May 17, 2007 Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

  2007년 5월 17일 부활 제6주간 목요일

 

 제1독서

 사도행전 18,1-8
그 무렵 1 바오로는 아테네를 떠나 코린토로 갔다. 2 거기에서 그는 폰토스 출신의 아퀼라라는 어떤 유다인을 만났다. 아퀼라는 클라우디우스 황제가 모든 유다인은 로마를 떠나라는 칙령을 내렸기 때문에 자기 아내 프리스킬라와 함께 얼마 전에 이탈리아에서 온 사람이었다. 바오로가 그들을 찾아갔는데, 3 마침 생업이 같아 그들과 함께 지내며 일을 하였다. 천막을 만드는 것이 그들의 생업이었다.
4 바오로는 안식일마다 회당에서 토론하며 유다인들과 그리스인들을 설득하려고 애썼다.
5 실라스와 티모테오가 마케도니아에서 내려온 뒤로, 바오로는 유다인들에게 예수님께서 메시아시라고 증언하면서 말씀 전파에만 전념하였다. 6 그러나 그들이 반대하며 모독하는 말을 퍼붓자 바오로는 옷의 먼지를 털고 나서, “여러분의 멸망은 여러분의 책임입니다. 나에게는 잘못이 없습니다. 이제부터 나는 다른 민족들에게로 갑니다.” 하고 그들에게 말하였다.
7 그리고 그 자리를 떠나 티티우스 유스투스라는 사람의 집으로 갔는데, 그는 하느님을 섬기는 이였다. 그 집은 바로 회당 옆에 있었다. 8 회당장 크리스포스는 온 집안과 함께 주님을 믿게 되었다. 코린토 사람들 가운데에서 바오로의 설교를 들은 다른 많은 사람도 믿고 세례를 받았다.

  

 복음

 요한 16,16-20
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
16 “조금 있으면 너희는 나를 더 이상 보지 못할 것이다. 그러나 다시 조금 더 있으면 나를 보게 될 것이다.”
17 그러자 제자들 가운데 몇 사람이 서로 말하였다. “‘조금 있으면 너희는 나를 보지 못할 것이다. 그러나 다시 조금 더 있으면 나를 보게 될 것이다.’, 또 ‘내가 아버지께 가기 때문이다.’ 하고 우리에게 말씀하시는데, 그것이 무슨 뜻일까?” 18 그들은 또 “‘조금 있으면’이라고 말씀하시는데, 그것이 무슨 뜻일까? 무슨 이야기를 하시는지 알 수가 없군.” 하고 말하였다.
19 예수님께서는 제자들이 묻고 싶어 하는 것을 아시고 그들에게 이르셨다. “‘조금 있으면 너희는 나를 보지 못할 것이다. 그러나 다시 조금 더 있으면 나를 보게 될 것이다.’ 하고 내가 말한 것을 가지고 서로 묻고 있느냐? 20 내가 진실로 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
너희는 울며 애통해하겠지만 세상은 기뻐할 것이다. 너희가 근심하겠지만, 그러나 너희의 근심은 기쁨으로 바뀔 것이다.”

 

 

 

 May 17, 2007

 Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

 Reading 1
Acts 18:1-8

Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade,
stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue,
attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
When they opposed him and reviled him,
he shook out his garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
So he left there and went to a house
belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God;
his house was next to a synagogue.
Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord
along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians
who heard believed and were baptized.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

R. (see 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 16:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,’
and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

 

 

 Commentary

 

 Paul goes to Corinth and meets Priscilla and Aquila, who are tentmakers, and they live together and work together. Timothy and Silas come, and Paul preaches intently to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah (this is the apostle to the Gentiles) and his anger is vented on them. He eventually withdraws to a house near the synagogue and then Titus Justus and his family are baptized. And many Corinthians believe. Again we see the very humanness of the community as it lives/grows, dealing with outside decrees, the Roman government, the Jewish community and individuals' shortcomings, and yet the Church grows.

Jesus keeps trying to tell all of us that he will leave for a short time and then return. We will grieve and mourn but it will be turned into joy. Jesus will return with the gift of the Spirit and will return one day when the world is to be given back to God who has entrusted us with it-to make it holy. There will be mourning, but there will be joy.

 

 

John 16:16-20

What does this mean that he is saying to us, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'?

We know Jesus loved his disciples tenderly. With his mother they were his dearest friends on earth. In today’s gospel he is preparing them for his departure, “in a little while you will not see me and again in a little while you will see me.” He warns them that his departure would not be easy for them and they would weep and mourn. But he also gives them hope that their sorrow would soon be turned to joy.

Jesus is trying to bring comfort to his disciples for he fully realizes how important his personal presence during his life has been to them. This presence had sustained them throughout his public ministry and was sustaining them now even amid the intense opposition to him that was emerging.

But Jesus knows that he can be present to them in an even more intimate way than through his physical presence. Earlier in John’s departure discourse Jesus had told them that it was better for them that he go for if he did not go the Holy Spirit would not come to them. Through the Holy Spirit he could be present to them -- guiding, strengthening and loving them -- even more intimately than through his physical presence.

Yes, it is better for them that he go.

And it is better for us!

This presence that Jesus promises is his Easter presence! It is the presence that all who have been baptized share. Jesus is alive! Jesus is with us! How blessed we are to live in the Age of the Spirit because Jesus can now be more intimately present to us than was possible during his historical life.

Becoming a mature Christian does not mean simply being guided externally by the teaching and example of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. Becoming a mature Christian means identifying the life of the Spirit of Jesus within us and being guided by it. We mature as Christians to the degree we discern Jesus’ presence within ourselves and allow our lives to be directed by his saving power.

The Responsorial Psalm catches our joy: “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.”

 
 

Luke 24:46-53

 Today's readings give us two versions of what happened on the day we remember today - the Ascension of the Lord. Luke's gospel gives us the briefer story: Jesus took his disciples to Bethany, blessed them and told them, “Behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.” Then he was taken up to heaven and the disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”

But Luke, who also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, fills in the story a little more in the first reading. The two books, Luke and Acts, work together in partnership, and today's readings, the ending of Luke and the beginning of Acts, mark the transition both in Luke's story and in this early Christian movement.

In the gospel, Jesus blesses his disciples, but tells them to wait in the city “until you are clothed in power from on high.” But that time of waiting is over by the time we read it in Acts. There, just before he is “lifted up,” Jesus tells them they will receive the Holy Spirit and “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He is sending them on their -- and our -- mission.

We watch with the disciples as Jesus is lifted up, and we are left still staring at the sky. As if to add urgency to the message, two angels break our dazed contemplation. They say, “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” It is as if Jesus wanted to waken us from our dream-state and go to the mission he is sending us on - to be witnesses for him on this earth. We may want to cling to the “old, familiar” Jesus of the gospels, but this is the mission we are given - not to cling but to embrace. We are being sent out into the world to care for the people Jesus would have embraced - the poor, the marginal, those who are rejected by society, those who are weak or mentally ill.

It's easier for us to be Christians standing on a hillside gazing at the sky, but our mission is to move off that hill, to stop staring open-mouthed at the miracle of Jesus in our lives and act on it - to witness, to serve as Christ's representative here on earth.

It is then that we will really understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ and we, too, can “return to Jerusalem with great joy.”

 

 by
Maureen McCann Waldron
Collaborative Ministry Office

 

 John 16:16-20 

“We do not know what he is talking about!”  That is real progress.  Teachers know that the greatest obstacle to understanding is not ignorance but misunderstanding.  A deep admission of ignorance is a wonderful and rather rare thing.  There is something pure and innocent about it.  It is the real foundation of learning.  The kind of knowledge that becomes a ‘possession’ is an obstacle.  In moments of clarity we glimpse a humbling truth: that much of our knowledge is a protective layer for the ego. 

This view is more respectable than it sounds!  Socrates (5th century BC) was told by the Delphic oracle that he was the wisest man in Athens.  How could that be, he objected, since he knew that he knew nothing.  It is because you know it, replied the oracle, that you are the wisest man! 

Moving forward many centuries: the author of The Cloud of Unknowing (a 14th-century classic of Christian mysticism), wrote, “How am I to think of God, and what is God? I cannot answer you except to say ‘I do not know!’”

And one more instance (there are hundreds of good ones): one of the most learned of Renaissance scholars, Nicholas of Cusa, in De Docta Ignorantia (1440; on Learned Ignorance") described the learned person as one who is aware of his own ignorance. 

            Pray God that we may be always lacking in that kind of knowledge that closes the mind and shields the ego (or becomes one of its weapons).   

 

 

"You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy"

 John 16:16-20 

 

How does "weeping" and "rejoicing" go together?  Jesus contrasts present sorrows with the future glory to be revealed to those who put their hope in God.  For the people of Israel time was divided into two ages– the present age and the age to come.  The prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah as the dawn of a new age.  Jesus tells his disciples two important truths.  First, he must leave them to return to his Father and second, he will surely come again at the end of time to usher in the new age of God's kingdom.  Jesus' orientation for the time between his first coming and his return in glory at the end of the world is a reversal of the world's fortunes.  The world says take your joy now in whatever pleasures you can get from this present life.  Jesus points to an "other-worldly" joy wich transcends anything this world can offer.  Jesus contrasts present sorrows with future joy.  A  woman in labor suffers the birth-pangs first, but then forgets her sorrow as soon as her new-born child comes to birth.  We cannot avoid pain and sorrow if we wish to follow Jesus to the cross.  But in the cross of Christ we find freedom, victory, and joy.  Thomas Aquinas said: "No one can live without joy.  That is why a man or woman deprived of spiritual joy will turn to carnal pleasures".  Do you know the joy of the Lord?

"To you, O Jesus, do I turn my true and last end.  You are the river of life which alone can satisfy my thirst.  Without you all else is barren and void.  Without all else you alone are enough for me.  You are the Redeemer of those who are lost; the sweet Consoler of the sorrowful; the crown of glory for the victors; the recompense of the blessed.  one day I hope to receive of your fulness, and to sing the song of praise in my true home.  Give me only on earth some few drops of consolation, and I will patiently wait your coming that I may enter into the joy of my Lord." (Bonaventure, 1221-74)

Psalm 98:1-4

1 O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things!  His right hand and his holy arm  have gotten him victory. 2 The LORD has made known his victory, he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen  the victory of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

 

 DO YOU WANT TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT?

'I tell you truly: you will weep and mourn.' John 16:20

Tomorrow begins the Pentecost Novena, nine days of intense prayer to receive the Holy Spirit when He comes in a new way on Pentecost Sunday. The nine days of this Holy Spirit novena correspond closely to the nine months of a woman's pregnancy. The baby dwells within the mother during the pregnancy. Similarly, the Holy Spirit dwells within us (1 Cor 3:16).

As the baby grows within the mother's womb, the mother undergoes dramatic changes. Everything in her lifestyle changes. She wears a completely different set of clothes. She sleeps and eats differently. At times during the pregnancy, she may 'weep and mourn' (Jn 16:20). As the baby matures within her, she becomes more attuned to the baby's movements and rhythms. Her entire life is wrapped up in the welfare of the baby. In her final month, her main thought is: 'Come, baby!'

We must approach the Holy Spirit novena with a like mindset. We must undergo dramatic changes in lifestyle. We may sleep differently, rising early (Mk 1:35) or staying up late (Lk 6:12) to pray. We must 'weep and mourn' in repentance and in sorrow for our sins and the sins of others (see Ez 9:4), all of which grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). As our immersion in the Spirit progresses during the novena, we will become more attuned to the Spirit's movement and rhythms. Our entire life will be centered in whatever concerns the Holy Spirit. By the end of the novena, all we can say is: 'Come, Holy Spirit!' Do you want to be filled with the Spirit enough to immerse yourself in the Pentecost Novena?

Praise: Monica teaches her students to hunger for the Spirit more than they want life itself.
Prayer: Jesus, may I empty myself as You did (Phil 2:7). Give me life in the Spirit to the full (Jn 10:10).
Promise: 'Your grief will be turned into joy.' Jn 16:20

 

 

«You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy»

Today, we again contemplate the Word of God with the help of Evangelist John. In these final days of Easter we feel an especial uneasiness to make God's Word ours and be able to understand it. The very uneasiness shared by the first disciples. Which is profoundly expressed in Jesus' words —«A little while and you will see me no more; and then a little while, and you will see me» (Jn 16:16). These words concentrate our tension and concern about our faith and our research of God in our daily life.

We, Christians of the 21st century, feel the same urge than those of the 1st century. We also want to see Jesus, to experiment his presence amidst us, to reinforce the virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is why we feel sad if we think He is not among us, or if we may not feel and detect his presence, or hear and listen to his words. But this sadness becomes deep joy when we experiment his definite presence among us.

As His Holiness John Paul II reminded us in his last encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, this presence is concrete —specifically— in the Eucharist: «The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: ‘I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (Mt 28:20) (...). The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a “mystery of light”. Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognized him’ (Lk 24:31)».

Let us turn to God and beg for a deep faith, a constant uneasiness to quench our thirst in the Eucharist Source, while listening to and understanding God's Word; by eating and satiating our spiritual hunger with the Body of Christ. Let the Holy Spirit fill out with light our research of God.
 

 

 Luke 24:46-53

 If Ascension is transferred to Sunday: Acts 18:1-8 and John 16:16-20

In today’s gospel, Jesus says that in a short time, the apostles will not see him, but then a short time later they will see him.   He is speaking on several levels.   The first level is his death and resurrection.   The apostles will not see him when he dies.   But they will see him again shortly thereafter in his resurrection.   The second level is the mystical level: They will lose sight of him physically when he ascends to the glory of the Father.   But the will see him again, by faith, when the Holy Spirit comes.    There is also another level.   Jesus is not visible physically to the world.   But in a little while he will manifest his glory when he comes again in glory.   Then all people will see him.   This does not seem like a “little while” to us.   After all, it has been nearly 2,000 years since we have seen him.   We should remember that “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day” in the eyes of God.   Considered to eternity, a thousand years are but an instant, a very short while.  We do not know when the Lord will return in glory.   Rather than speculate about this, we must strive each day to realize the presence of the Lord in our lives.   We must always see him through faith.

 

 The Feast of the Ascension

First  Reading

People of prayer in faith live with Jesus taken up in a cloud, the cloud of unknowing.  There is no word, no feeling, no formula in itself that gives assurance that we are in Christ in us.  Ultimately it is in unknown that we are in Christ through the infused virtue of charity, the divine dance of eros and agape that unites us to the divine life of the Trinity.

Even the most sublime moment of communion in the Eucharist with the sense appearances of bread hide the immersion in the divine life.  It is the cloud of unknowing which surrounds us. only love pour forth by the Spirit brings union but it is beyond what eye can see, hands touch or ears hear, heart feel, understanding grasp.  What is the proof of this union?  It is that we effectively hear the voice of the angel saying: “Men of Galilee why do you stand here looking up at the skies?  This Jesus who has been taken from you will return, just as you saw him go up into the heavens.”

Christ taken in the cloud.  What remains is the unknowing and the mission. 

Second  Reading

There is the cloud, the unknowing.  But even more there is “the insight to know him clearly.”  From the love of divine union comes an understanding.  But it is given only in the cloud.  We emerge from the cloud with the clear understanding, “May he enlighten your innermost vision….”  As St. Peter says in his first letter: Him whom you do not see, you love.”  This love gives an understanding.  Prayer in faith and love with hope is never an absence, it is always Presence.  Nothing in the world can separate us from this presence since being lifted up Jesus fills all with his all.

Gospel Reading

St. Matthew gives the final commission with enlivens the Church.  It is built on the fullness of Christ’s power.  The Church is in motion fulfilling the mandate: Preach the Gospel; administer the Sacraments.  The Church teaches.  Christ remains forever.  No scandal, no weakness of its hierarchy can diminish the Presence within the Church.

St. Mark emphasizes discipleship; the work goes on.  The Eleven go forth: twelve minus one; nothing is complete or perfect until He comes again.  The Eleven bears witness  to the poverty of the Church that continues only because of the one thing necessary: the Presence of Christ.

St. Luke introduces the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Wait for the Spirit.  Then see the rippling effects of that power.  From Jerusalem to all parts of the world.  From this time onwards, the work of God continues.

 

Thursday (If the feast is transferred to Sunday, the following is the weekday Gospel.)

John 16.16-20

Our prayer takes place in this matter of "a little while."  In prayer we suspend the coming and going of daily life and in our recollection we die to all the details of the world.  It is a rehearsal for the act of faith at the moment of death.  We close our eyes in prayer to all distractions and open our hearts to the absolute reality of God in spirit and in truth.  It is this little while between seeing Christ in our daily life and then through the absence to come into the presence, and finally into the eternal, immediate presence.  The world rejoices in its immediate here and now in the rolling out of production and pleasure.  We weep and lament over Jerusalem's rejection and the consequences of a godless society.  But our prayer is joy, deep joy, a joy that no one can take from us.  It is the joy from Christ's ascension shared in the experience of prayer.