Acts 15:7-21 / John 15:9-11
The demographics of the Catholic Church in Singapore is changing and along with this change comes a new set of challenges.
Generally speaking, in the past, the majority of Catholics in Singapore are "cradle Catholics", i.e. baptized as infants.
But with the RCIA programme and other means of evangelization, the number of Catholics baptized as adults have increased and every year at Easter, there are substantial numbers of people being baptized into the Catholic Church.
With that comes new challenges like revised formation sessions, practices and understand of cultures and religious beliefs.
Such was the situation that the apostles and elders faced in the 1st reading. While the first Christians were mainly Jews, there was now an influx of pagans being baptized and coming into the early Church.
With that, there was a tension of religious beliefs and practices of the traditions of the Jews and that of the pagans.
It was James who steered the discussion back to the scriptures and from what was in the Word of God, a ruling was made.
In the gospel, that Word of God is made clear as Jesus said: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love.
When we keep ourselves in the love of God and have recourse to the Word of God, then we will be able to resolve the issues and challenges, just as how the early Church resolved their issues and challenges.