Category: Uncategorized

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Acts 22: 3-16

Paul addressed the people in these words:
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,
but brought up in this city.
At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law
and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
I persecuted this Way to death,
binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.
Even the high priest and the whole council of elders
can testify on my behalf.
For from them I even received letters to the brothers
and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem
in chains for punishment those there as well.

“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,
about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’
And he said to me,
‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’
My companions saw the light
but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’
The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus,
and there you will be told about everything
appointed for you to do.’
Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light,
I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.

“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law,
and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
came to me and stood there and said,
‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’
And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.
Then he said,
‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all
to what you have seen and heard.
Now, why delay?
Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away,
calling upon his name.’”

The Word of the Lord.

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Someone once asked, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

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One person who would be easy to “convict” is Saint Paul, whose conversion to Christianity we celebrate today.

His journey began with a burst of light as the Risen Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. Struck blind for three days, Paul was interiorly changed, and baptized three days later.

He’d spend the next thirty years of his life preaching the Gospel, until he was martyred in Rome.

Scholars estimate that Paul walked 10,000 miles on foot, and sailed for thousands more. He was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and left for dead multiple times.

He wrote thirteen pastoral letters, accounting for nearly half of the New Testament, while establishing some of the first Christian communities.

Finally, from his prison cell in Rome, Paul left his parting words, which have inspired Christians for the last two-thousand years: “I have fought the good fight. I have run the race to the finish. I have kept the faith.”

And he left tons of evidence to prove it.

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Of all the things Paul did, there’s one significant part of Paul’s legacy which we can all follow today: he handed on his faith to the next generation. 

Two of his closest disciples were Timothy and Titus, whom he referred to as his spiritual sons.

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What “evidence” might there be to demonstrate my Christian faith? Like Paul, how have I handed on the faith the next generation?

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May we continue to “fight the good fight” until the Lord of glory calls us home, leaving the next generation to continue making disciples of all nations.

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Image credits: (1) Overview Bible (2) The Conversion of St. Paul, Caravaggio (3) A-Z Quotes

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Gospel: Mark 4:1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him 
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables, 
and in the course of his instruction he said to them, 
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, 
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. 
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it 
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone, 
those present along with the Twelve 
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them, 
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once 
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, 
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, 
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word, 
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, 
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, 
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I’m sure we all want our hearts filled with that fertile soil which Jesus blesses in today’s Gospel. It bears thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.

But fertile soil is only fertile because first it has been broken.

In order to make soil fertile, you must crush it, churn it, and repeatedly separate it. After this period of chaos, the ground is ready to receive life.

When placed inside that ground churned open, seeds begin to grow. Any plant that bears good fruit was once a tiny seed placed inside soft, fertile soil.

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The same is true for us. When we experience heartache or sorrow, our hearts are broken open like fresh soil. That wound within will bear fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.

But Jesus tells us that we have a say in what type of fruit that will be. 

Without faith, our hearts can dry up like dirt, leading to bitterness and anger.                         

But with faith, we can mysteriously begin to bear good fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.  

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For example, knowing the sorrow that death brings, can allow us to grow in empathy, ministering to others in a more compassionate way.

Knowing the twinge of hunger can motivate us to feed others who still have empty stomachs.

Knowing the pain of loneliness can inspire us to visit others, who may otherwise feel forgotten.

In the words of one spiritual writer, Jesus can transform us into, “wounded healers.” I’ve found this to be true in my own life: God has used some of my more painful experiences to make me a more merciful minister of the Gospel.

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May the Lord take whatever is broken within us and bless it, so that we can bear good fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

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Image credits: (1) Redeeming God (2) Cropaia (3) Becoming the Oil and the Wine

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Gospel: Mark 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Immediately following the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles embraced their mission to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth, starting in Jerusalem. As Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles:

“This man, you killed using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up!”

Their message was startling; literally life-changing.

While large numbers of people converted to Christianity, a significant number were also martyred for their faith, Saint Stephen being the first example. 

The reasons were many.

One significant reason was the spread of false propaganda or mis-information by the powers that be. Christians were called “cannibals,” because they believed Christ was fully-present in the Eucharist, thus they “ate the flesh…and drank the blood” of their God.

They were called “incestuous,” because they referred to one another as “brothers and sisters,” a practice taught by Christ in today’s Gospel.

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“Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks the crowd. Looking around, he says, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

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Jesus was teaching his listeners that he came to establish a new family with bonds transcending flesh and blood.

In baptism, you and I become part of God’s family, the Church – a family whose relationships do not dissolve in death. We are equals, and should treat one another accordingly – never as inferior, as enemies, or as rivals, but as “brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Imagine the many people whom you might interact with today.

Whatever we do them – as brothers and sisters – we do to the Lord himself.

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Image credits: (1) Laying the Foundation, WordPress (2) AboutCatholics, WordPress (3) Pinterest