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Gracious and loving Father,
Your led Your Old Covenant people by the light of Your presence in the Glory Cloud but the
manifestation of Your glory is so much greater for Your New Covenant children to whom You
gave the third person of the Trinity at Pentecost when You filled and indwelled Your people,
writing You Law upon their hearts and giving them Your divine power to transform the world!
We thank You Lord for the gift of Your Holy Spirit for it is by the power of the Unnamed
Servant'the Holy Spirit in the celebration of the Mass that Your Covenant people'the Bride, are
brought to the Bridegroom'Christ, in the Most Holy Eucharist. In this miracle we eat the
glorified flesh and drink the precious blood of our Savior as He told us we would in John chapter
6 and in doing so become joined physically and spiritual to the Bridegroom in the consummation
of a beautiful intimacy that joins us to His divine power, as St Peter wrote, "By his divine power,
he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge
of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness [2 Peter 1:2]." Lead us in our study of
the birth of the New Israel, the Catholic Church, and give us the courage to live the promises of
Christ and gratefully accept His gift of salvation. We pray in the name of the Most Holy Trinity,
God the Father, God the Son, and the Unnamed Servant' God the Holy Spirit, Amen.
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts of Apostles
1:8[New American translation]
"For Yahweh says this: Shout for joy Jacob! Hail the chief of nations! Proclaim! Praise!
Shout, 'Yahweh has saved his people, the remnant of Israel!' "
Jeremiah 31:7
"They went forth to the ends of the earth, spreading the good news of the good things which God
has sent to us, and announcing the peace of heaven to men, who indeed are all equally and
individually sharers in the gospel of God. Matthew also issued among the Hebrews a written
Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the
foundation of the church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter,
also handed down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion
of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the
Lord who reclined at His bosom, also published a Gospel, while he was residing at Ephesus in
Asia." St. Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp, disciple of St. John the Apostle [Against Heresies 3.1.1]
"Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there
is the Catholic Church." St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, martyred 107/110AD, Letter to the
Church at Smyrna
"The Church of God that sojourns in Smyrna, to the Church of God that sojourns in
Philomelium, and to all the dioceses of the holy and Catholic Church in every place..." from
the Epistle of the Church at Smyrna, preface, ca. 155AD
The readings for this week: Period # 12, The Birth of the New Covenant Church
The New Covenant Church Acts 2:1-41; Matthew 16:13-20
Peter's Homily before the Sanhedrin Acts 4:1-31
The Church faces persecution Acts 6:8 – 8:1
The Witness in Samaria Acts 8:4-40
The Conversion of Saul Acts 9:1-19
Peter's Ministry in Judea Acts 9:31-11:18
The Mission of Barnabas and Paul Acts 13:1-14:28
The First Great Council Acts 15:1-35
St Paul's 2nd and 3rd Missions Acts 15:36-28:31
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the end Hebrews 8:6-13 and 9:8
of the Old Covenant 9th of Ab [Av], 70AD
The Early heresies and the Protestant
Reformation
The Great Councils
The New Testament book, Acts of Apostles [the article "the" is not in the oldest text titles] is the
bridge between events recorded in the Gospels and the universal mission of the New Covenant
Church. This book continues the story St. Luke began in his Gospel and covers the thirty-year
period after Jesus' Ascension. Like his gospel account this book is also addressed to Theophilus,
whose Greek name means "one who loves God." While the dedication to "Theophilus" may be a
general dedication to all Christian readers, Theophilus may also have been a wealthy Christian
convert who helped to finance Luke's book. It was common during this period for authors to
dedicate their work to a patron who bore the burden of the expense of publishing a literary work.
Luke, St Paul's disciple and "beloved physician", is unique among all the Holy Spirit inspired
writers. He is believed to be the only gentile, other than Job, to write a sacred text. In the book
of Acts of Apostles St. Luke give us a unique historical account of the early years of the Church,
full of references to contemporary Jewish, Greek and Roman history, culture and geography.
That Luke is the author of this work is attested to by early Christian writers including St.
Irenaeus of Lyons [martyred c. 180 AD]. Luke is also named as the author of both the Gospel of
Luke and Acts of Apostles in the Muratorian Canon, the earliest known list of the New
Testament books believed to have been composed not later than the end of the second century
AD. Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea in his 4th century History of the Church identified Luke as a
physician who was a gentile convert from Antioch in modern Syria [see Ecclesiastical History,
III.4.6], a tradition also attested to by St. Jerome [see preface to Jerome's Commentary on the
Gospel of Matthew]. There is also internal evidence within the book of Acts that helps to identify
Luke as the inspired writer. The best evidence is found in those passages of the book written in
the first person plural [see Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1- 28:16]. These passages were
obviously written by a companion of St. Paul. We know from St. Paul's letters that Luke was his
companion and trusted aide on the second missionary journey [see Colossians 4:14 and Philemon
24], and that Luke was also with Paul from Troas to Jerusalem [Acts 20:5 forward], and later
with him from his "house arrest" in Caesarea Maritima by the Roman governor to his
incarceration in Rome [see Acts 27:1forward]. By eliminating everyone mentioned in Acts by
name, it is St. Luke who is left as the only one who could have been St. Paul's companion and
the author of the book [see Acts 16:10forward].
Luke gives the reader a uniquely detailed historical perspective. Luke's unique observations and
analysis are evident in both his gospel account of the Incarnation and birth of the Messiah and in
his detailed account of the birth and early mission of the Universal Church.
He could not have written Acts earlier than Paul's imprisonment in Rome in AD 62 or 63 nor
could the work have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD since no
reference is made to that catastrophic event.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS OF APOSTLES
BIBLICAL #12: THE CHURCH
PERIOD
FOCUS Witness in Jerusalem Witness in Judea Witness to the ends of
and Samaria the earth
COVENANT THE NEW COVENANT IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE 1:1----------3:1-------------8:5--------------------13:1-----------21:17---28:31
DIVISION Birth Progress Expansion Paul's 3 Paul's
of the of the of the missionary trials
Church Church Church journeys
The faithful remnant of