Acts of the Apostles 20: 28-38
St Paul in our first reading today concludes his emotional farewell to the Elders (spiritual leaders) of Ephesus with a warning. They have to be on their guard, to be vigilant against those, even from within the community, who will seek to cause confusion with regard to the teachings of the faith.
St Paul sees already that some will misrepresent the gospel, they will distort it’s essence and make a travesty of the truth. St Paul commends them to God and to his graces, praying that their inheritance is not stolen through the deception of false teachers, who may have come out of their own number but in truth never really belonged.
For St Paul his ministry was never about prestige, status, personal gain or courting favour. He derived his happiness not in receiving but giving and that is why the provident hand of God was never far from his side.
‘In all your affairs lean solely on God’s Providence, by means of which alone your plans can succeed. Meanwhile, on your part work on in quiet co-operation with Him, and then rest satisfied that if you have trusted entirely to Him you will always obtain such a measure of success as is most profitable for you, whether it seems so or not to your own individual judgment.’
St. Francis de Sales
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