Today’s Readings – Tuesday of Week 4 of Easter - First Reading

Commentary on Acts 11:19-26

The results of the early persecution were to scatter the Jewish Christians to places like Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Phoenicia was a country about 15 miles wide and 120 miles long stretching along the northeastern Mediterranean coast (corresponding to modern Lebanon). Its important cities were Tyre and Sidon, which are mentioned in the Gospels.  The Phoenicians were legendary seafarers.

Cyprus is an island in the north-eastern Mediterranean and was the home of Barnabas the Apostle. Antioch, on the river Orontes, was the capital of the Roman province of Syria, and the third largest city of the empire after Rome and Alexandria. It was 25 km (15 miles) inland from the northeast corner of the Mediterranean.  The first mainly gentile local church was loc … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Monday of Week 4 of Easter - First Reading

Commentary on Acts 11:1-18

We have now entered a momentous part of Acts which describes the inauguration of the mission to the Gentiles.  It may not seem a big deal to us, but it involved a radical change in thinking for the first Christians who were all Jews, still felt like Jews and … Continue