May 19, 2007 Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

  2007년 5월 19일 부활 제6주간 토요일

 

 제1독서

 사도행전 18,23-28
23 바오로는 안티오키아에서 얼마 동안 지낸 뒤 다시 길을 떠나, 갈라티아 지방과 프리기아를 차례로 거쳐 가면서 모든 제자들의 힘을 북돋아 주었다.
24 한편 아폴로라는 어떤 유다인이 에페소에 도착하였는데, 그는 알렉산드리아 출신으로 달변가이며 성경에 정통한 사람이었다. 25 이미 주님의 길을 배워 알고 있던 그는 예수님에 관한 일들을 열정을 가지고 이야기하며 정확히 가르쳤다. 그러나 요한의 세례만 알고 있었다.
26 그가 회당에서 담대히 설교하기 시작하였는데, 프리스킬라와 아퀼라가 그의 말을 듣고 데리고 가서 그에게 하느님의 길을 더 정확히 설명해 주었다. 27 그 뒤에 아폴로가 아카이아로 건너가고 싶어 하자, 형제들이 그를 격려하며, 그곳의 제자들에게 그를 영접해 달라는 편지를 써 보냈다.
아폴로는 그곳에 이르러, 하느님의 은총으로 이미 신자가 된 이들에게 큰 도움을 주었다. 28 그가 성경을 바탕으로 예수님께서 메시아이심을 논증하면서, 공공연히 그리고 확고히 유다인들을 논박하였기 때문이다.

  

 복음

 요한 16,23ㄴ-28
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
23 “내가 진실로 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 너희가 내 이름으로 아버지께 청하는 것은 무엇이든지 그분께서 너희에게 주실 것이다. 24 지금까지 너희는 내 이름으로 아무것도 청하지 않았다. 청하여라. 받을 것이다. 그리하여 너희 기쁨이 충만해질 것이다.
25 나는 지금까지 너희에게 이런 것들을 비유로 이야기하였다. 그러나 더 이상 너희에게 비유로 이야기하지 않고 아버지에 관하여 드러내 놓고 너희에게 알려 줄 때가 온다.
26 그날에 너희는 내 이름으로 청할 것이다. 내가 너희를 위하여 아버지께 청하겠다는 말이 아니다. 27 바로 아버지께서 너희를 사랑하신다. 너희가 나를 사랑하고 또 내가 하느님에게서 나왔다는 것을 믿었기 때문이다.
28 나는 아버지에게서 나와 세상에 왔다가, 다시 세상을 떠나 아버지께 간다.”

 

 

 

 May 19, 2007

 Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

 Reading 1
Acts 18:23-28

After staying in Antioch some time,
Paul left and traveled in orderly sequence
through the Galatian country and Phrygia,
bringing strength to all the disciples.

A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria,
an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus.
He was an authority on the Scriptures.
He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and,
with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus,
although he knew only the baptism of John.
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue;
but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took him aside
and explained to him the Way of God more accurately.
And when he wanted to cross to Achaia,
the brothers encouraged him
and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.
After his arrival he gave great assistance
to those who had come to believe through grace.
He vigorously refuted the Jews in public,
establishing from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 47:2-3, 8-9, 10

R. (8a) God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands;
shout to God with cries of gladness.
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The princes of the peoples are gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For God’s are the guardians of the earth;
he is supreme.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
Until now you have not asked anything in my name;
ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

“I have told you this in figures of speech.
The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures
but I will tell you clearly about the Father.
On that day you will ask in my name,
and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have come to believe that I came from God.
I came from the Father and have come into the world.
Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

 

 

 Commentary

 

They arrive in Ephesus and Priscilla and Aquila hear Apollos preaching about Jesus and John's baptism in the synagogue. They bring him home and teach him more and in greater detail and depth. He goes on as a missionary and teaches Jesus as the Messiah among the Jews. The Spirit works where and as it wills, even without the church knowing of it-and when peoples/persons cross and meet each other, they need to be taken home and shared the good news in greater depth.

Jesus assures us that we can ask for anything in his name and the Father will give it to us. Our joy will be full. The Father loves us because we love Jesus and believe in him. Jesus is leaving the world to go to the Father but we can come to the Father as Jesus did. What are we asking the Father for in Jesus' name-what do the church, the world, and believers need now? 

 

 

During these last days of the Easter Season before the Feast of Pentecost, we liturgically function in a vigil mode which means that the Church invites us to remember what God has already done in sending the Spirit (Acts of the Apostles) and to hope for God’s future act of fully implementing his reign on earth as it is in heaven. To participate in a vigil is to “wait in joyful hope” – it is the labor of being present and attentive as God creates something new. With Mary and the Apostles we wait and pray in the upper room from the Ascension to Pentecost itself.

To remember in biblical terms, is more than simply recalling the data of certain moments of our personal or collective story. To remember is an act of human self donation. We give the powers of our inner lives (memory, imagination, reasoning) and our time and attention over to the availability of God’s Spirit to stir into flame a quality of experiential knowing of God or of God’s work in human history. Although our bodies are bound by time and place, these powers of our intellect are not so tightly bound. The whole theology of meditative or contemplative prayer depends upon this truth that when we actively work to remember what God has done for us – God can and does make us present to its happening. This is why the collective memory of the Christian community is so important. The community of believers carries the content of historical memory as a “door” into presence with God who is always faithful. As God has done so will God do again.

As we attend to what God has accomplished within the created order, then our hope is made secure. God accomplishes in the present what we are remembering and longing to have happen. If God’s people have been liberated from the forces of death and destruction in history, then I am liberated when I work to remember that activity of God. If the Spirit has been poured out into Jesus’ disciples, that same Spirit will be unleashed in my mind, heart and will, as I remember what God has done, and hope for God to do it now in me.

We do not always experience the apparently dramatic affective sense of God’s presence that the Apostles record in the Biblical witness for various reasons some of which have to do with God’s way of doing things, and some of which may have to do with our ability to receive what God is doing. Central to the mystery of faith is the confidence that God’s victorious reign has begun on earth. We would be foolish not to take heart and live in confidence.

Easier said than done, we perhaps protest. How do I know that my hope is more secure? How can I be confident that the victory is won? How do I know that I am not a fool especially if I feel no different? The surprising answer to this painful question is simply to observe the fruits of God’s presence in our own lives now: We participate in the Eucharist on Sunday even when I don’t especially want to go . . . I am gracious and patient to a colleague who drives me around the bend with her nit-picking . . . I arise in the night to care for my sick child, my dying father, my wasted co-worker or student who calls . . . I share my material goods when I’m not sure I have enough . . . my heart aches with the evidence of suffering in my world . . . neighbors turn to me in their distress and I answer their need even when it doesn’t feel good enough . . . I remain faithful to marriage, or celibacy, or the demands of priesthood . . . I stand in wonder that any of these small deeds matter and that they are signs of God’s very presence.

“God reigns over the nations, Alleluia” Psalm 47.7  

 

 by
Eileen Burke-Sullivan
Theology Department

 

 

 “On that day” (that is, “when you see me again”, after the resurrection) “if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”  He is saying that our prayer should be addressed to the Father, but “in my name”, that is, in the presence of Jesus.  This is the pattern of prayer in the Liturgy.  The Eucharistic prayer is invariably addressed to the Father, “through him (Jesus), with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.”  All our prayer has the pattern of the Trinity stamped on it. 

            This does not mean that we should never pray to anyone but the Father.  In the Catholic tradition we feel free to pray to Jesus, Mary and the saints, but always in the full knowledge that the Father is the ultimate destination of all prayer  -  just as every stream, even the raindrops streaming down your window pane, is making its way to the sea. 

            ‘Ask the Father,’ Jesus said.  If you put the emphasis on the word ‘ask’, you get words in different languages like pray, pregare, prier, beten  -  all of which mean ‘ask’.  But one of the Irish words for prayer is ‘paidir’, which comes from the Latin ‘Pater noster’ (Our Father).  The focus is firmly on the Father.  The ordinary Irish word for father, ‘athair’, derives from the same Indo-European root as ‘pater’, and shows the typical early Celtic loss of ‘p’.  (You get these lessons in Irish as a bonus!) 

            I once met an elderly lady in the Philippines who made it her apostolate to spread devotion to the Father.  Everyone else, she said, has promoters and devotees of all kinds, ‘but the poor Father is totally neglected already!

 

 

 "Ask in Jesus' name, and you will receive, that your joy may be full"

Do you pray with confidence to your heavenly Father? Jesus often taught his disciples by way of illustration or parable.  Here he speaks not in "figures" (the same word used for parables), but in plain speech.  Jesus revealed to them the hidden treasure of the heavenly kingdom and he taught them how to pray to the Father in his name.  Now Jesus opens his heart and speaks in the plainest of language: "The Father himself loves you!"  How can the disciples be certain of this?  Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus makes it possible for his disciples to have a new relationship with God as their Father.  No one would have dared to call God his Father before this!  Because of what Jesus has done for us in offering his life for our redemption we now have a new relationship as the adopted children of God.  Paul the Apostles says that "when we cry, ‘Abba! Father!' it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:15- 16). We can boldly approach God as our Father and ask him for the things we need.  In love he bids us to draw near to his throne of grace and mercy.  Do you approach the Father with confidence in his love and with expectant faith in his promise to hear your prayers?

 "Heavenly Father, your love knows no bounds and your mercies are new every day. Fill me with gratitude for your countless blessings and draw me near to your throne of grace and mercy.  Give me confidence and boldness to pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Psalm 47:2-9

2 For the LORD, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. [Selah]
5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.  For the shields of the earth belong to God;  he is highly exalted!

 

 

 «As I came from the Father (...) so I am leaving the world and going to the Father »

Today, vigil of our Lord's Ascension into Heaven, the Gospel leaves us with some very fond farewell words. Jesus let us share his most precious mystery; God Father is his origin and, at the same time, his destination: «As I came from the Father and have come into the world, so I am leaving the world and going to the Father» (Jn 16:28).

This great Truth of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity should be constantly hammering into our heads: Jesus is really the Son of God: God Father is his origin and God Father is his destination.

For those who claim to know everything on God, but question Jesus' Divine filiation, today's Gospel has an important thing they should remember: “He, who” the Jews name God is who sent Jesus to us; He is, therefore, the Father to those who believe. With this we are clearly told that God can only and truly be known by those who accept Jesus' Father is God.

But Jesus' Divine filiation also reminds us of another important thing for our lives: those baptized into Christ are sons of God through the Holy Spirit. And this hides a most beautiful mystery for us: this adoptive fatherhood by God towards us is different of human adoption insofar it has a true foundation in each one of us, as it implies a new birth. Consequently, he who has been accepted in the great Divine Family is no longer a stranger to it.

This is why in the Mass Collects of the Ascension Day we shall all be reminded that all children must follow the steps of the Son: «Grant us, we pray, almighty God, the gift of a blessed joy and the rejoicing of a burning thanksgiving, for the Ascension into the heavens of Christ, your Son, also is our submission and glory, for where the Head ascended the body hopes to ascend, too». So no Christian should therefore let be left behind, for this is far more important than participating in any marathon race, the finishing line being in Heaven, with the very God!

 

 

We have always called John the Baptist the “precursor” or “forerunner” of Jesus.   Often we think of him as Jesus’ cousin who preached repentance in the desert and who baptized Jesus.   But there is probably much more to this “forerunning.”   Passages such as the second verse of today first reading (Acts 18:25) as well as other passages such as Acts 19:3 and the Epistles to the Colossians and to the Ephesians indicate that followers of John the Baptist were widespread throughout the Mediterranean world. 
Apollos was from Alexandria (north Africa); he was a follower of John the Baptist and had been baptized with John’s baptism.  At Ephesus (in what is now Turkey), the people had only been baptized with the baptism of John.  John apparently taught a brand of Judaism which was widespread and which was not represented by the Pharisees or Sadducees or any other known group.   These followers of John formed a problem for the primitive Church.  Some of John’s followers, of course, had become Christians.  But others still clung to the old ways.   Very likely, the beginning of the synoptic gospel story is an apologetic against these followers of John.   We read the words of John that he must decrease while Jesus must increase. 
Unlike Paul, Apollos is very eloquent.  Very likely, he was a much more attractive person than Paul.    But Paul was the apostle.  Paul never shows any jealous or resentment of Apollos.   In I Corinthians, Paul states that the mission of all is necessary: “Paul plants; Apollos waters, but God gives the increase.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us that whatever we ask the Father in his name will be given us.   Let us have faith.
 

 

We love Jesus as the Son.  We love him in his mysterious, divine origin.  We love him even beyond the marvels of his humanity.  There is much internal evidence from the Gospels that demonstrate that Christ Jesus is the perfection of the human being.  That is not enough.  In the first few centuries the Church grappled with the Arian heresy that taught that Jesus was an exceptional manifestation of God's creation, but that he was not God.  We love Jesus in the faith of the Church: He is God of God, light of light.  We love Jesus because we believe that he came from the Father.  He came from the Father and he returns to the Father.  Jesus, as the divine person of the Son, exists in His divine nature and in His human nature.  The Son prays the Father in his humanity in the pattern of his divinity.  And then by grace the Son prays the Father in us as we share in this Sonship by divine adoption.  Our prayer is living out our adoption in baptism.