Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 Jn 16:12-15 There is only so much that people can learn at a certain stage of their lives. The great truths of life take a long time to absorb. This is certainly the case with the truths of our faith. We enter into those truths gradually, over time, with experience of life. Jesus seems to acknowledge that in this morning’s gospel reading. He tells his disciples that he has many things to say to them but that they are not yet ready to hear them, ‘they would be too much for you now’. Jesus declares that the…

16:22-34; Psalm 137; l John 16:5-11 Today’s first reading tells us of the imprisonment of St Paul and his companion Silas. They had freed a girl of an evil spirit which now meant that she was useless to her masters. These same masters had Paul and Silas imprisoned because of their lost earnings now that she was freed from possession. However, this is turned into an occasion of teaching and conversion when they are freed from their chains and the gaoler sees this. As a result, the gaoler is converted to the faith. In the gospel, Jesus tells his followers…

Reading Acts 16:11-15 Jn 15:26-16:4a In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus expresses concern lest the faith of his disciples might be shaken. He shows an awareness that suffering is likely to come their way, in the form of persecution and hostility, and suffering might be undermining of their faith in him. The words of Jesus to his disciples can speak to our experience. Various experiences can shake our own faith. Some personal suffering, the efforts of others to undermine our faith, the failures of people of faith whom we trusted – all of these experiences, and many others could…

Readings Acts 15:22-31 Jn 15:12-17 In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus uses the language of friendship to describe his relationship with us. He declares that he befriends us by laying down his life for us. During the second world war in a Nazi concentration camp, Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, gave his life so that a fellow prisoner, a married man, might live. He befriended that man in the most radical way possible. His act of friendship is a living sign of how Jesus befriends us. Jesus died so that we might live with the life of God, eternal life.…

After Judas had betrayed Jesus, the twelve apostles that Jesus chose had been reduced to eleven. It was important to preserve the number twelve because that number had great significance. There were twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve whom Jesus selected were the nucleus of the new Israel, the new people of God that would consist of Jews and non-Jews. Matthias was the one chosen to replace Judas and to maintain the integrity of the original twelve. Whereas Jesus chose the original twelve, it was up to the first disciples, the very early church, to choose a replacement for…

Readings Acts 15:1-6 Jn 15:1-8 There is always a temptation to put limits on God, to say, in effect, that God cannot do this or that unless this or that happens. We find such a scenario in today’s first reading. Some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came down to the church in Antioch and told converts to the faith from paganism, Gentile Christians, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses, you cannot be saved’. They were saying in effect, ‘Much as God would like to include you among those who will inherit eternal life, he is powerless unless…