(Optional Memorial for Saint Bernardine of Siena,
Priest)
 |
| “Jesus with his Disciples” Gustave Doré (1832-1883). |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens,
they came away with instructions for Silas and
Timothy
to join him as soon as possible.
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
"You Athenians, I see that in every respect
you are very religious.
For as I walked around looking carefully at your
shrines,
I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an
Unknown God.'
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I
proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and all that is in
it,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human
hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs
anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and
breath and everything.
He made from one the whole human race
to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
and he fixed the ordered seasons and the
boundaries of their regions,
so that people might seek God,
even perhaps grope for him and find him,
though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For 'In him we live and move and have our
being,'
as even some of your poets have said,
'For we too are his offspring.'
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like
an image
fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human
art and imagination.
God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
but now he demands that all people everywhere
repent
because he has established a day on which he
will 'judge the world
with justice' through a man he has appointed,
and he has provided confirmation for all
by raising him from the dead."
When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff, but others said,
"We should like to hear you on this some
other time."
And so Paul left them.
But some did join him, and became believers.
Among them were Dionysius,
a member of the Court of the Areopagus,
a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Acts
17:15, 22—18:1
This selection places St. Paul in
Athens speaking to the pagans in one of their principal venues. In his
rhetoric, he uses their own beliefs to bring them to understanding by first
telling them, using their “Unknown God” as a starting point, that God is not bound
in gold, silver, or stone (as their idols are), but that he exists all around
them, creator of all that is and will be.
When he gets to a point at which he
begins talking about Jesus and the Lord’s resurrection, he loses most of them
but some remain and Christianity in that city has begun. From Athens he and his
companions move to Corinth.
CCC: Acts 17:24-29 287; Acts
17:26-28 28; Acts
17:26-27 57; Acts
17:26 360; Acts
17:27-28 32; Acts
17:27 2566; Acts
17:28 300; Acts
17:31 679; Acts
17:32 996
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all you his angels;
praise him, all you his hosts.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
the princes and all the judges of the earth,
Young men too, and maidens,
old men and boys.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has lifted up the horn of his people;
Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,
from the children of Israel, the people close to
him.
Alleluia.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Psalm
148 is a hymn of praise. In this selection, we find the psalmist (presumably
King David) singing of the omnipotence of God, his power and majesty, and his
promise of salvation. This poem is related to the Benedicite, or
“Song of the Three Children,” in Daniel 3:52-90. In both, we find catalogs of natural phenomena praising
God.[4]
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: John 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you
cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are
coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and
declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take
from what is mine
and declare it to you."
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jn
16:12-15
Jesus’
farewell speech continues. His reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit
is explained further, and the unity of the Holy Trinity comes into focus. The
Lord tells his friends that this Advocate will give them what is also his (the
Lord’s). He tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit will not bring new
revelations, but will allow them to understand the things that have already
happened. And in that revelatory understanding, Christ will be glorified
because he and the Father are one.
CCC: Jn 16:13-15 2615; Jn 16:13 91,
243, 687, 692, 1117, 2466, 2671; Jn 16:14-15 485; Jn 16:14 244,
690
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Heavenly Father, we
humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to
full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be
calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we
pray. – Amen.
Any skill or craft may look simple or easy on the
surface. Take the making of a table, what is there to it? It will
have legs and a top. How simple is that? Yet great carpenters will
know what kind of wood to use. They know what tools will be needed and
how to use them and those tools will change depending on the size of the piece
to be built and the complexity of its design. True artists of the craft
will take a lifetime to perfect their skill.
Apply that same idea to Jesus’ farewell to his
disciples being described in St. John’s Gospel. He tells them straight
out: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”
Although he is a young man by our standards, in his early 30s, he is going to
meet his passion and death. With this statement it appears that his
disciples have figured out what Jesus is saying and are understandably
distraught.
While we do not know exactly how old his friends
are, we do know they have a huge task in front of them. They are to take
the Good News to the world. As they do so, principally because of the gift
of the Holy Spirit to be received on Pentecost, they will understand more of
what they cannot understand at the moment of this telling.
It is like this with us as well. Who among
us did not grow up with our parents telling us about Jesus, and how we needed
to love him and be loved by him? That very simplistic understanding was
what we could grasp at the early phase of our relationship to him. As we
grew older we began to understand better what it meant to love the Lord and be
loved by him. And now, as we recall the words of St. John once more, we
see how far we have come and know that, like the disciples, we have a long way
yet to go.
Today we give thanks for our relationship to the
risen Lord, and we ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to take us further
as we truly come to understand all that God will let us understand before we
meet him face to face.
In this strange year where many
of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a
community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual
communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most
Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all
things,
and I desire to receive
You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this
moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually
into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly
to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1]
The picture
used today is “Jesus with his Disciples” Gustave Doré (1832-1883).
[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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
Jerome
Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 35:164, p. 601.
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