Read a reflection on today\u2019s reading, Acts of the Apostles 4:13-21, below. <\/p>\n
St Peter and St John are called before the Sanhedrin to answer the charge<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> by whose authority <\/span><\/span>do they preach and teach<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span> However, Peter replies that surely it is right to listen to God<\/span><\/span> and<\/span><\/span> how can they stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.<\/span><\/span> They<\/span><\/span> are warned not to continue to make statements or to teach in the name of Jesus<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Sanhedrin recognise that St Peter and St John have publicly performed a miracle in Jesus\u2019s name and do not deny this but there is a fear that this whole thing may spread among the people.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jesus has previously revealed himself as \u201cthe way, the truth, and the life<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span> and that the \u201ctruth<\/span><\/span> (Jesus) will<\/span><\/span>set us free\u201d<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/span>The <\/span><\/span>Sanhedrin do not deny this miracle performed in Jesus\u2019s name,<\/span><\/span> yet<\/span><\/span> they still seek refuge in comforting lies rather than recognis<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span> the <\/span><\/span>uncomfortable<\/span><\/span> truth<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> that they have been wrong. They prefer to live their lives in the shadow of deceit and falsehood rather than in the light of Jesus, the way, truth and life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The question that arises is why? That answer is found deep within ourselves, because there can be in our own life choices<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> an attraction to comforting lies and<\/span><\/span>a<\/span><\/span> distancing<\/span><\/span> from uncomfortable truths. And yet Jesus comes to set us free from our sin<\/span><\/span>ful<\/span><\/span> deceptions<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>inviting us <\/span><\/span>in<\/span><\/span>to a real <\/span><\/span>infinite <\/span><\/span>freedom<\/span><\/span> found <\/span><\/span>in hi<\/span><\/span>m and his<\/span><\/span> kingdom<\/span><\/span>\u2019s beliefs<\/span><\/span>. These are<\/span><\/span> so inherently different <\/span><\/span>from our world\u2019s finite \u00a0<\/span><\/span>beliefs<\/span><\/span> that can<\/span><\/span>offer us nothing more than earthly and so, temporary relief and not the eternal life promised by the Risen Lord.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey.\u201d \u2013<\/span><\/span>St Ignatius of Loyola<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.\u201c \u2013<\/span><\/span>St Therese of Lisieux<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read a reflection on today\u2019s reading, Acts of the Apostles 4:13-21, below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-ryan-black","has-more-link","post-2589","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p85OtW-FL","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2590,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stthomasneilston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}