Wednesday, 5th Week of Easter
April 23, 2008 by Father Joe
The reading from Acts sets the stage before the Church’s first council. Gentiles had become believers and yet the matter of circumcision was hindering their entry into the Church. Pharisees who had accepted Christ believed that one had to become Jewish prior to becoming Christian. Paul and Barnabas came to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with the Apostles and presbyters there. Later the gravity of Christ and the new rite of initiation, baptism, would prevail. Jesus is everything for the believer. Jesus in the Gospel speaks of himself as the vine and how we are the branches. His life flows through us. Our faith and works bear fruit because we are a part of Jesus and he lives in us. Everything that Jesus is and does have value.
