Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians : Do away with all quarreling, rage, anger, insults and every kind of malice:  

be good and understanding, mutually forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 15:7-21

As the discussions became heated,

Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that from the beginning God chose me among you so that non-Jews could hear the Good News from me and believe.   God, who can read hearts, put himself on their side by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us.   He made no distinction between us and them and cleansed their hearts through faith.  

 So why do you want to put God to the test? Why do you lay on the disciples a burden that neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry?   We believe, indeed, that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

 The whole assembly kept silent as they listened to Paul and Barnabas tell of all the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done through them among the non-Jews.

After they had finished, James spoke up, “Listen to me, brothers.  Sy­meon has just explained how God first showed his care by taking a people for himself from non-Jewish nations.   And the words of the prophets agree with this, for Scripture says,

 After this I will return and rebuild the booth of David which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again.   Then the rest of humanity will look for the Lord, and all the nations will be consecrated to my Name. So says the Lord, who does today   what he decided from the beginning.

Because of this, I think that we should not make difficulties for those non-Jews who are turning to God.   Let us just tell them not to eat food that is unclean from having been offered to idols; to keep themselves from prohibited marriages; and not to eat the flesh of animals that have been strangled, or any blood.  For from the earliest times Moses has been taught in every place, and every Sabbath his laws are recalled.”

 

Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 10

Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 15:9-11

 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love.  You will remain in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

I have told you all this, that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Christian Joy

In his book Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton refers to joy as “the gigantic secret of the Christian.” He observes that Jesus freely expressed his tears and anger, but “there was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray…. 

There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.” So secretive because it is so precious a fruit of the Spirit that he vouches that his disciples will have it in its fullness.

Malcolm Muggeridge would testify thus after his conversion: “I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries I am beholden to Jesus.”