Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Acts: 18: 9-18

One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision,
“Do not be afraid.
Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.
No one will attack and harm you,
for I have many people in this city.”
He settled there for a year and a half
and taught the word of God among them.

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia,
the Jews rose up together against Paul
and brought him to the tribunal, saying,
“This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law.”
When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews,
“If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud,
I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews;
but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles
and your own law, see to it yourselves.
I do not wish to be a judge of such matters.”
And he drove them away from the tribunal.
They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official,
and beat him in full view of the tribunal.
But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

Paul remained for quite some time,
and after saying farewell to the brothers he sailed for Syria,
together with Priscilla and Aquila.
At Cenchreae he had shaved his head because he had taken a vow. 

The Word of the Lord.

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“Paul sailed for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila.”

In our first reading, Paul is on the move again. He’s been preaching the Gospel across Greece, Syria, even as far as Asia.  

Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Priscilla and Aquila — are just a few of the people who accompanied him on his journeys. 

Imagine how much harder his life would have been if he had to preach the Gospel without companions. Those sleepless nights on ships, in tents, in a stranger’s home, even in prison, could have been terribly lonesome otherwise. 

Paul understood an important lesson in life, as the old saying goes, “No man is an island.” We all need friends..

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True friends support us; they listen to our struggles; they pray for us; and stick by our side through the good and bad times. 

Do I have that type of friend? More importantly, am I such a friend for another?

As it’s written in the Book of Sirach: “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter. Whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth.”

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May Paul and his companions, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Kids Activity Blog (2) Sts. Paul and Priscilla, Orthodoxmonasteryicons.com (3) Saint John Nepomucene Catholic Community

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Acts: 1:15-17, 20-26

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters
(there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons
in the one place).
He said, “My brothers and sisters,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled
which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand
through the mouth of David, concerning Judas,
who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Judas was numbered among us
and was allotted a share in this ministry.
For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
Let his encampment become desolate,
and may no one dwell in it.
and:
May another take his office.

Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas,
who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed,
“You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this apostolic ministry
from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.”
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles.

The Word of the Lord.

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Our first reading describes what might be the first complete gathering of the Christian community after the resurrection of Christ. The days of the Apostles hiding fearfully in Jerusalem were over.

The Risen Lord had appeared to them, breathed on them, bestowed the Holy Spirit, offered his divine peace, and sent them out on mission to, “make disciples of all nations.”

The first order of business was to replace Judas Iscariot, whose betrayal and death left a gaping hole in the early Church’s leadership. So, the entire Christian community gathered… all 120 of them.

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Two candidates were proposed, Matthias and Joseph. Both of them were followers of Jesus from the earliest days of his ministry, but neither was chosen by the Lord to be one of the Twelve… until today.

One might imagine the Church had a very spiritual process of election, filled with much prayer and fasting. While that was true, the practical side of replacing Judas came down to casting lots. 

Matthias and Joseph each had their name written on a stone, then placed inside a jar. The jar shook until one name fell out: Matthias. With that, he joined the ranks of the Apostles, who were the direct successors of Christ’s authority on earth.

Tradition tells us that Matthias went on to preach the Gospel as far as Turkey, until, like his brothers and his Lord, he was martyred – literally put to death for sharing his faith.

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May Matthias intercede for us that we, too, would speak up, finding creative ways to share the Gospel, even unto death.

Saint Matthias, Apostle and Martyr, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Every Nation Church New Jersey (2) Saint Matthias, Peter Paul Rubens, 1611 (3) LDS Scripture of the Day

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Acts: 17:15, 22 – 18:1

After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens,
they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy
to join him as soon as possible.

Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
“You Athenians, I see that in every respect
you are very religious.
For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,
I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and all that is in it,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.
He made from one the whole human race
to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,
so that people might seek God,
even perhaps grope for him and find him,
though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’
as even some of your poets have said,
‘For we too are his offspring.’
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image
fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.
God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
but now he demands that all people everywhere repent
because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world
with justice’ through a man he has appointed,
and he has provided confirmation for all
by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff, but others said,
“We should like to hear you on this some other time.”
And so Paul left them.
But some did join him, and became believers.
Among them were Dionysius,
a member of the Court of the Areopagus,
a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. 

The Word of the Lord.

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Athens was one of the most diverse cities in the ancient world. It was a city of intellects – and a city of gods. In fact, there were so many gods worshipped that some used to say, “It is easier to meet a god than a person.” 

Perhaps you’ve seen the famous temple where all the gods were worshiped, the Parthenon, located smack dab in the heart of Athens. 

There, people could offer sacrifices to any god they wanted – to the god of the sky, of the sea, even of the underworld. Interestingly, there was also an altar reserved for, The Unknown God.

The Greeks wisely believed that they could not box-in the Divine. God was bigger than they could imagine.

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Enter Saint Paul in our first reading.

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Imagine him standing in the shadow of the Parthenon, preaching about Jesus Christ who is the “Unknown God,” the one through whom everything and everyone was created. 

As Paul writes in his Letter to the Colossians, “All things were created through him; all things were created for him; he is before all else that is. In him everything continues in being.”

If the Greeks wanted to worship God in his fullness, Paul argued, then they had to worship Jesus Christ. Amazingly, some people converted, becoming part of the second generation of Christians.

Paul’s success was driven by three things: he had faith in humanity. He believed that every person longed to know the Truth, even if they were far from it. He made it his mission to gently lead people to it.

He understood the scriptures. Paul argued masterfully about why and how Jesus is LORD. 

Most importantly, Paul’s actions spoke louder than his words. He was humble and courageous, risking humiliation, rejection, even death on multiple occasions for the sake of souls.

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This is how we will continue to grow the Church today – our belief in the fundamental goodness of all people; we are all searching for Truth. Our understanding of the scriptures. And, above all, by the way in which we live our lives.

Saint Paul, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Japanese Congregational Church (2) National Catholic Register (3) KCIS 630