The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of St. Paul’s missionary journeys. During the first journey Paul concentrated his energies in the Jewish Diaspora. In presenting the message of Jesus he situated the gospel in salvation history. Paul’s instinct is that you can’t understand who Jesus is outside of the whole sweep of God’s… Read More »
MAY102017
I was struck by this line in the Acts of the Apostles: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…” The Holy Spirit never said anything to me despite my worship and fasting! It seems that we have to discover God’s will without the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. We… Read More »
MAY92017
Chapter 11 of the Book of Acts describes a shift that happened to the early Jesus movement. As the first believers spread out they began to attract non-Jews into their fellowship. It was a decisive moment in the Church. Were they going to remain primarily a group of Jews or was the gospel vision broader… Read More »
MAY82017
“If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” These are the words of St. Peter explaining how he came to welcome Gentiles into the Christian fellowship. The people were amazed that God… Read More »
MAY72017
“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Who wouldn’t want a more abundant life! These words of Jesus are extremely attractive. The Christian message resonates with the deepest desires of the human heart. If that is what the Church is “selling” we should have “buyers” lined up out the… Read More »
MAY62017
I entered the seminary in 1963 as Vatican II was beginning. The combination of the social and cultural shifts of the 60s along with the aggiornamento of the Council caused massive upheaval in the seminary system. Seven of the faculty members left the priesthood and married. Of my 56 classmates only one persevered to ordination.… Read More »
MAY52017
When Ananais is told to visit Saul after his encounter on the road to Damascus he is informed that Saul “is there praying.” Saul was then a person of prayer, with a spirituality — yet he was doing “evil things.” Human reality has the tendency to create our own version of God instead of connecting… Read More »
MAY42017
St. Luke tells the story of the spread of Christianity as a series of widening circles. From the initial followers of Jesus who were all Palestinian Jews the “Hellenists” were added — Greek-speaking Jews. Then the message spread to the Samaritans, looked down upon as kind of renegade Jews. Then the newly minted deacon Philip… Read More »
MAY32017
I can picture Jesus giving Philip a head slap when he said, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Don’t you get it, Philip? Open your eyes and see that the love of God is right in front of you. That really is our story as well. I’m reminded of… Read More »
MAY22017
The first reading during the Easter Season is taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Doing so is a reminder that resurrection was not something that happened to Jesus that we admire from afar. Rather, resurrection impacts us who are the followers of Jesus enabling us to not simply admire, but imitate him. The story… Read More »
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