up in Baltimore. What did I know about lakes?… Read More »

I get a strange sort of consolation reading about the conflict in the early Church told of in Acts 6. Both the Greek speaking and the Hebrew speaking followers of Jesus were feeling a bit put out, taken for granted, not given their due. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has ever… Read More »

The way St. John tells the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (the one miracle common to all four gospel writers) has a particularly poignant line. After the apostle Andrew tells Jesus that there is a boy with five loaves and two fish he adds: “but what good are these for so… Read More »

“We must obey God rather than men,” said St. Peter. This is certainly true — our one desire and choice should always be to follow the will of God. However, what God wants is not usually obvious. For example, we live in a time when terrorists do terrible things in the name of God. There… Read More »

In the great philosophy of our time — the Peanuts comic trip — Lucy tells Linus that he can’t be a doctor because he doesn’t love mankind. “I love mankind,” Linus objects, “it’s people I can’t stand.” In John 3:16 (recognized by anyone who has seen a sporting event on TV in the past twenty… Read More »