Today’s Gospel text begins with Jesus telling the apostles that he has many other things to say to them, but they are unable to bear it now. This single line from the Gospels is one of the most important, for it tells us that revelation, the things that the Holy Spirit will tell us, is progressive. God did not stop speaking to the human race in 120 A.D., the date when the last book of...

Faith comes across at times in the Scriptures as very swift and clean; and other times its difficulty is more apparent. In the first reading today we have the impression that the jailer, struck by the miraculous freeing of Paul and Silas, asked a basic question, heard the answer, and was baptized with his whole family. The reading ends: “…and with his household rejoiced at...

By this time most of us have laid aside the festive mood of Easter and lost ourselves once more in the daily tasks of making a living and simply surviving in a complex and competitive world. But the liturgy insists on our returning into the presence of the risen Christ until the full 50 days have run their course. More than that, the readings bring us back not only to the resurrection but to...

Paul and his companions are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Gospel in certain areas. They were trying to do something good: preach the Gospel, and they were kept from doing it. God had plans for them to do fruitful missionary work elsewhere. Failing in our efforts to do good can be very frustrating and discouraging when it happens. But perhaps God in His Providence is directing...

For people like you and me who are exposed to the Scriptures every day, it is not uncommon for us to subconsciously say to ourselves when the reading begins, “Oh, I know this one. We just heard it a few days ago.” There is, however, a danger if we take that attitude about the Scriptures. The readings for this feast of St. Philip and James the Less present us with this kind of...