Today’s Readings – Tuesday of Week 6 of Easter - First Reading

Commentary on Acts 16:22-34

Today we have part of one of the most dramatic events in the story of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul is still in Philippi. We might wonder at the sudden attack on Paul and Silas with which today’s reading opens. It is such a change from the positive welcome they had been receiving up to this. In fact, the first part of the story and also the sequel are omitted in the reading, but they are needed if we are to appreciate today’s passage fully.

One day, on their way to the river for prayer, Paul had incurred the anger of the owners of a slave girl who had fortune-telling gifts (see Acts 16:16-22). The text literally translates “with a Python spirit". The Python was the serpent or dragon that guarded the oracle at Delphi. It later came … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Saint Philip Neri, Priest

Philip Romolo Neri was born on 22 July, 1515 in Florence, the youngest child of Francesco, a lawyer, and his wife Lucrezia da Mosciano. Philip received his early education from the Dominican friars at the famous San Marco friary in Florence (of which Fra Angelico was once a member). When h … Continue