Barnabas and Paul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, … proclaimed the word of God. That the first Christians sent forth missionaries was a development from their Jewish roots. While the Jews welcomed those who were interested in the faith, they did not go into the wider world actively “recruiting.” The Christians did because they… Read More »
APRIL232024
Those who had been scattered by the persecution … went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word. No doubt those first followers of Jesus were distressed when persecution broke out. They were forced to leave their homes in order to stay safe. But out of this seemingly negative experience God drew some… Read More »
APRIL222024
They stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” One of the constant temptations in human life is to imagine that my group, my time, my culture is somehow just a little better than the other. To counteract that tendency in the US there has been a… Read More »
APRIL212024
The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd is one of the most endearing of Christian icons. Think of how many funerals where we have sung the 23rd Psalm: “the Lord is my shepherd.” All of this despite the fact that most of us have never seen a shepherd in the flesh. When I was… Read More »
APRIL202024
In the play, Man of LaMancha, Aldonza confronts Sancho Panza about his motivations for following Don Quixote. “What do you get out of it?” He answers simply, “I like him. I really like him.” So often in life we can’t give articulate explanations for what is going on inside of us. Think of falling in… Read More »
APRIL192024
The conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus was a major turning point in the life of the Church — so major that the Acts of the Apostles tells the story three times! There is Saul before the conversion who becomes Paul after the conversion. Stories of a dramatic shift like that of… Read More »
APRIL182024
We have been reading for the past few days from John 6 — the Bread of Life Discourse. The instinct of the Church is that the privileged way we connect with the Risen Jesus is through the Bread of Life, the Eucharist. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this… Read More »
APRIL172024
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. You can imagine that first generation of Christians thinking, “Oh no. Persecution. This is terrible.” However, as the story unfolds it was the persecution that occasioned the initial growth of the Church, rippling… Read More »
APRIL162024
The deacon Stephen is the first of the followers of Jesus to die. St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles shapes his death as an imitation of the death of Jesus and as a model for the deaths of all Christians which follow. First, we prepare for death by seeing that we are in… Read More »
APRIL152024
Cardinal Newman said that to grow is to change and to become perfect is to have changed often. But change is hard. Jesus asked his followers to change so that they could better reflect their dignity as children of God. The first followers of Jesus asked their contemporaries to change following the example of Jesus.… Read More »
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