{"id":20855,"date":"2025-05-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=20855"},"modified":"2025-05-09T18:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T01:17:05","slug":"our-growing-church-nuestra-iglesia-en-crecimiento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2025\/05\/09\/our-growing-church-nuestra-iglesia-en-crecimiento\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Growing Church \/ Nuestra Iglesia en Crecimiento"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reading from Acts on this 4th Easter Sunday puts St. Paul and Barnabas at Perga, a Mediterranean seaport town, then northward to an Asia Minor city named Antioch. It is not Antioch, in Syria, where Peter was the first Bishop. St. Luke\u2019s aim was to show the rapid growth of the earliest Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke wants us to note that a Jewish colony was there together with their leaders after release from the Babylonian and Persian exile. Some locals, too, had converted to Judaism. Paul tended to go to them first on his missionary journeys. He and Barnabas met with envy and jealousy as they preached in the name of Jesus. Thus developed a landmark decision for the Church\u2019s growth: “Since you reject [God\u2019s Word] and condemn yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ill treatment can never withstand the power of God\u2019s grace. The Apostle John\u2019s glimpse of the heavenly kingdom revealed the vast number of believers honoring the Lamb before His Throne. They shared eternal life with Christ. The Apostle spoke of our destiny when he wrote, “I, John, had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” Perhaps on earth some might have soiled the beauty of their white robes, but let us be comforted, for “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” God\u2019s love heals multitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n