About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword; and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison; but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. The very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison; and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.”
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THE FATHER HIMSELF OFFERS THE SACRIFICE
«If one of My creatures had been enough to atone for the sins of other men through a life and death similar to those of My Son, I would have hesitated. Why? Because I would have betrayed My love by making a beloved creature suffer, rather than suffering Myself, in My Son. I would never have wished My children to suffer.» (Message of God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio).
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (Acts 11:1-4): “The Good News begins to reach the Gentiles”
Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” But Peter began and explained to them in order.
Peter was able to dispel the objections of the Judeo-Christians by telling them in detail what had happened. The apostles and the Judean brethren also had to understand that it was God’s plan that the gospel should now reach the nations. Peter was able to recognise this because of the concrete indications the Lord had given him through the vision. It was also he who took this essential step in baptising Cornelius and the people who had listened to his preaching with him. Peter concluded his account of the events to the Christian community in Jerusalem with the following words:
A PATH LAID OUT
« I received His [of my Son Jesus], prayers, that man might have a clearly indicated path along which to walk always in justice, so as to reach Me safely! » (Message of God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio).
In His solicitous love, our Father has foreseen and prepared everything for His children. He not only offers us natural goods with great wisdom and love so that we may delight in them by gratefully attributing them to our Father as their origin, but much more still He showers us with spiritual goods, so that we may increasingly admire His love manifested in them.
THE LOVE OF GOD IS STEADFAST
«You must love Me and honour Me so that you will not be judged, or rather, that you will be judged with infinitely merciful love. Have no doubt! If My Heart were not like this, I would have already destroyed the world every time it committed sin!» (Message of God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio).
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (Acts 10: 23b-29): “The first Gentiles embrace the faith and are baptised”
The next day he (Peter) rose and went off with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his kinsmen and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered; and he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD
‘I gave Moses My commandments to remind them, in spite of everything, of God, their Father, and of His sole wish, to save them. They were supposed to observe the commandments and thereby remember their infinitely good Father, always intent upon their present and eternal salvation’ (Message of God the Father to Sr. Eugenia Ravasio).
The commandments of the Lord… How important it is to keep them to this day, for they are an expression of His fatherly goodness! How much destruction is caused in every way by transgressing them!
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (Acts 10:1-8): “The vision of Peter and Cornelius”
At Caesare′a there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror, and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and bring one Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those that waited on him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. Read More
GOD SEEKS FRIENDS
‘In the Old Testament, I created and chose prophets to live among men. To them I told My desires, My sorrows and My joys, so that they could communicate them to everyone’ (Message of God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio).
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (Acts 9:26–35): “Paul’s second escape and Peter’s apostolic journey”
When he [Paul] had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists; but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.