{"id":11166,"date":"2012-04-30T20:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=11166"},"modified":"2015-03-19T15:26:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T22:26:41","slug":"remain-in-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2012\/04\/30\/remain-in-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Lectionary: Remain In Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing my attempts to produce these Lectionary Notes in under four hours…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Fifth Sunday of Easter: 6th May, 2012<\/h2>\n

The Readings this week focus around life in<\/span> Christ.<\/p>\n

We begin with an account of St. Paul’s failed attempts in Jerusalem to commune with Christ’s Body, the Church. Strangely enough, it turns out that people tend to be a bit stand-offish if you’ve previously tried to kill them! In our Gospel Reading, Jesus teaches his disciples using the metaphor of the vine, showing us that union with Him is essential if we are to live. He gives us a warning too, that if we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off from Him and deprived of His Divine life. St. John restates this sentiment in the Second Reading, exhorting his readers to “<\/span>love not in word…but in deed”<\/span>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Let us come to Mass this week thirsty for the grace of Christ which is communicated through His Church. Let us drink deeply, returning to the world refreshed, ready to share the life of Christ and to bear fruit which will last.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him…<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reading I: Acts 9:26-31<\/h2>\n

St. Paul is known as the great Christian evangelist and he is responsible for a sizable portion of the New Testament. However, before he became St. Paul, he was simply Saul, a Pharisee, and a zealous persecutor of a new sect of Judaism known as “Christianity”<\/em>…<\/p>\n

We first encounter Saul in the Acts of the Apostles at the stoning of St. Stephen. Not only did Saul approve of Stephen’s death, he also began to directly persecute the Church himself, “going from house to house, [and] dragged off both men and women and put them in prison”<\/em>\u00a0 (Acts 8:4)<\/span>. However, on the road to Damascus, Paul encounters the risen Christ and he converts to Christianity. He then tries to join the Christians in Jerusalem. Here’s what happened…<\/p>\n

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a <\/span><\/em>disciple. Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord, and <\/span>that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. He moved about freely with them in <\/span>Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord. He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him. <\/span>And when the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him on his way to Tarsus.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and <\/span>with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

“What do you mean, you don’t want to hang out?”<\/p><\/div>\n

Questions:<\/p>\n