Worship him, all you peoples!
2 For his grace has overcome us,
and Adonai’s truth continues forever.
Halleluyah!
Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and MartyrSteadfast is his kindness toward us. (Psalm 117:2)
“Alleluia” resounds during this joyful season. Christ is risen from the dead! That’s good news, right? Do you know—really know—what the good news is? It’s not just that the Jews conspired with the Romans to crucify Jesus, yet he rose from the dead. It’s not just that we’re sinners, and Jesus saved us. No, it’s that while we were sinners, God loved us. That’s good news! No sin, no failing, no weakness ever has disqualified you from being the object of God’s love.
Even though we fall short of the glory of God, his love isn’t dependent on how well we respond to him. He loves us because he created us. Period. He loves everything that exists. He hates nothing that he has made. He wouldn’t create anything he hates, would he? This is good news indeed. When we let his love touch our lives, it melts our hearts and overtakes us. We want to shout it out: God loves us—always and forever!
Today’s Scripture readings reveal the depths of God’s love. He loves us when we’re breathing murderous threats, as Saul did. He loves us when we’re blindly trying to respond to his word, as Saul was. He loves us when we say, “Here I am, Lord” and also when we disagree with him or try to tell him his business, as Ananias did. He loves us when we quarrel and oppose and find fault with his ways, as the Jews in today’s Gospel did. And he loves us when we just plain don’t understand, or fail to respond, or react incorrectly, as some of Jesus’ disciples did.
God loves us all the time. Nothing can change that. This is news that everyone needs to hear. You can’t earn God’s love; he’s already given it freely. No one who wants to know it is beyond its reach. When you call to him, when you seek his presence, he will hear you. When you seek him with all your heart, you will find him, and he will lavish his love on you. He has nothing but steadfast kindness for us. His faithfulness endures forever.
“Father, steady me in your love today. Hold me upright in it. Reassure me of it when I’ve fallen short, and strengthen me in it where I am weak.” Amen!
Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim.
3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?” 5 “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. 6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”
7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 They helped Sha’ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek. 9 For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; 14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. 16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”
17 So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha’ul, the Lord — Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh.” 18 In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha’ul’s eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed; 19 then he ate some food and regained his strength.
Sha’ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek, 20 and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God.
John 6:52 At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Then Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life — that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me. 58 So this is the bread that has come down from heaven — it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they’re dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!” 59 He said these things as he was teaching in a synagogue in K’far-Nachum.
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