First Reading: Acts 16:1-10
Psalm 100;
Gospel: John 15:18-21

After the great council in Jerusalem, the apostles did not impose Jewish laws of circumcision on Gentile believers: they only needed to abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. Therefore, with this encouraging decision, Paul went further to encourage other new believers to continue in their faith. Beside this, Paul also saw a vision that a man of Macedonia in Greece was inviting him to preach the Good News. Thus, Christianity spread little by little to the whole world, reaching out to you and me.
In the Gospel Jesus says that  “if you find that the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you.” Jesus spoke a deeper truth here than we realize. Not only worldly persons, but the world’s “things” hate us, too. They are unable to bring us true happiness or peace. The ancient pagan people considered that earthly goods in abundance were a blessing from the Lord and the opposite to those who had little. Are we actually victims of this even in this 21 ^st century?
The saints are our examples and have always been blessed by God, not because they boasted of the greatest material comforts, but because they have made Jesus the pattern of their life. They understood what Jesus meant when he said: “ If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. Servants are not greater than their master”.
Every disciple is the one who does the will of God and walks with Jesus, who is the  Way, the  Truth and the  Life. Let us keep on walking with Jesus wherever He leads us.
Blessings!
Fr. Mussie