For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Acts 11 19-26
The peace of the Lord be with you. Today our readings remind us that we have a rich shared heritage with the chosen people of God. In fact many of the earliest followers of Jesus were principally from the Jewish communities of that time. The message was later carried beyond those local communities, and as our reading points out today, then became a distinct community from the Jewish people — a Christian community.
As a Christ centered community, we see the ways in which Jesus is prefigured in the old testament, prophesied about and how he is the fulfillment of all of the old testament teaches. As a result, may we always have a great love for the totality of the Scriptures, have a sense of unity with our Jewish brothers and sisters to whom God first spoke, and be grateful that through Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, we have become adopted members of God’s holy family. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.