Monday in the Sixth Week of Easter
DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY: “WHEN THE ADVOCATE COMES WHOM I WILL SEND YOU FROM THE FATHER. (Jn 15:26-16:4a).”
READING I
Acts 16:11–15
We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city. On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
Or: Alleluia.
Sing to the Lord a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
Or: Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
Or: Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
Or: Alleluia.
ALLELUIA
The Spirit of truth will bear witness to me, says the Lord, and you also will be my witness.
GOSPEL
Jn 15:26–16:4a
Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”
GOSPEL COMMENTARY
from the Navarre Bible, Commentary to the Gospel of St. John (with permission)
- 26-27 Just before the Ascension our Lord will again charge the Apostles with the mission to bear witness to him (cf. Acts 1:8). They have been witnesses to the public ministry, Death and Resurrection of Christ, which is a condition for belonging to the Apostolic College, as we see when Matthias is elected to take the place of Judas (cf. Acts 1:21-22). But the public preaching of the Twelve and the life of the Church will not start until the Holy Spirit comes.
- Every Christian should be a living witness to Jesus, and the Church as a whole is a permanent testimony to him:
- “The mission of the Church is carried out by means of that activity through which, in obedience to Christ’s command and moved by the grace and love of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes itself fully present to all men and peoples in order to lead them to the faith, freedom and peace of Christ by the example of its life and teaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace” (Vatican II, Ad gentes, 5).
- Every Christian should be a living witness to Jesus, and the Church as a whole is a permanent testimony to him:
- The action of the Holy Spirit
- 2-3 Fanaticism can even bring a person to think that it is permissible to commit a crime in order to serve the cause of religion — as happened with those Jews who persecuted Jesus to the point of bringing about his death, and who later persecuted the Church.
- Paul of Tarsus was a typical example of misguided zeal (cf. Acts 22:3-16); but once Paul realized he was wrong he changed and became one of Christ’s most fervent apostles.
- As Jesus predicted, the Church has often experienced this sort of fanatical, diabolical hatred. At other times this false zeal, though not so obvious, takes the form of systematic and unjust opposition to the things of God.
- “In the moments of struggle and opposition, when perhaps ‘the good’ fill your way with obstacles, lift up your apostolic heart: listen to Jesus as he speaks of the grain of mustard-seed and of the leaven. And say to him: ‘edissere nobis parabolam: explain the parable to me.’ “And you will feel the joy of contemplating the victory to come: the birds of the air lodging in the branches of your apostolate, now only in its beginnings, and the whole of the meal leavened” (St. Josemaria, The Way,695).
- In these cases, as our Lord also pointed out, those who persecute God’s true servants think they are serving him: they confuse God’s interest with a deformed idea of religion.
- 4 Here Jesus prophesies not only his own death (cf. Mt 16:21-23) but also the persecution his disciples will suffer.
- He forewarns them of the contradictions they will experience so that they will not be scandalized or depressed when they do arise; in fact, difficulties will give them an opportunity to demonstrate their faith.
VIDEO REFLECTION TOPIC: DO YOU FIND WAYS TO RECIPROCATE GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU?
In today’s first reading, Paul decides to cross to Macedonia, to the town of Philippi, a Roman colony inhabited by retired legionnaires from the Roman army. There were very few Jews there and, thus, there was no synagogue. Philippi shares the distinction of being the first European center to hear the gospel.
Lydia, a rich woman, was one of them. It is said that her house was very big and could be a place for a community to gather and worship. She offered her hospitality to Paul and his companions to reciprocate for her newfound faith. Having received the gift of the gospel from Paul, she responded with her own gift.
From Lydia’s example, we too should reflect on what blessings have we received from God. Can we find ways to grace others as we have been graced, to bless others as we have been blessed?
SEE AS WELL:
MONDAY IN THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER READING:
THE HOLY SPIRIT RENEWS US IN BAPTISM (Didymus of Alexandria) in
https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/easter-reading-the-holy-spirit-renews-us-in-baptism-didymus-of-alexandria/
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