Friday, March 23, 2012
Paul is transferred to Caesarea
Dear Friends,
Please read the passage below from the Acts of the Apostles (23:23-35):
Then he (the commander) summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea by nine o’clock tonight, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred auxiliaries. Provide mounts for Paul to ride and give him safe conduct to Felix the governor.” Then he wrote a letter with this content: “Claudius Lysias to his excellency the governor Felix, greetings. This man, seized by the Jews and about to be murdered by them, I rescued after intervening with my troops when I learned that he was a Roman citizen. I wanted to learn the reason for their accusations against him so I brought him down to their Sanhedrin. I discovered that he was accused in matters of controversial questions of their law and not of any charge deserving death or imprisonment. Since it was brought to my attention that there will be a plot against the man, I am sending him to you at once, and have also notified his accusers to state their case against him before you.” So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and escorted him by night to Antipatris. The next day they re turned to the compound, leaving the horsemen to complete the journey with him. When they arrived in Caesarea they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him. When he had read it and asked to what province he belonged, and learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I shall hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be held in custody in Herod’s praetorium.
The Pro-Life meeting was cancelled last evening at the parish church because there were confessions instead to prepare for Easter. No Catholic should ever think of having an abortion because it is the killing of a child in the womb of his mother. Let us pray every day for an end to abortion in the world.
(Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words.)
“I call you to trust Me with all your heart, My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters living in every country of the world. St. Paul had great trust in Me and I made sure that he was taken away from Jerusalem so that nothing would happen to him. It is true that he was imprisoned for a long time but he could continue his work for Me. You know that at the end he was martyred in Rome where St. Peter was martyred too. All the Apostles except St. John were martyred for their faith and in so doing they made manifest their great faith and love for Me. Their example is a great lesson for all of you. They are telling you that it is true that I am the Savior of the world and the Son of God. I am at work today as I was at the time of the Apostles. I desire that you follow Me while you are in the world and when your time comes for you to leave this world, you will come to join the Father, the Holy Spirit and Me in the glory of heaven. My Mother will be there too to welcome you. Come and follow Me every day.”
Father Melvin