FIRST READING
Second Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2019
Acts 5:12-16

The 1^st readings for the Easter Season are from the Acts of the Apostles. This is the second work of St Luke and has been called the “Gospel of the Holy Spirit”. Acts begins with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Luke wishes to show that the Spirit will guide the Apostles, mostly Peter and Paul in preaching the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. We must always remember that St Luke has a wide view of history and will show us that the spirit guiding the Apostles was also present at the beginning of the world and the great events of both the old  and the new Testaments. He is a most careful craftsman and will build his narrative very slowly and deliberately and we will lose some of this. The Lectionary (readings in Church) follow a three- year cycle (this year we read Cycle C) and Acts is used in all three of them. Indeed, the descent of the Holy Spirit is not read until Pentecost, itself 6 weeks from now. This somewhat interrupts the flow, but we will fill in any critical gaps.

We read today from the 5^th Chapter of Acts. It is the third time the Apostles have appeared in public. The first time was immediately after the descent of the Spirit. Continue reading “2nd Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy” →