The post-Vatican II Lectionary for Mass has many fine features, one of which is the continuous reading of the Acts of the Apostles during weekday Masses in the Easter season. As the Church celebrates the Resurrection for 50 days, the Church also ponders the first evangelization: the primitive Christian community, in the power of the Spirit, brings the surrounding Mediterranean world the history-shattering news that Jesus of Nazareth, having been raised from the dead, has been constituted Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins. These serial readings from Acts end with Paul established in Rome (probably in today’s Trastevere district), speaking with the Roman Jewish community about the fulfillment of their ancient, covenantal hopes in the Risen Christ.
There’s one omission from this early Christian history that I regret, however; the Lectionary omits the 27th chapter of Acts, which tells the dramatic story of Paul’s shipwreck and his brief stay on Malta, where the apostle is miraculously saved from the poisonous grasp of a poisonous viper, and from which he eventually takes another ship to Rome.
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