Tuesday, 5th week of Easter
DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY:
“PEACE I LEAVE YOU; MY PEACE I GIVE YOU“ (Jn 14:27-31a).
READING I
Acts 14:19–28
In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the Church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Then they spent no little time with the disciples.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Or: Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Or: Alleluia.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Or: Alleluia.
May my mouth speak the praise of the Lord,
and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Or: Alleluia.
ALLELUIA
Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory.
Gospel of Tuesday, 5th week of Easter.
Jn 14:27-31a
Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
GOSPEL COMMENTARY
from the Navarre Bible, Gospel of St. John (with permission)
- 27 Wishing a person peace was, and still is, the usual form of greeting among Jews and Arabs. It is the greeting Jesus used, and which the Apostles continued to use, as we can see from their letters (cf. 1 Pet 1:3; 3 Jn 15; Rom 1:7; etc.). The Church still uses it in the liturgy: for example, before Communion the celebrant wishes those present peace, a condition for worthily sharing in the Holy Sacrifice (cf. Mt 5:23) and also a fruit of that Sacrifice.
- On our Lord’s lips this common greeting acquires its deepest meaning; peace is one of the great messianic gifts (cf. Is 9:7; 48:18; Mic 5:5; Mt 10:22; Lk 2:14; 19:38). The peace which Jesus gives us completely transcends the peace of the world (cf. note on Mt 10:34-37), which can be superficial and misleading and compatible with injustice. The peace of Christ is, above all, reconciliation with God and reconciliation of men with one another; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23); it is
- “serenity of mind, tranquillity of soul, simplicity of heart, a bond of love, a union of charity: no one can inherit God if he does not keep his testament of peace, or live in unity with Christ if he is separated from Christianity” (St Augustine, De verbis Domini serm., 58).
- “Christ ‘is our peace’ (Eph 2:14). And today and for ever he repeats to us: ‘My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you’… Never before in the history of mankind has peace been so much talked about and so ardently desired as in our day… And yet again and again, one can see how peace is undermined and destroyed… Peace is the result of many converging attitudes and realities; it is the product of moral concerns, of ethical principles based on the Gospel message and fortified by it… In his message for the 1971 Day of Peace, my revered predecessor, that pilgrim for peace, Paul VI, said: ‘True peace must be founded upon justice, upon a sense of the untouchable dignity of man, upon the recognition of an indelible and happy equality between men, upon the basic principle of human brotherhood, that is, of the respect and true love to each man, because he is man’. This same message I affirmed in Mexico and in Poland. I reaffirm it here in Ireland. Every human being has inalienable rights that must be respected. Each human community — ethnic, historical, cultural or religious — has rights which must be respected. Peace is threatened every time one of these rights is violated. The moral law, guardian of human rights, protector of the dignity of man, cannot be set aside by any person or group, or by the State itself, for any cause, not even for security or in the interests of law and order. The law of God stands in judgment over all reasons of State. As long as injustices exist in any of the areas that touch upon the dignity of the human person, be it in the political, social or economic field, be it in the cultural or religious sphere, true peace will not exist… Peace cannot be established by violence, peace can never flourish in a climate of terror, intimidation and death. It is Jesus himself who said: ‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword’ (Mt 26:52). This is the word of God, and it commands this generation of violent men to desist from hatred and violence and to repent” (St. John Paul II, Homily at Drogheda, 29 September 1979).
- The peace and joy which Christ brings us should be typical of believers: “Get rid of those scruples that deprive you of peace. — What takes away your peace of soul cannot come from God.
- “When God comes to you, you will feel the truth of those greetings: My peace I give to you . . ., peace I leave you . . ., peace be with you . . ., and you will feel it even in the midst of troubles” (J. Escrivá, The Way, 258).
- On our Lord’s lips this common greeting acquires its deepest meaning; peace is one of the great messianic gifts (cf. Is 9:7; 48:18; Mic 5:5; Mt 10:22; Lk 2:14; 19:38). The peace which Jesus gives us completely transcends the peace of the world (cf. note on Mt 10:34-37), which can be superficial and misleading and compatible with injustice. The peace of Christ is, above all, reconciliation with God and reconciliation of men with one another; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23); it is
- 28 Jesus Christ, as Only-begotten Son of God, possesses divine glory for all eternity; but while he is on earth this glory is veiled and hidden behind his holy human nature (cf. 17:5; Phil 2:7). It only shows itself on a few occasions, such as when he performs miracles (cf. 2:11) or at the Transfiguration (cf. Mt 17:1-8 and par.). Now, through his Death, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven Jesus will be glorified — in his body also — as he returns to the Father and enters into his glory. Therefore, his departure from this world should be a source of joy for his disciples; but they do not properly understand what he is saying, and they are saddened because they are more aware of the Master being physically separated from them than of the glory which awaits him.
- When Jesus says that the Father is greater than he, he is thinking about his human nature; as man Jesus is going to be glorified, ascending as he does to the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ “is equal to the Father in his divinity, less than the Father in his humanity” (Athanasian Creed).
- St Augustine exhorts us to “acknowledge the twofold nature of Christ — the divine, by which he is equal to the Father; the human, by which he is less than the Father. But the one and the other are together not two, but one Christ” (In Ioann. Evang., 78, 3).
- However, although the Father and the Son are equal in nature, eternity and dignity, our Lord’s words can also be understood by taking “greater” to refer to his origin: only the Father is “beginning without beginning”, whereas the Son proceeds eternally from the Father by way of a generation which is also eternal. Jesus Christ is God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God (cf. Nicene Creed).
- When Jesus says that the Father is greater than he, he is thinking about his human nature; as man Jesus is going to be glorified, ascending as he does to the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ “is equal to the Father in his divinity, less than the Father in his humanity” (Athanasian Creed).
- 30 Clearly the world is good, for it has been created by God, and God loved it so much that he sent his Only-begotten Son (cf. Jn 3:16). However, in this passage “world” means all those who reject Christ; and “the ruler of this world” is the devil (cf. Jn 1:10; 7:7; 15:18-19). The devil opposed the work of Jesus right from the start of his public life when he tempted him in the desert (cf. Mt 4:1-11 and par.). Now, in the Passion, he will apparently overcome Christ. This is the hour of the power of darkness when, availing of Judas’ treachery (cf. Lk 22:53; Jn 13:27), the devil manages to have our Lord arrested and crucified.
VIDEO REFLECTION
DO YOU FEEL WEIGHED DOWN BY YOUR BURDENS?
In today’s gospel reading, in this night of the last supper, Jesus speaks to His disciples who are emotionally weighed down by the prospect of Jesus’ death. They are troubled, confused and afraid.Jesus, on the other hand, is not afraid. He is at peace and offers this to His disciples. “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
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