St. Edmund's Church, Beckenham

Today’s first reading from Acts (5:17-26) describes the miraculous prison escape by Peter and John. Note that the author doesn’t concentrate on the miracle itself – rather, all the emphasis is on what the apostles are expected to do in response to be free, that is, go back to preaching the gospel in the Temple. The power of God is stronger than that of guards and jails, and there are similar miracles elsewhere in Acts. The relationship between the disciples and the various factions in first century Judaism is interesting: it’s far worse here with the Sadducees, the group centred on the priests who controlled the Temple and enjoyed a cosy relationship both with the Quisling local rulers and the Romans themselves, than with the Pharisees.

Of course the author of Acts is clear that the apostles are locked up unjustly – indeed there isn’t even a proper trial. But the reading should prompt us to remember in our prayers today people who are in prison. The Catholic Church in this country for the last two hundred years has seen the pastoral care of prisoners a priority, partly because at least in the 19th century a lot of them were Catholics, being often poor and Irish. This remains true, and the bishop responsible for prison ministry (Bishop Richard Moth) led calls a few weeks ago for some prisoners to be released because of the Covid-19 crisis (for details of this see https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39259) and we should also pray for prison staff at this very difficult time.

God bless and take care

Fr Ashley