Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Paul appeals to Caesar
Dear Friends,
Please read below the passage from the Acts of the Apostles (25:1-12):
Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented him their formal charges against Paul. They asked him as a favor to have him sent to Jerusalem, for they were plotting to kill him along the way. Festus replied that Paul was being held in custody in Caesarea and that he himself would be returning there shortly. He said, “Let your authorities come down with me, and if this man has done something improper, let them accuse him.” After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the following day took his seat on the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought in. When he appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and brought many serious charges against him, which they were unable to prove. In defending himself Paul said, “I have committed no crime either against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.” Then Festus, wishing to ingratiate himself with the Jews, said to Paul in reply, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there stand trial before me on these charges?” Paul answered, “I am standing before the tribunal of Caesar; this is where I should be tried. I have committed no crime against the Jews, as you very well know. If I have committed a crime or done anything deserving death, I do not seek to escape the death penalty; but if there is no substance to the charges they are bringing against me, then no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Then Festus, after conferring with his council, replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go.”
I thank all those who have written to me and sent money to have their loved ones inscribed in the Book of Remembrance. People write to me from Argentina, France, Belgium, the USA, Canada and other countries. I pray for them every day and I offer two Masses a week for a whole year for all those in the Book of Remembrance.
(Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words.)
“Open your hearts and receive My graces, My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters living in all the countries of the world. I am always there to help you if you come to Me and ask for what you want. St. Paul was a great friend of mine who followed Me every day and who did My will at every moment. He wrote one day that it was no longer he who lived but I, Jesus, who lived in him. Indeed I wish to live in your hearts, all of you. If the world rejects you, do not be afraid, because you are very dear to Me, your Lord and Savior. Live every day as if it was your last day on earth so when the time comes for you to depart from the world, I will be there to bring you with Me to heaven. Do not let yourself be taken by the lures of the world because most of these are evil and come from the devil. Be men and women who love their heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit and I, the Son of God, and love your neighbor. I bless you all.”
Father Melvin