May 21, 2007 Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

  2007년 5월 21일 부활 제7주간 월요일

 

 제1독서 사도행전 19,1-8

1 아폴로가 코린토에 있는 동안, 바오로는 여러 내륙 지방을 거쳐 에페소로 내려갔다.
그곳에서 제자 몇 사람을 만나, 2 “여러분이 믿게 되었을 때에 성령을 받았습니까?” 하고 묻자, 그들이 “받지 않았습니다. 성령이 있다는 말조차 듣지 못하였습니다.” 하고 대답하였다. 3 바오로가 다시 “그러면 어떤 세례를 받았습니까?” 하니, 그들이 대답하였다. “요한의 세례입니다.”
4 바오로가 말하였다. “요한은 회개의 세례를 주면서, 자기 뒤에 오시는 분 곧 예수님을 믿으라고 백성에게 일렀습니다.”
5 그들은 이 말을 듣고 주 예수님의 이름으로 세례를 받았다. 6 그리고 바오로가 그들에게 안수하자 성령께서 그들에게 내리시어, 그들이 신령한 언어로 말하고 예언을 하였다. 7 그들은 모두 열두 사람쯤 되었다.
8 바오로는 석 달 동안 회당에 드나들며 하느님 나라에 관하여 토론하고 설득하면서 담대히 설교하였다.

복음 요한 16,29-33

그때에 29 제자들이 예수님께 말하였다. “이제는 드러내 놓고 이야기하시고 비유는 말씀하지 않으시는군요. 30 저희는 스승님께서 모든 것을 아시고, 또 누가 스승님께 물을 필요도 없다는 것을 이제 알았습니다. 이로써 저희는 스승님께서 하느님에게서 나오셨다는 것을 믿습니다.”
31 예수님께서 그들에게 대답하셨다. “이제는 너희가 믿느냐? 32 그러나 너희가 나를 혼자 버려두고 저마다 제 갈 곳으로 흩어질 때가 온다. 아니, 이미 왔다. 그러나 나는 혼자가 아니다. 아버지께서 나와 함께 계시다.
33 내가 너희에게 이 말을 한 이유는, 너희가 내 안에서 평화를 얻게 하려는 것이다.
너희는 세상에서 고난을 겪을 것이다. 그러나 용기를 내어라. 내가 세상을 이겼다.”

 

 

 

 

 

 May 21, 2007

 Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

 Reading 1
Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
He said, “How were you baptized?”
They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus.”
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.

He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab

R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God arises; his enemies are scattered,
and those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is driven away, so are they driven;
as wax melts before the fire.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
But the just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 16:29-33

The disciples said to Jesus,
“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

 

 

 Commentary

 

 The early Church had to deal with the baptism of John and those who had not yet heard of the baptism of the Spirit that he preached about, and also his preaching about the one who would come after him. They encountered those who had repented and changed their lives but were still waiting. They preached Jesus as the one and the Spirit came upon them, after being baptized in the name of Jesus the Lord. And what about us-have we repented? Do we listen to the word of Jesus and pray for the Spirit to come upon us so that we might preach the Word?

Jesus speaks again and again-it takes grace, the Spirit, and time to understand even a small bit of what Jesus the Word made flesh is saying to us. Jesus knows that we will be scattered and we will leave him alone, betraying him (though the Father is with him always). We are told to remember that we will suffer in the world but we are to have courage for Jesus' life and death and resurrection has overcome everything.

 

 

 Receive the Holy Spirit

Paul, on his travels through the countryside of what is now Turkey came, to Ephesus and encountering “some disciples” asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered straight-faced and in full candor, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (Who ever said the Bible was no laughing matter?)

If not directly from scripture you might think these lines were from a stand-up comic: “Receive the Holy Spirit? I’ve never even heard of the Holy Spirit!” I can just image Paul stifling a chuckle, scratching his head in befuddlement and self questioning ‘where have they been, how can they not know of the Holy Spirit?’

How would one know of the Holy Spirit? How do I know of the Holy Spirit? Is it because I have been told – or is it that I have experienced the Holy Spirit? Do I know of the existence of the evil spirit; have I experienced the reality of evil? I believe a lot of truths that I myself take on the word of others: the world is round and moves on its axis while the sun stays put. We all believe that, don’t we? Who is all? Somewhere on this wild and untamed planet there are humans who believe the sun literally pops up out of the ocean each and every morning and when it is late or moves even a fraction - can send waves of anxiety. Something out of the ordinary, the unexpected, can be very unsettling. That happened to me just last week – sitting on the coast; the sun was late, I was beginning to worry, but then it finally did appear and I gratefully cheered its spectacular appearance!

Our language is so very limiting, but the depths of our experiences allow us to know in very different, unique and intimate ways things that we just can not know intellectually. I know in my gut that I am loved, but there are times I forget it. I experience what it is to be full of fear, or full of hope. My experience is valid.

The experience of evil to a greater or lesser degree is universal. From international war, global starvation, disease, international drug trafficking, murder and genocide to neighborhood muggings, family abuse, imprisonment, and gang violence there are few if any who have gone untouched by some form of evil. For many, daily evil and violence is much more than an article in the newspaper.

But the Holy Spirit – how do I experience he, that, it? Jesus told us that he would send his Spirit to be with us. His spirit is peace, joy, love, hope, freedom, laughter, humor, comfort, compassion, hospitality, challenge, fire of conviction, and the art of speaking and listening so that others might be invited and encouraged to listen and speak from their own experience.

Where and how has the world experienced the Holy Spirit? In the outpouring of immediate response to the 9/11 tragedy – and in the ongoing support to those affected. In the efforts of those involved in world health organizations. In the compassion, in the midst of the horrors of the Iraqi war, of the men and women who gather and tend to those in need on both sides of the conflict. In the kind, thoughtful, caring words and acts done in friendship and love. Again, for many of us, loving kindnesses are more than articles in the newspaper of happenings to others. It is part of our daily experience.

Where and how has the Church experienced the Holy Spirit? So much more is expected from us who profess to have received, to know the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is present in the challenge to be hospitable to our own brothers and sisters; to our sister churches; in listening and speaking with those whose experience of the Holy Spirit is different from our own, but no less valid.

“Received the Holy Spirit? I have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.” Well now you have. I invite you to get acquainted with this glorious Spirit that dwells within and around each one of us. Think of it as an Easter egg hunt – look in all the expected and unexpected places of you life, especially in the dark corners.

The Good News is that it is the Spirit that challenges my thoughts and actions, brightens my day and lightens my load.

 

 by
Joan Blandin Howard
Christian Spirituality Program

 

 

 It was not the first time that disciples claimed to have perfect understanding.  Earlier in the gospel Peter had said, ‘We believe and know that you are the Holy one of God’ (6:69).  The same Peter also claimed to be ready to lay down his life for Jesus (13:37).  Both claims proved to be more than a little premature. 

            Ignorance is bliss, we say.  It is effortless and unlimited, a calm unruffled universe.  But knowledge has narrow boundaries that are the cause of endless argument and conflict.  Knowledge always drives you out of some kind of paradise and sets you against your brother.  Then begins the long futile struggle to regain that infinite calm.  It is ultimately futile because everyone, even the most learned, remains ignorant  -  only about different things.  And so the wisest words of all are ‘I don’t know.’  Socrates wanted to know who was the wisest person in Athens.  The Delphic Oracle said, ‘You are!’  ‘That is impossible,’ replied Socrates, ‘because I am aware that I know nothing.’  ‘That,’ said the Oracle, is why you are the wisest person in Athens.’ 

            Those disciples of Jesus thought they had finally understood everything about him.  They were full of confidence  -  because they had not yet seen the cross.  ‘The cross of Christ,’ as Paul would see so clearly later on, ‘is foolishness,’ but this foolishness is God’s wisdom.  ‘Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world…? Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (I Corinthians 1:18-24).   Before the crucifixion the disciples thought they finally had it all together, that they had Jesus in a kind of frame; but he promised them that they would be scattered.  They will all be scattered until they are gathered again beyond the cross by the Risen Christ. 

            In the New Community, the Church, it is a new kind of knowledge that will hold them together: a knowledge that doesn’t look like knowledge at all.  The mystics through the ages have spoken of it from their experience.  ‘The mind is amazed at the extent of all it can understand,’ wrote St Teresa of Avila, ‘for God wills it to realise that it understands nothing of what he represents to it.

 

 

"In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" 

   How did Jesus convince his disciples that he was the Son of God?  Jesus could read their hearts like an open book.  He answered their questions before they could even speak them out.  And he showed them the glory of God.  For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the one he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased".  We can believe in Jesus because he is himself God, the Word made flesh.  Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus is the only one who knows him and can reveal him. Our faith is "certain" because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie.  Faith is already the beginning of eternal life.  Basil the Great says: "When we contemplte the blessings of faith even now, as if gazing at a reflection in a mirror, it is as if we already possessed the wonderful things which our faith assures us we shall enjoy one day."  Do you nourish and strengthen your faith with the word of God?

In spite of their belief, Jesus warned his disciples that their faith would be put to the test and that they would fail. Jesus spoke plainly about the tragedy of betrayal and the triumph of the cross.  Jesus knew the hearts of his disciples better than they knew.  He knew they would desert him in his hour of trial.  Such knowledge could have easily led to bitterness and rejection.  Jesus met the injury of betrayal and disloyalty with supreme love and trust in his disciples.  He loved his disciples to the very end even when they left him alone to die on the cross.  He knew that the cross would not bring defeat but victory over sin and death.  Jesus speaks the same word to us  today.  "My love for you is unconditional and I will never abandon you". While we cannot avoid all pain and suffering in this life, Jesus, nonetheless assures us that he will guide us safely through any difficulty or trial we may have to undergo for his sake.  Jesus calls each of us to take courage, because he has overcome the world.  The Holy Spirit gives us a living hope in the power of the resurrection and a confident trust in God ‘s abiding presence.  Nothing can overcome this faith and hope in Christ's victory -- no trial, suffering, temptation, or testing.  The Holy Spirit gives us the strength and courage we need to overcome adversity and to persevere in faith. Do you believe that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:38-39)?

 "Lord, help me to trust in your saving power, especially when I meet adversities and trials.  Give me your peace when I am troubled and let me know the joy of your victory over sin and death."

Psalm 68:2-7

2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God!
3 But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God;  let them be jubilant with joy!
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds;  his name is the LORD, exult before him!
5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
6 God gives the desolate a home to dwell in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity;  but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, [Selah]

 

TWELVE WEAK MEN

'They answered, 'We have not so much as heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' ' Acts 19:2

The Ephesian believers talked and acted in such a way that Paul questioned whether they had the Holy Spirit. In response to Paul's question, the Ephesians said they had never heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul then found out they had only received the baptism of John. Paul proceeded to tell them about Jesus and baptize them. Then, 'as Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came down on them and they began to speak in tongues and to utter prophecies' (Acts 19:6).

Although the Ephesians didn't even know Jesus, they were able to receive Jesus and the Holy Spirit, both within a very short time. Why do some people receive the Spirit right away and others wait for months or even years? The Ephesians could receive the Holy Spirit without delay because they admitted their weakness. They admitted they didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2). In their weakness, God's power reached perfection (2 Cor 12:9).

This accounts for the fact that women usually receive the Spirit more readily than men and new believers receive sooner than most of the 'old-timers' of the church. The power of the Holy Spirit is not for those who pretend they're powerful but for the 'merest children' (Lk 10:21). Will you admit to being weak enough to receive the Spirit?

Praise: The faith and prayers of Sarah eventually brought her husband to the Lord.
Prayer: Jesus, I am weak but You are strong. Baptize me in the Spirit.
Promise: 'I tell you all this that in Me you may find peace. You will suffer in the world. But take courage! I have overcome the world.' Jn 16:33 

 

 

«Father, the hour has come»

Today, St. John's Gospel —that we have been reading for days now— begins by speaking of “the hour”: «Father, the hour has come» (Jn 17:1). The crowning moment, the clarification of everything, the utmost donation of Christ who delivers himself to all... But “the hour” still is a hidden reality to men; it will be revealed as the scheme of Jesus' life will open the perspective of the Cross.

Has the hour come? What hour? Well, the hour when men will recognize God's name, that is, his actions, his way to address Mankind, his way to speak to us; in the Son, in the Christ He loves.

Now a day, men and women know God through Jesus («I have given them the teaching I received from you»: Jn 17:8), we become witnesses of life, of the divine life developing inside us thanks to the Baptism. In him, we live, we move, we are; in him, we find words that feed us and make us grow; in him, we discover what God wants out of us: our plenitude, our human realization, an existence that does not live out of personal vainglory but out of an existential attitude that becomes strong through the same God and his Glory. As St. Irineus remind us, «The Glory of God is living man». Let us exalt and praise God and his glory so that we, human beings, can reach our plenitude!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ marks us; we work for the glory of God, a task that translates in a better service for today's men and women's lives. This means working for true human communication, true happiness of the person, to increase the joy of the sad ones, to exert compassion on the needing... In short: open to Life (with capital letters).

For the Spirit, God works inside every human being and lives in the deepest part of the person constantly incentivating everybody to live as per the Gospel values. The Good News is the ｅxpression of the liberating happiness He wants to give us.