Wednesday, Easter Week VII: "Keep watch over yourselves"

and over the whole flock

-- Acts 20:28-38

The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways:

- she was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles," the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;

- with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;

- she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor":

You are the eternal Shepherd
who never leaves his flock untended.
Through the apostles
you watch over us and protect us always.
You made them shepherds of the flock
to share in the work of your Son. . . .

-- CCC 857

Wednesday, Easter Wk 7: "by hard work...we must help the weak"

"... and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all. They were all weeping loudly as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again.

-- Acts 20:28-38

The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely. Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel but also intercedes for them. The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: "for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions," for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel.

-- CCC 2636

Saints of God:

• Eric IX of Sweden
• Felix of Cantalice
• Pope John I
• Venantius of Camerino

pray for us.