Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus

Dear Friends,

Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination. God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.”

Today I will go to the Immaculate Conception Church, Palmer Road, to concelebrate Holy Mass at 11:00 a.m. with the parish priest. Next Friday, March 16, I will go to the Trappist Monastery in Rogersville, New Brunswick, to give a three-day retreat. The retreat will begin on Friday at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.

(Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words.)

“I bless you, My brother Melvin, and all My brothers and sisters who believe in Me and follow Me. St. Paul was a great Apostle and in the reading above you find him preaching to the people of Athens, Greece, about Me. Although not many believed him yet there were some who came to accept his words and believed in Me. 

Each one of you are to be My witnesses and never to be afraid to tell those you meet about Me, their Savior and Lord. Today many of My followers remain silent and are afraid to tell anyone that they love Me and pray every day. You should be bold to speak about the one who redeemed you. Some will be happy to hear you while others will reject your witness but the main thing is that you opened your mouth and did speak about Me. If all the members of the church stand up and witness about their faith, many new members will come to believe and enter the church. You have all received the command to go and proclaim the gospel to all those you meet. I am always with you.”

Father Melvin