Lydia, a devout woman who was a dealer in the purple-dye trade.

She must have been a woman of some means.

When Paul preached the gospel to her and some other women in Philippi,

‘the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying’.

Jesus promises to send the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, from the Father,

to empower us to witness to our relationship in him. 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 16:11-15

So, we put out to sea

The townspeople were quite amazed to hear the local carpenter’s son speaking as he did:

Where did he get his wisdom and his miraculous powers?

The rejection of Jesus even in his hometown of Nazareth.

Assumptions and prejudices can blind us to truth.

Behind of Jesus was the life of the Trinity, and the mission of his Father.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊      

Genesis 1:26b-2:3

God said, "Let us

 The first commandment that Jesus gives His disciples before His passion is for them to love one another.

The love of Jesus felt from the Father, He now shares with His disciples.

The love of Jesus felt from the Father, He poured out to His only-begotten Son. The Son in turn shared it to his friends.

  

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

As Peter was about to enter,

Saint Pius V’s

Pius V was elected in 1566

Saint Pius V (born Jan. 17, 1504, Bosco, duchy of Milan

--- died May 1, 1572, Rome, Papal States [Italy]

canonized May 22, 1712; was an Italian ascetic, reformer, and relentless persecutor of heretics, whose papacy

(1566–72) marked one of the most austere periods in Roman Catholic church history.

He published a new missal, a new breviary, a new catechism

During his reign, the Inquisition was successful in eliminating Protestantism in Italy,

and the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545–63) were put into effect.

  

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊      　

Acts 14:19-28

Then some Jews arrived

  
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”.

Jesus asking the disciples to abide in his love, He also wants them to remember,

and transform it into energies of love, facing hatred with the power of love.

Jesus frankly tells His disciples the lot they will face in the future,

It would be a hard life.

We must therefore care for the world – and not just for people, but for the created world as well.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 16:1-10

Paul traveled on,

 

 

Jesus said," They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me;

and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

 

St. Catherine of Siena, virgin & doctor

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 14:5-18

A move was made by pagans and Jews,

 Saint Philip was one of the Twelve Apostles. He was most likely a follower of Saint John the Baptist.

After Pentecost, James became the first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem.

…he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club.”

What we know for certain about these two disciples,

They were uniquely chosen by the Savior to continue His divine mission of evangelizing the world.

 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊      　

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Let me remind you,

 We have been grafted to Jesus by virtue of our baptism.

Separated from Jesus, we are not able to bear fruit.

“Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

When we abide in him, it is Christ who abides in us all the way.

This is what impelled Paul to say, “It is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20)

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 9:26-31

When Saul came to Jerusalem,

 Saint Athanasius, whom we honor today.

Athanasius was born in Alexandria, in northern Egypt, in 293.

The fourth century bishop is known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his absolute dedication to the doctrine of Christ's divinity.

Arius taught that the Father created the Son, making the Son subordinate to the Father and neither co-eternal nor co-equal with Him.

Finally, at a Church council in Nicaea, called by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

The Nicene Creed got it right, and today’s saint made sure of it.

 

  

St. Athanasius, bishop & doctor

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 15:7-21

As the discussions

Thomas had asked: “Lord we do not know where You are going, how can we know the way?”

Jesus answers: “I am the Way, I am Truth and Life! No one can come to the Father except through Me.”

Because it was the life of the Father which appeared in all that He said and did.

 

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Acts 13:44-52

The following Sabbath