Analise will be dealing with some personal issues during the month of May so Mark Gates will be substituting for her. Since he does not have his own login, I will be posting his reflections on my login. Analise will be fine but she could use some prayers over the next week or two. Thank you to Mark for filling in at the last catholic moment (pun intended).
My first thought today is, Wow!! These disciples put on some serious
mileage spreading the Gospels. A funny thought that I had, was wondering
if they, Paul and etc., ever thought “Is this road ever going to end?” NO!
When preaching the Word of God the road never ends.
ACTS 18:1-8 Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a
Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Rome,
Italy with his wife Priscilla. When Silas and Timothy came down from
Macedonia, Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. When they opposed him
and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood
be on your heads!” Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the
Lord, along with his entire household! Many of the Corinthians who heard
believed and were baptized.
The next twinkling I had, moves us smoothly into the Psalm. Even
when Jesus was alive, He always took his message to God’s chosen people
first. We have the Jews and the gentiles. In scriptures and Psalms like these
it’s healthy, and a little eye-opening, to remember that I’M a Gentile.
The regular Jewish folks were ‘all-in’ for Jesus!! Sure, Jesus lost a
bunch of them after the Bread of Life discourse, but let’s not forget the
pageantry and majesty of Palm Sunday. God always knew that the Word
would be spread to the gentiles also. So, who would ‘I’ rather have been a
gentile or Jewish? It’s also interesting to note that if Paul and the boys were
wondering if the road ever ends… There was human life in North America,
Also South America, the Polynesian islands and etc. I suspect that they
didn’t fully understand what “The ends of the Earth” meant. ��
PS 98:2-4 All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving
power.
JN 16:16-20 Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no
longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some
of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying
to us?”
Those poor disciples, they loved Jesus so deeply, so completely!
Everything about Jesus was new and refreshing and simultaneously driving
them crazy! Without the gift of The Holy Spirit, when Jesus talks like this,
the disciples are like children trying to learn adult lessons. I am very glad to
be living in 2024 with the Holy Spirit firmly in my life!
I am Mark Gates, your servant. I currently live with my wife in Peosta, Iowa and have retired. I have spent my whole life as a God-fearing Christian, Mass Lector and cradle Catholic. In 1996 after a Charismatic Conference, My spirituality ‘Exploded’. The Holy Spirit has blessed me with personal revelations and events in times of needed admonishment, teaching or encouragement. Having a personal belief and true affection for The Real Presence of Christ in Eucharist and also a very sweet, tender, and special relationship with our Holy Spirit, I believe that our world is in dire need of Good News. I want my spirituality to ‘start conversations’! Please allow these musings to start your own conversations.
