20190601
THE
HOLY SPIRIT MAKES THINGS CLEAR FOR US
01 JUNE, 2019,
Saturday, 6th Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Red.
These are the readings
for the feria
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First reading
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Acts 18:23-28 ©
|
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Apollos demonstrated from the scriptures that Jesus
was the Christ
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Paul came down to Antioch, where he spent
a short time before continuing his journey through the Galatian country and
then through Phrygia, encouraging all the followers.
An
Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man,
with a sound knowledge of the scriptures, and yet, though he had been given
instruction in the Way of the Lord and preached with great spiritual
earnestness and was accurate in all the details he taught about Jesus, he had
only experienced the baptism of John. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak
boldly in the synagogue, they took an interest in him and gave him further
instruction about the Way.
When
Apollos thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and
wrote asking the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived there he was able by
God’s grace to help the believers considerably by the energetic way he refuted
the Jews in public and demonstrated from the scriptures that Jesus was the
Christ.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 46(47):2-3,8-10 ©
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God is king of all the
earth.
or
Alleluia!
All peoples, clap your hands,
cry to God with shouts of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear,
great king over all the earth.
God is king of all the
earth.
or
Alleluia!
God is king of all the earth,
sing praise with all your
skill.
God is king over the nations;
God reigns on his holy throne.
God is king of all the
earth.
or
Alleluia!
The princes of the people are assembled
with the people of Abraham’s
God.
The rulers of the earth belong to God,
to God who reigns over all.
God is king of all the
earth.
or
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
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John 16:23-28 ©
|
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The Father loves you for loving me and believing
that I came from God
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Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
anything you ask for from the Father he
will grant in my name.
Until now you have not asked for anything
in my name.
Ask and you will receive, and so your joy
will be complete.
I have been telling you all this in
metaphors,
the hour is coming when I shall no longer
speak to you in metaphors;
but tell you about the Father in plain
words.
When that day comes you will ask in my
name;
and I do not say that I shall pray to the
Father for you,
because the Father himself loves you for
loving me
and believing that I came from God.
I came from the Father and have come into
the world
and now I leave the world to go to the
Father.’
These are the readings
for the memorial
THE HOLY SPIRIT
MAKES THINGS CLEAR FOR US
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47:2-3, 8-10; John 16:23-28 ]
Before the resurrection
and ascension of our Lord, the disciples were not clear about the identity of
our Lord. It
would have been difficult for Jesus to tell them directly and explicitly that
He was God because there was only one God. When Jesus was on earth, He
was stripped of His divinity. He was constantly in communion with His
Father in prayers. His mission on earth was to make the Father
known. He prayed, “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I
know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them,
and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be
in them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:25f) The
sole mission and purpose of Jesus was to reveal His Father’s love.
But no one can know the
Father’s identity without going through Jesus. This is what Jesus said, “All things have
been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the
Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him.” (Mt 11:27) Only Jesus could reveal to us
the true identity of the Father because He came from God. John said, “No
one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s
heart, who has made him known.” (Jn 1:18) For this reason, Jesus said, “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do
know him and have seen him.” (Jn 14:6f)
With the ascension, the
Holy Spirit sent by the Lord in the name of His Father will lead them to the
fullness of truth. Earlier
on, the Lord told the disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you
into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever
he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will
glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (Jn 16:12-14) This is what Jesus meant
when He told the disciples, “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.”
This hour refers to His
passion, death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. The identity of Jesus would be
revealed in the paschal mystery. In His death, Jesus revealed to us the
Father’s love. In His resurrection, Jesus revealed to us the power of God
over death. In His ascension, Jesus revealed His power as one with the
Father before even the foundation of the world. At Pentecost, Jesus who
shares power with the Father would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us
so that we can now share in His life and His glory. St John wrote, “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.” Again St John wrote
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and
everyone who loves the parent loves the child.” (1Jn 5:1)
With the Holy Spirit
dwelling in the disciples, they will come to know the indwelling presence of
God in their lives. They
will come to know the love of the Father through Jesus in the Holy
Spirit. Jesus remarked, “On that day you will ask in my name, and I
do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.” Why is this
so? This is because “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.” It is the Father and the Son who will make their home in those
who are faithful to Him. (cf Jn 16:28)
This was what the
disciples of our Lord did for Apollos.
We read in the first reading that an Alexandrian Jew named Apollos arrived in
Ephesus. “He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of the
scriptures, and yet, though he had been given instruction in the Way of the
Lord and preached with great earnestness and was accurate in all the details he
taught about Jesus, he had only experienced the baptism of John.” Apollos
was passionate about Jesus and the gospel. He was edified by the life of
Jesus and sought to follow His way of life. However, he did not yet receive
the Holy Spirit and only went through the baptism of repentance. He
had not yet received the fullness of the Spirit of the Risen Lord.
Inspired by the Holy
Spirit, “when Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak boldly in the synagogue,
they took an interest in him and gave him further instruction about the
Way.” The
disciples of Jesus did not stop him from teaching even though his information
and experience of the Risen Lord were inadequate. Like their master, they
too continued the work of the Holy Spirit by enlightening Apollos on the truth
of the gospel and most of all, about Jesus Christ. Indeed, this too
should be the way we deal with others who are sharing their faith even if they
lack full formation. One does not need to be fully instructed in the
faith before we can be missionaries like Apollos.
This is what Pope
Francis wrote, “Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively
engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s
saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim
that love. Every
Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love
of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and
‘missionaries’, but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’. If we are
not convinced, let us look at those first disciples, who, immediately after
encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to proclaim him joyfully: ‘We have
found the Messiah!’ (Jn 1:41). The Samaritan
woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and many
Samaritans come to believe in him ‘because of the woman’s testimony (Jn 4:39). So too, Saint Paul, after his
encounter with Jesus Christ, immediately proclaimed Jesus’ (Acts 9:20; cf. 22:6-21). So what are we waiting for?” (GE 120)
Of course, this does not
mean that we need not “mature in our work as evangelizers. We want to have
better training, a deepening love and a clearer witness to the Gospel.” Indeed, it is for this reason that
Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside to teach him. What is
significant is that Apollos never felt too proud to learn more about
Jesus. This is so unlike many of us, priests, religious and lay
leaders. Sometimes, we think that we know a lot about the scriptures and our
faith and our doctrines and we are not ready to listen to others who can deepen
our understanding of our faith. Just because we have been teaching the
topic or subject for years, we think that we know everything. Instead, we
must learn to be like Apollos who was docile to the teaching of Priscilla and
Aquila. Because he was disposed to learn, they were happy to teach him.
We must never forget that even whilst we are missionaries, we are always
disciples as well. We never stop learning and growing in faith.
Again, Pope Francis
reminds us, “In this sense, we ought to let others be constantly evangelizing
us. But this does not mean that we should postpone the evangelizing mission; rather, each of us should find ways to
communicate Jesus wherever we are. All of us are called to offer others an
explicit witness to the saving love of the Lord, who despite our imperfections
offers us his closeness, his word and his strength, and gives meaning to our
lives. In your heart you know that it is not the same to live without
him; what you have come to realize, what has helped you to live and given you
hope, is what you also need to communicate to others. Our falling short of
perfection should be no excuse; on the contrary, mission is a constant stimulus
not to remain mired in mediocrity but to continue growing. The witness of faith
that each Christian is called to offer leads us to say with Saint Paul: Not
that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect; but I press on to
make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own (Phil 3:12-13).” (GE 121)
Finally, to be good
evangelizers, we need the community to support and encourage us. Again,
this was what the early Christians did. “When Apollos thought of crossing over to
Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking the disciples to welcome
him. When he arrived there he was able by God’s grace to help the believers
considerably by the energetic way he refuted the Jews in public and demonstrated
from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” We too need our fellow
Catholics to support us in our missionary zeal. Instead of competing with
each other for power, position and honour, we should be encouraging each other
in our mission so that we could be effective in reaching out to others as
Apollos did. This is the invitation of Pope Francis as well, when he
wrote, “An evangelizing community is also supportive, standing by people at
every step of the way, no matter how difficult or lengthy this may prove to be.
It is familiar with patient expectation and apostolic endurance.
Evangelization consists mostly of patience and disregard for constraints of
time.” (GE 24)
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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