St Augustine’s day yesterday displaced the reading you would have heard at Mass from Acts 20, which contains the very emotional farewell St Paul makes to his friends before he leaves them. He then travels to Jerusalem where he is arrested, and speaks in today’s reading (part of chapters 22 and 23) to the Jews there – here he’s exploiting the theological differences between Pharisees and Saducees. At the end of the reading he’s told that having witnessed in Jerusalem he now has to do so in Rome.
In our progress through the book of Acts we have repeatedly faced the reality of Paul, Peter, Stephen and the others witnessing for Christ. In these strange days this has to be our priority as well, in terms of how we support one another, how we continue to worship, and how we challenge our society in the midst of both a lot of goodness and sacrificial service, alongside selfishness, mendacity and ineptitude. St Paul is a powerful example, shown here in the statue near the Anglican cathedral which bears his name.
God bless and take care
Fr Ashley