Mark does not explicitly give us the purpose of his Gospel Certainly one can deduce that he is interested in encouraging Christians to follow Christ no matter what the cost for the rewards are great He also appears to want to show the injustice of the interpretation of Jesus that led to his d

The Bible is populated with many characters that appear briefly and then vanish from the scene Philip the most prominent person in Acts 8 is one of these Except for a brief mention of his name in 6 5 and 21 8 all we know about him involves two scenes of preaching--one to the Samaritans and one

In today s first reading we meet Samaria and Samaritans We know generally who they were though they are a hot spot in current study Samaria was a capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th and 8th centuries often in trouble with the biblical historian of the period for roy

For the fifth Sunday of Easter the first reading continues with the Acts of the Apostles and the passage chosen raises a number of historical questions Luke again makes the point that the number of disciples continued to grow 6 1 which directs us not only to the acceptance of the message in g

Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us The disciples hearts were on fire during this sacred conversation And that fire was so hot that it indelibly seared their souls with the intimate knowledge peace and love of the resurre

It is hard for the congregation to take the homily more seriously than the preacher takes it Anon Speakers exhibit visual and verbal signs that prompt their listeners to make judgments about their right to communicate R Kennedy quoting King Power and Communication If we ap