Dear Saint Paul, travelling miles everywhere to preach the Gospel to everybody who would listen, and there always followed in his wake other preachers who tried to get the new Christians to become judaised, taking on superficial symbols of Jewish belonging. This meant primarily circumcision, which resulted in the full obligation of these men andContinue reading “Reading through the letter of S. Paul to the Galatians”
Tag Archives: the acts of the apostles
Engraved upon our hearts (Pentecost Sunday)
We suitably terminate our seven weeks of Easter with today’s festival of Pentecost. This is not necessarily a Christian system; it is a Jewish one. Long before our Lord walked this earth as a man, the Hebrew nation celebrated their liberation from slavery in Egypt with the festivals of Passover and of unleavened bread. ImmediatelyContinue reading “Engraved upon our hearts (Pentecost Sunday)”
The unifying love that is friendship (Sunday VI of Easter)
Cornelius, a leading character of our first reading this weekend, was a Roman, and so not Jewish, although not necessarily a pagan, for he was sufficiently devoted to the God of Israel to received the angelic vision that led him to call for the Apostle S. Peter. The Romans looked down upon the Jews asContinue reading “The unifying love that is friendship (Sunday VI of Easter)”
One in Christ, Jew and Gentile (Sunday V of Easter)
One of the books I have been reading this week was written by a Jewish rabbi from Rochester in the US, who a few decades ago came to a understanding of Our Lord Jesus Christ that his fellowmen mostly abhor. He realised that Christ was the Hebrew Messiah long awaited by the Jews. This man’sContinue reading “One in Christ, Jew and Gentile (Sunday V of Easter)”
The Old Testament and the New (Sunday III of Easter)
Let’s try to find a common thread for all of our readings at Mass this weekend. There is first of all the sermon of Saint Peter on the occasion of a miracle of healing performed upon a cripple in Christ’s Name. “Peter, when he saw it, addressed himself to the people; ‘Men of Israel,’ heContinue reading “The Old Testament and the New (Sunday III of Easter)”
Reading through the Acts of the Apostles
I’m not certain exactly how to summarise the Acts of the Apostles. Saint Luke did not write it precisely as a history, as we understand histories today, any more than he wrote his Gospel as a history. Rather, the Acts is his continuation of that Gospel demonstrating the ongoing abiding of Christ with His Church in theContinue reading “Reading through the Acts of the Apostles”
Jews and Gentiles together (the 20th Sunday of OT)
“…the time had come for the promises made by God to the Hebrews to be applied to non-Jews. It took a long time for the Apostles themselves to realise this…”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 