Fragmenda

Scripture

Acts 13–14

Acts 13

Saul and Barnabas are sent forth by the Holy Ghost. They preach in Cyprus and in Antioch of Pisidia.

1 

Now there were in the church which was at Antioch prophets and doctors, among whom was Barnabas and Simon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Manahen who was the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

2 

And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them: Separate me Saul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto I have taken them.

3 

Then they fasting and praying and imposing their hands upon them, sent them away.

4 

So they, being sent by the Holy Ghost, went to Seleucia: and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

5 

And when they were come to Salamina, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also in the ministry.

6 

And when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesu:

7 

Who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. He, sending for Barnabas and Saul, desired to hear the word of God.

8 

But Elymas the magician (for so his name is interpreted) withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith.

9 

Then Saul, otherwise Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, looking upon him,

10 

Said: O full of all guile and of all deceit, child of the devil, enemy of all justice, thou ceasest not to pervert the right ways of the Lord.

11 

And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee: and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately there fell a mist and darkness upon him: and going about, he sought some one to lead him by the hand.

12 

Then the proconsul, when he had seen what was done, believed, admiring at the doctrine of the Lord.

13 

Now when Paul and they that were with him had sailed from Paphos, they came to Perge in Pamphylia. And John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

14 

But they, passing through Perge, came to Antioch in Pisidia: and, entering into the Synagogue on the sabbath day, they sat down.

15 

And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying: Ye men, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation to make to the people, speak.

16 

Then Paul rising up and with his hand bespeaking silence, said: Ye men of Israel and you that fear God, give ear.

17 

The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they were sojourners in the land of Egypt: And with an high arm brought them out from thence:

18 

And for the space of forty years endured their manners in the desert:

19 

And, destroying seven nations in the land of Chanaan, divided their land among them by lot.

20 

As it were, after four hundred and fifty years. And after these things, he gave unto them judges, until Samuel the prophet.

21 

And after that they desired a king: and God gave them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, forty years.

22 

And when he had removed him, he raised them up David to be king: to whom giving testimony, he said: I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to my own heart, who shall do all my wills.

23 

Of this man’s seed, God, according to his promise, hath raised up to Israel a Saviour Jesus:

24 

John first preaching, before his coming, the baptism of penance to all the people of Israel.

25 

And when John was fulfilling his course, he said: I am not he whom you think me to be. But behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26 

Men, brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fear God: to you the word of this salvation is sent.

27 

For they that inhabited Jerusalem and the rulers thereof, not knowing him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, judging him, have fulfilled them.

28 

And finding no cause of death in him, they desired of Pilate that they might kill him.

29 

And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, taking him down from the tree, they laid him in a sepulchre.

30 

But God raised him up from the dead the third day.

31 

Who was seen for many days by them who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who to this present are his witnesses to the people.

32 

And we declare unto you that the promise which was made to our fathers,

33 

This same God hath fulfilled to our children, raising up Jesus, as in the second psalm also is written: Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee.

34 

And to shew that he raised him up from the dead, not to return now any more to corruption, he said thus: I will give you the holy things of David, faithful.

35 

And therefore, in another place also, he saith: Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption.

36 

For David, when he had served in his generation, according to the will of God, slept: and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption.

37 

But he whom God hath raised from the dead saw no corruption.

38 

Be it known therefore to you, men, brethren, that through him forgiveness of sins is preached to you: and from all the things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

39 

In him every one that believeth is justified.

40 

Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets:

41 

Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you will not believe, if any man shall tell it you.

42 

And as they went out, they desired them that on the next sabbath they would speak unto them these words.

43 

And when the synagogue was broken up, many of the Jews and of the strangers who served God followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

44 

But the next sabbath day, the whole city almost came together, to hear the word of God.

45 

And the Jews, seeing the multitudes, were filled with envy and contradicted those things which were said by Paul, blaspheming.

46 

Then Paul and Barnabas said boldly: To you it behoved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles.

47 

For so the Lord hath commanded us: I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles: that thou mayest be for salvation unto the utmost part of the earth.

48 

And the Gentiles hearing it were glad and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to life everlasting believed.

49 

And the word of the Lord was published throughout the whole country.

50 

But the Jews stirred up religious and honourable women and the chief men of the city: and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas: and cast them out of their coasts.

51 

But they, shaking off the dust of their feet against them, came to Iconium.

52 

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.


Acts 14

Paul and Barnabas preach in Iconium and Lystra. Paul heals a cripple. They are taken for gods. Paul is stoned. They preach in Derbe and Perge.

1 

And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a very great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks did believe.

2 

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and incensed the minds of the Gentiles against the brethren.

3 

A long time therefore they abode there, dealing confidently in the Lord, who gave testimony to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

4 

And the multitude of the city was divided. And some of them indeed held with the Jews, but some with the apostles.

5 

And when there was an assault made by the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to use them contumeliously and to stone them:

6 

They, understanding it, fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the whole country round about: and were there preaching the gospel.

7 

And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.

8 

This same heard Paul speaking. Who looking upon him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

9 

Said with a loud voice: Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped up and walked.

10 

And when the multitudes had seen what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaonian tongue, saying: The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

11 

And they called Barnabas, Jupiter: but Paul, Mercury: because he was chief speaker.

12 

The priest also of Jupiter that was before the city, bringing oxen and garlands before the gate, would have offered sacrifice with the people.

13 

Which, when the apostles Barnabas and Paul had heard, rending their clothes, they leaped out among the people, crying,

14 

And saying: Ye men, why do ye these things? We also are mortals, men like unto you, preaching to you to be converted from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things that are in them:

15 

Who in times past, suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

16 

Nevertheless he left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful Seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

17 

And speaking these things, they scarce restrained the people from sacrificing to them.

18 

Now there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium: and, persuading the multitude and stoning Paul, drew him out of the city, thinking him to be dead.

19 

But as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and entered into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

20 

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch:

21 

Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith: and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.

22 

And when they had ordained to them priests in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, in whom they believed.

23 

And passing through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia.

24 

And having spoken the word of the Lord in Perge, they went down into Attalia.

25 

And thence they sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been delivered to the grace of God, unto the work which they accomplished.

26 

And when they were come and had assembled the church, they related what great things God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

27 

And they abode no small time with the disciples.

Catechism

Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 4, Chapter 2, Sections 8-10

The Kingdom Of Glory

By the words kingdom of God is also meant that kingdom of His glory, of which Christ our Lord says in St. Matthew: Come ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world. This kingdom the thief, when he had admirably acknowledged his crimes, begged of Christ in the words related by St. Luke: Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom. Of this kingdom St. John speaks when he says: Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; and of it the Apostle says to the Ephesians: No fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. To it also refer some of the parables made use of by Christ the Lord when speaking of the kingdom of heaven.

But the kingdom of grace must precede that of glory; for God's glory cannot reign in anyone in whom His grace does not already reign. Grace, according to the Redeemer, is a fountain of water springing up to eternal life; while as regards glory, what can we call it except a certain perfect and absolute grace? As long as we are clothed with this frail mortal flesh, as long as we wander in this gloomy pilgrimage and exile, weak and far away from God, we often stumble and fall, because we rejected the aid of the kingdom of grace, by which we were supported. But when the light of the kingdom of glory, which is perfect, shall have shone upon us, we shall stand forever firm and secure. Then shall all that is defective and unsuitable be utterly removed; then shall every infirmity be strengthened and invigorated; in a word, God Himself will then reign in our souls and bodies. But on this subject we have dealt already at greater length in the exposition of the Creed, when speaking of the resurrection of the flesh.

"Come"

Having thus explained the ordinary acceptation of the words, kingdom of God, we now come to point out the particular objects contemplated by this Petition.

We Pray For The Propagation Of The Church

In this Petition we ask God that the kingdom of Christ, that is, His Church, may be enlarged; that Jews and infidels may embrace the faith of Christ and the knowledge of the true God; that schismatics and heretics may return to soundness of mind, and to the communion of the Church of God which they have deserted; and that thus may be fulfilled and realised the words of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Isaias: Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt pass on to the right hand and to the left, for he that made thee shall rule over thee. And again: The Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising; lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these are gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.