The ancient battle between good and evil continues today in each human heart. God calls; darkness seduces; and here, now, each one of us is faced with the choice on which our fate rests, a choice as old as the angels and our first parents. Will we accept life with God, embracing in all humility the path He lays out for us? Or will we draw up hedges around our egos, echoing those fallen words: “I will not serve”? The decision is ours; our eternal destinies are in our hands.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

The controversy sparked by the life of Jesus has followed his Church down through the ages. Deemed a refuge for the ignorant as often as the ark of salvation, a haven for barbarism as often as a lover of freedom, Darth Vadar as often as a queenly and tender mother, the Church remains plagued by division, confusion, and betrayal in its adherents. And yet it continues to find new converts, new Christians, even in a secularized and materialist culture. For in its most significant aspects, the Church has served as the keeper of the sacraments: visible signs of the invisible reality that God has kept his promise – the human race will be made new.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

Pentecost ushered in the apostolic age of the Church, those years in which Peter, Paul, and all the apostles ventured across the known world, spreading the Gospel to all nations, evangelizing Jews and Gentiles alike. Before long, small churches popped up across Asia, Africa, and Europe, even as disciples began to cultivate a Tradition and the beginnings of a book of Scriptures, all amidst an atmosphere of persecution and martyrdom. The Church had taken root.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

Where is the great drama of human history headed? What does the Christian know about his future? We consider here what we know and what we do not know about the pilgrimage of the human race toward its ordained end. As we await the end of history as we know it, the “end times,” the “apocalypse,” the final judgment, in what (or whom) shall we place our hope?

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

After His Resurrection, Jesus’s disciples wondered: would he now establish the long-awaited messianic kingdom, authoritative and powerful beyond measure? But Jesus had something different – and far more satisfying – in store. The divine Logos was to ascend once more to the Father, sending down the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, establishing the Lord’s presence within each of His followers. And the fruit of the Spirit would become manifest in each of them: in dramatic form as the Apostles spoke in tongues at Pentecost and in subtler form as they went out into the world with tender hearts, clear minds, and resilient wills for the mission they were to carry forward.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

The Resurrection of Christ formed the culmination of his ministry. It was Mary Magdalene who first received news of the event, having come upon the empty tomb guarded by an angel. There Jesus came to her, bidding her to tell all of his followers that he had risen from the dead. And so the first Easter brought with it the defeat of death, the lifting of the ancient curse, the realization of God’s promise to bring new life, a new Kingdom, into being.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

When he arrived at Jerusalem, Jesus went directly to the Temple and declared that his Father's house was not be profaned. For Passover, Jesus took his apostles to an upper room, celebrating the Seder meal with them and instituting the Eucharist in their presence. He went next to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he anticipated his betrayal at the hands of Judas. And upon his betrayal, Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, condemned to be scourged at the pillar and crucified on Golgotha. It was there that he died, surrounded only by his mother, Mary, a few other women followers, and his beloved disciple, John. And it was there, too, that the Messiah established his reign.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

Jesus’s ministry was neither haphazard nor inefficient. Rather, it was careful, systematic, organized, and impressive, as Jesus arranged his followers into bands of fellow leaders, preachers, and attendants who ventured throughout the region of Galilee. His following became a particularly potent force... one which Roman officials and Jewish Pharisees who were worried about the disruption of order would be justified in fearing. And so by the time Christ set out to march on Jerusalem, all eyes were upon Him: what would the next days bring?

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

What was the “Good News” that Jesus brought to the human race? It was the news that God continued to be present and interested in human lives. It was the news of God’s readiness to forgive the guilty, to respond with both justice and mercy. And it was the news of his promise to heal sinners, defeat Satan, destroy death, and adopt human persons into the life of the Trinity. But all this would come at a cost: a disciple of Jesus would called to repentance, a task the fallen human nature resists. Once again, humanity’s destiny was to be determined by our free choice.

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A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.

Jesus’s life and work were the sources of tremendous controversy: here was a man claiming not only to be a great teacher, but Lord over the Sabbath; a man claiming not only to be an eloquent teacher, but “the way, the truth, and the life.” Eventually, two camps formed around: those who worshipped him as God himself, and those who stiffened in resistance to him.

www.primematters.com

A text version of this project is under production by ActsXXIX. See www.primematters.com/text.