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| “Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions” Artist and date are UNKNOWN |
Readings for Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter [1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Acts of the Apostles 20:17-27
From Miletus Paul had the presbyters
of the Church at Ephesus summoned.
When they came to him, he addressed them,
"You know how I lived among you
the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.
I served the Lord with all humility
and with the tears and trials that came to me
because of the plots of the Jews,
and I did not at all shrink from telling you
what was for your benefit,
or from teaching you in public or in your homes.
I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks
to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus.
But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.
What will happen to me there I do not know,
except that in one city after another
the Holy Spirit has been warning me
that imprisonment and hardships await me.
Yet I consider life of no importance to me,
if only I may finish my course
and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to bear witness to the Gospel of God's grace.
"But now I know that none of you
to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels
will ever see my face again.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day
that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."
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Commentary on Acts 20:17-27
The steady and lively growth of Christianity has started to spark significant resistance from multiple sources. Paul now feels compelled to return to Jerusalem but wants to make sure he has left a final message with the leaders in the region of Ephesus. Here he begins his discourse reminding them of his fidelity to the message he received from Jesus.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21
R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance;
you restored the land when it languished;
Your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed day by day be the Lord,
who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation.
God is a saving God for us;
the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 68:10-11, 20-21
Psalm 68 a hymn of thanksgiving, praises God for salvation and all that He has provided to the people and lifts them up even in the face of death. The psalmist recalls all that God has done for his faithful people and enjoins them to sing his praise, giving the Lord what is due to him from a grateful people.
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Gospel: John 17:1-11a
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
"Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
"I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."
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Commentary on Jn 17:1-11a
We begin the part of Jesus final dialog called the “High Priestly Prayer.” In this first section, the Lord begins a petition for the disciples (those he has now and those to come) speaking directly to the Father (not to the disciples, they are just overhearing this prayer). The emphasis is clearly that the disciples have become what the Lord wanted, faithful believers, and he asks the Father to support them.
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Reflection:
As we listen today to the words of St. John we hear the Lord completing his discourse to the disciples just before they go out to Gethsemane. It sounds as if Jesus is summing up what he has been saying to the assembly, reassuring us and them that while it seems to be the end, it is not and all that the Father and he have given will be saved.
This feels like we have come full circle from the joy of Easter and the promise of salvation we received with the feast of the Ascension. It has a melancholy feeling, hearing the Lord speak this way, almost out of phase from where we want to be. We have to look deeper to feel the power and majesty in these words.
If we have been into the story as it has unfolded over the past seven weeks we feel the endings. We feel Paul, now returning to Jerusalem and telling the leaders of the Church he started in Ephesus that he will not be seeing them again. We see Jesus with his disciples, having given them among other things the Vine and the Branches, the Shepherd and the Sheep, the greatest Commandment, now praying to the Father:
Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
And from Paul:
But now I know that none of you
to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels
will ever see my face again.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day
that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.
Our Easter Celebration is nearly over for another year and it is time for new beginnings. In a few short days we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at the great feast of Pentecost. It is a signal that we need to reach into that holy place within us and draw anew on that power he left us, given in Baptism, strengthened and sealed in Confirmation, nourished with the Eucharist, demonstrated in the service of Matrimony and Holy Orders and revitalized and healed in Reconciliation and Anointing. We are, after all a sacramental people and it is the coming Spirit that makes us whole and one with him. Come Holy Spirit.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions” Artist and date are UNKNOWN
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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