St. Ed Said

Lydia of Thyatira; Coworker of the Apostle Paul, May 21 --------------------- From Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2024: Lydia of Thyatira was Paul’s first European convert.  She was a Gentile woman living in Philippi who, like many others, was interested in the Jewish faith, but had not converted. As what the Jewish community called a “God-fearer,” she was undoubtedly accorded some level of respect by the Jewish community, but would not have been treated as a full member of the Jewish community in Philippi.  Paul encountered her on a riverbank where she and a group of women had gathered for Sabbath prayers. Paul and his companions began to talk with the women, and God “opened her heart” to hear what Paul had to say about Christ and the Gospel.  Lydia believed what she heard and, as was the custom when the head of a household converted, her whole household was baptized along with her. Lydia was a prosperous cloth merchant and had the means to offer hospitality to the apostles dur...

 For Sunday, May 11th's sermon, I went down several rabbit holes that kind of blew my mind. And one thing that really got me was a video of "Two Astrophysicists Debate Free Will". Watch the video, link below, and let me know what you think. TWO ASTROPHYSICISTS DEBATE FREE WILL

Some of you might notice this coming Sunday we have one less plastic bottle of water in our inventory. On Wednesday evening, before I was leaving to go to my soccer game, I watched as a car pulled into our lot. As they pulled in it looked like their car was packed to the hilt with blankets and pillows, all white and pressed against the back windows.  As they turned to park, I saw the rear of their car had been smashed. Those white pillows and blankets were the side air bags, deployed. An Asian man, his wife and 2 children got out of the car, clearly shaken. I stopped and asked if I could help but they were discombobulated, unsure what to do. I am sure it didn't help that I was dressed in my soccer attire not looking at all priestly. After navigating with them that I was ok and not going to deport them, I asked if they would like some water or if they needed to use the bathroom. It was difficult to get through the language barrier, and on top of that, they were quite anxious about w...