Friday, 6th week of Easter
DAILY MASS, GOSPEL AND COMMENTARY:
“WHATEVER YOU ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME HE WILL GIVE YOU” (Jn 16:20-23).
Gospel of Friday, 6th week of Easter.
(Jn 16:16-20).
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
GOSPEL COMMENTARY from the Navarre Bible, Commentary to the Gospel of St. John (with permission)
- The Apostles’ power derives from Christ glorified. Christ our Lord says as much: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it”. “It is not that he who believes in me will be greater than me, but only that I shall then do greater works than now; greater, by him who believes in me, than I now do by myself without him” (St Augustine, In Ioann. Evang., 72, 1).
- Jesus Christ is our intercessor in heaven; therefore, he promises us that everything we ask for in his name, he will do.
- Asking in his name (cf. 15:7, 16; 16:23-24) means appealing to the power of the risen Christ, believing that he is all-powerful and merciful because he is true God;
- and it also means asking for what is conducive to our salvation, for Jesus is our Saviour.
- Thus, by “whatever you ask” we must understand what is for the good of the asker. When our Lord does not give what we ask for, the reason is that it would not make for our salvation. In this way we can see that he is our Saviour both when he refuses us what we ask and when he grants it.
COMMENTARY ON TODAY’S FIRST READING (Acts 18:9–18)
TOPIC: What would you do if you know that Jesus is the person in front of you?
Paul was trying to evangelize Corinth, a city in Greece that was known for sin. According to the Christian Community Bible, it had 600,000 inhabitants and 400,000 of those were slaves. It had a thriving prostitution trade and the city was known for its luxury and corruption. Corinth was the sin city, the “Las Vegas” of the Roman Empire. The task could be too daunting and discouraging even for Paul. Thus, one night, Jesus appears to Paul in a vision and says, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.” Perhaps, Jesus uttered the last phrase “for I have many people in this city” not to mean that they were already disciples but He meant that people there were longing for conversion and holiness. We are all called to be saints through our evangelization efforts. We are called to be holy by seeing Jesus in every person we meet so that we can treat them the way we would Jesus. In this way, conversion will easily follow.
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