15/05/2023

St. Paul begins his mission to Europe in the homeland of Alexander the Great. It seems that there was no Synagogue as the "sabbath meeting" he addresses has a usual location outside the walls. It seems that here and in many other places there was an instant result to Paul's preaching. The listeners must have been Jews and the God-Fearing non-Jews who had attached themselves to the Synagogues throughout the Empire.

We can interpret these rapid conversions in retrospect as the work of the Holy Spirit. Having seen the collapse of many Church initiatives in my lifetime, I would have expected these communities of the Baptised to collapse as rapidly as they were formed but Paul kept in touch. The letters that he wrote to many of them survive as part of the divinely inspired New Testament.

In the Gospel Jesus continues the formation of the Apostles for the role they will have to play in His Mission. He is speaking before the events of Holy Week and so they could not have been sure of the full significance of his words. His life is defined by his Mission. 

I know, I really do know that the immensity of the Mission of Jesus is totally Holy. Holy beyond my comprehension. I open my mind to thought but there is total blankness. All the Apostles, Saints, Martyrs, Prophets will tell us that the Glory of God can only be worshipped in loving obedience. 

Only the Son knows the Father and the Holy Spirit.  This sentence can be rewritten by interchanging the subject and objects without  changing one iota of its meaning.

Dear Lord, let me live this day in accordance with your will and only with love for my family and neighbours. Let me not fear but approach death with faith in your Justice not because of my deeds but because of trust in your Mercy. You alone are Truth. May Mary lead all the Saints in praise and in pleas for your Mercy to be showered like roses onto sinners and on just alike and may the Holy Souls in Purgatory soon be pardoned to give thanks directly in your presence.