ST. MATTHIAS, APOSTLE

They proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, and Matthias.

" Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,

According to the Acts of the Apostles,

chosen by God through the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot

following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death.

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊   

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26

It was during

 We will  be willingly and gladly heard. We will sometimes be treated rudely, harshly, unkindly, uncharitably,

sometimes even inhumanely. Not only misunderstanding, All throughout this ordeal though.

we lean on the power and strength of the Holy Spirit: our Advocate and Comforter.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 18:1-8

After this,

He warns them that they will have much trouble in the world,

but must take heart in that he has overcome the world and he is on their side.

“I have conquered the world”.

Our hope in life is based on the victory of Jesus over death,

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth,

The Father gives everything he has and is to the Son; the Son gives everything he has and is to the Spirit.

The Spirit is the promised Helper who will guide the disciples into the whole truth.

The Spirit will continue to move forward what the Father through Jesus has inaugurated.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now”

The disciples “cannot bear” certain things now but will — through the Spirit — be guided “into all the truth” 

1st Reading: Acts 17:15, 22-18:1

Paul was taken

 O Christ God, You have ascended in Glory,

Granting joy to Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit.

If you have risen with Christ,

Set your hearts seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Acts 1:1-11

In the first part of my work,

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father

—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

" The Holy Spirit dwelling in us and linking us to the Father as he linked Jesus to the Father. "

Paul and Silas converted the jailer and baptized his entire household.

Once again, the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised strengthened them.

The Holy Spirit is always there to strengthen and empower us.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Acts 16:22-34

So they set the crowd

 
I was very sure that my parents would give me what I want. I knew that they love me.

Jesus draws me right into his life, fully and generously offering me the relationship with his Father that he has.

"Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you"

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Acts 18:23-28

After spending some time there,

 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

As long as we have faith in God we will rejoice in the end.

Pain and the varied difficulties of life need not be the final word for the follower of Jesus.

Pain often turns to joy, and in every small 'death' in life is the hope of rising into a deeper life with Jesus.

Enduring presence of the Risen Jesus with us at all times,  wherever we happen to be,

  St. Damien Joseph de Veuster of Molokai, priest/St. John of Avila, priest & doctor

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Acts 18:9-18

One night, in a vision,

 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,