{"id":5233,"date":"2017-04-23T10:05:01","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T14:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5233"},"modified":"2017-04-19T15:40:03","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T19:40:03","slug":"reflections-on-the-scripture-readings-for-this-weekend-20170423","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5233","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20170423"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As we bring BRIGHT WEEK to a close – the eight days of celebration of the Lord\u2019s Resurrection – our readings are taken, as they are throughout the Pentecostarion (i.e., the 50 days between Pascha and Pentecost<\/em>), from the Acts of the Apostles and St. John\u2019s Gospel. As one might immediately guess, the Gospel story is the encounter that the resurrected Christ had with His doubting disciple, Thomas. It is deliberately celebrated to encourage us not to doubt <\/em>the wondrous revelation God has made to us about our immortality. <\/em>The Lord\u2019s resurrection from the dead reveals that one of the gifts that God has given us humans is eternal life.<\/p>\n

Our reading from Acts relates the Signs and Wonders <\/em>that people experienced through the hands of the Apostles after the Lord\u2019s Ascension. It also relates the challenges that the Apostles had to confront, even jail. The reading ends with Peter being rescued from jail by an angel and given this command: Go out now and take your place in the temple precincts and preach to the people all about \u201cthis new life\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n

What is this new life <\/em>that the Apostles were called to preach and which we, as followers of Jesus, are also called to witness? This new life is, in reality, an understanding of salvation. But we must have a true understanding of salvation. It is my deepest conviction that salvation is not a rescue from the punishment of hell and the reward of heaven but, rather, a clear and real understanding of the meaning <\/em>and purpose <\/em>of life. Jesus preached about and demonstrated by the way He lived that earthly life for humans is a journey of personal transformation – <\/em>Metanoia – <\/em>which results in our becoming more spiritual and more in the likeness of Jesus. Salvation truly means that we begin to think and act like Jesus, which means we begin to truly be children of God.<\/p>\n

Why have we been born into this world? To spiritually grow, learning how to unconditionally love others so that we are capable of loving God. We are here to also: learn how to trust and hope in God; grow in our awareness that we, like all created things, are sustained in our existence through the loving consciousness, life-force and energy of God; and that we are one with all created things.<\/p>\n

In order to achieve this type of awareness, however, we cannot allow ourselves to DOUBT the truth that was revealed to us about life. We must make a real LEAP OF FAITH, as Thomas did. What is most interesting is that this type of FAITH is truly more supportive of personal peace than doubt is. If you want to live this life with personal peace and contentment, then belief in God\u2019s revelation through Jesus is, in my estimation, your best bet.<\/p>\n

What do you believe?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we bring BRIGHT WEEK to a close – the eight days of celebration of the Lord\u2019s Resurrection – our readings are taken, as they are throughout the Pentecostarion (i.e., the 50 days between Pascha and Pentecost), from the Acts … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-liturgy-of-the-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5234,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5233\/revisions\/5234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}