RELIGION AND ART

FRIDAY WEEK FIVE OF EASTER: THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR ADVOCATE First Reading Acts 15:22-31 It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us not to burden you beyond these essentials The apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them: Lectures   Readings ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Reflections Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by wor...

THURSDAY WEEK FIVE IN EASTER: REMAIN IN MY LOVE First Reading Acts 15 :7-21 I rule that we do not make things more difficult for the pagans who turn to God After the discussion had gone on a long time, Peter stood up and addressed the apostles and the elders. ‘My brothers,’ he said ‘you know perfectly well that in the early days God made his choice among you: the pagans were to learn the Good News from me and so become believers. In fact God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith. It would only provoke God’s anger now, surely, if you imposed on the disciples the very burden that neither we nor our ancestors were strong enough to support? Remember, we believe that we are saved in the same way as they are: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.’ Lectures Readings This silenced the entire assembly, and they listened to ...

WEDNESDAY WEEK FIVE OF EASTER:  JESUS CHRIST THE TRUE VINE First Reading Acts 15:1-6  They were to go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.  Lectures  All the members of the church saw them off, and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the pagans had been converted, and this news was received with the greatest satisfaction by the brothers. When they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and by the apostles and elders, and gave an account of all that God had done with them. Readings Reflections But certain members of the Phar...

TUESDAY WEEK FIVE OF EASTER PERSEVERANCE THE GATE TO HEAVENLY KINGDOM   First Reading Acts 14:19-28  They gave an account of how God had opened the door of faith to the pagans Some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, and turned the people against the apostles. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the town, thinking he was dead. The disciples came crowding round him but, as they did so, he stood up and went back to the town. The next day he and Barnabas went off to Derbe.  Readings Lecture Having preached the Good News in that town and made a considerable number of disciples, they went back through Lystra and Iconium to Antioch. They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. ‘We all have to experience many hardships’ they said ‘before we enter the kingdom of God.’ In each of these churches they appointed elders, and with prayer and fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe. Reflections They passe...

MONDAY WEEK FIVE OF EASTER: EVIDENCE OF GOD IN ALL CREATED THINGS - THE GOOD NEWS First Reading Acts 14:5-18  We have come with good news to turn you to the living God Eventually with the connivance of the authorities a move was made by pagans as well as Jews to make attacks on the apostles and to stone them. When the apostles came to hear of this, they went off for safety to Lycaonia where, in the towns of Lystra and Derbe and in the surrounding country, they preached the Good News.  Readings   Lectures  A man sat there who had never walked in his life, because his feet were crippled from birth; and as he listened to Paul preaching, he managed to catch his eye. Seeing that the man had the faith to be cured, Paul said in a loud voice, ‘Get to your feet – stand up’, and the cripple jumped up and began to walk.  When the crowd saw what Paul had done they shouted in the language of Lycaonia, ‘These people are gods who have come down to us disguised as men.’ Th...

FIFTH SUNDAY IN EASTER: LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU First Reading Acts 14:21-27  Lectures They gave an account to the church of all that God had done with them Readings Paul and Barnabas went back through Lystra and Iconium to Antioch. They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. ‘We all have to experience many hardships’ they said ‘before we enter the kingdom of God.’ In each of these churches they appointed elders, and with prayer and fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe. They passed through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. Then after proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia and from there sailed for Antioch, where they had originally been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.  On their arrival they assembled the church and gave an account of all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the pagans. Responsoria Psalm:...

SATURDAY FORTH WEEK OF EASTER:   REMAIN IN MY LOVE First Reading   Acts 1:15-17,20-26   'Let someone else take his office'   One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers – there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation: ‘Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus  after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours. Now in the Book of Psalms it says: Readings Lectures   Let his camp be reduced to ruin, Let there be no one to live in it. And again: Let someone else take his office.   ‘We must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us, and he can ...