Today’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 maintained many of the religious customs of Jews.  It changed the whole complexion of the Christian ‘movement’ inaugurated by Jesus.

It opens with the conversion and baptism of Cornelius, a gentile centurion in the Roman army.  But it also involves a conversion on the part of Peter, who becomes aware that God’s calling in Jesus is extended to people of all races and religions.  All of this is contained in chapter 10, which we will not be reading (the story of Cornelius is read on the 6 … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Sunday of Week 4 of Easter (Year C)

Commentary on Acts 13:14,43-52; Revelation 7:9,14-17; John 10:27-30

In the First Reading, Paul (as he is now called) and Barnabas say to the people of Antioch in Pisidia:

...the Lord has commanded us, saying,
‘I have set you to be a light for the gentiles,
so that you may bri … Continue