Today’s Reading from Acts 18:23-28 tells us that St. Paul was traveling “in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples.”
We meet the first “Christian” who was blessed to follow Paul’s “orderly sequence”, and “Be Catholic!”
“A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in The Way of The Lord and, with an ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the Baptism of John.”
As many in the past 2,000 years, Apollos had received one Sacrament, Baptism. His “partial Baptism” was not “In The Name of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit”! Still, it was all he needed to start toward “the light at the end of the tunnel”!
That Baptism was so inspiring to him that “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately, and when he wanted to cross to Achaia (Greece), the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival, he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace. He vigorously refuted (not just argued with, but “refuted”!) the Jews in public, establishing from the Scriptures that The Christ is Jesus.”
That Blessed Fact was predicted by this “Hidden Prophecy” from Psalm 47:2-3,8-9,10: “God is King of all the earth.”
Early Catholics were the first to keep this “Prophecy” from John 16:28 from being “Hidden” in Today’s Alleluia and Gospel: “I came from The Father and have come into the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to The Father.”
The most blessed people on earth “see the light” that lets them move up from merely believing in God to striving for obedience to Every Word from Him. In the last 2,000 years, dozens of billions of Catholic souls have been blessed by hearing and answering God’s call to obey Every Word from He Who fulfilled the Prophecies. “His Words“ included His Church-Creating Decree to the one person on earth whom He chose to be His First Catholic Pope:
“And I say unto you, ‘Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you The Keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
May all believers be blessed to see the light at the end of the tunnel, follow the example of Apollos, obey The Only Church-Creating Word of Jesus, and strive to “Be As Catholic As I Can!”
May all souls be blessed with all of “The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus died to leave on earth. They include the Seven Catholic Sacraments: Baptism, Confession/Absolution, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, and Healing. Five of them are provided only by the Catholic priests and religious who are blessed to be Ordained to become God’s living, Holy Orders that take human form in them. Each of them is a “Living Link” in God’s Holy Chain that has connected Catholics to Jesus for 2,000 years!
God’s “Holy Orders” are followed by all who are blessed with the humility to follow the example of Apollos, “Be Catholic!”, and get those “Seven Keys to The Kingdom of Heaven”!
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “Every Catholic soul stays bright / by moving toward God’s Holy Light.”
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