Today’s Mass readings include the story from the Acts of the Apostles chapter 10 in which St Peter has a vision of a sheet full of unclean animals lowered from heaven.
He is told to “Take and eat.” At first he refuses because to do so would be to break the Jewish law. However, the Spirit persists and he comes to realize that the meaning of the dream is that the gospel is to be taken to the “unclean” Gentiles. This is a radical departure from the tradition because the Jews considered the Gentiles to be unclean dogs and to even associate with them was to soil a Jew and break the laws of cleanliness.
Read Full Article »