20200523 MENTORING DISCIPLES AND MINISTERS
23 May, 2020, Saturday, 6th Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
First reading
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Acts 18:23-28 ©
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Apollos demonstrated from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ
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.
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 Acclamation
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Jn14:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever.
Alleluia!
Or:
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Jn16:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I came from the Father
and have come into the world,
and now I leave the world
to go to the Father.
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
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.’
MENTORING DISCIPLES AND MINISTERS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 18:23-28; PS 47:2-3, 8-10; JOHN 16:23-28 ]
Faith, like all relationships, must always be growing to be alive. Unfortunately, many of us take our faith as something akin to an idol, an object that we can possess and use whenever we need it. This is a new form of idolatry. This explains why many of us Catholics stop learning about our faith and forming our spiritual life after RCIA and baptism. Many younger people after Confirmation stop going to church altogether. It is not surprising therefore, that many of us do not know the bible. At most we have some elementary, very basic knowledge of the sacraments. Hence, many are diffident in defending the faith when we meet with challenges, whether with regard to doctrines and worse still, when it comes to Catholic morality. This is why many of us are nominal Catholics because the values we hold are those of the secular world and not according to the Catholic Faith or rooted in scriptures.
But this tendency to fossilize our faith is sadly also the attitude of some priests and lay teachers of the faith. Some of us, after graduation from the seminary or from the university stop reading and learning. Many of us who are teaching the faith, especially catechists, conducting retreats or seminars use the same old notes which we prepared many years ago. We do so without further development, updates and new insights. The truth is that things never remain the same. We are all growing or dying. When we do not bring new insights even from old ideas, it means that we are not in contact with the current challenges of our times. Many things, even old things, need to be rethought and relearnt with new information received. Every one of us must bring new ideas, new experiences and challenges to the faith that we have inherited, the scriptures that we have read. This is what the Lord said to us, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Mt 13:52) How true it is when we prepare talks and homilies using the same scripture texts, yet are always able to produce new insights and ideas. The scripture texts can be the same but the way we read it and understand it grows in depth.
Today, the scripture readings tell us that no one is too old or too smart to learn more. Jesus says that He has many things to tell us but we still are not ready to grasp. “I have yet 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.” (Jn 16:12f) Since the disciples had not yet seen His passion, death and resurrection, they could not understand. Hence, Jesus said, “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.” Only with His resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit are we able to come to a fuller understanding of the identity of Jesus and His mission.
Today, we have the example of Apollos who was well educated, knowledgeable and yet humble and willing to learn. The scripture tells us that he was an Alexandrian Jew. Alexandria was a place well known for learning. He was a man well versed in the scriptures himself. “He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of the scriptures.” However, he had not yet encountered the Risen Lord in the Holy Spirit. “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.” Consequently, his knowledge about Jesus was confined to an intellectual knowledge about Him. He was perhaps following what John the Baptist, his mentor, was teaching; that Jesus was the Messiah. He would have been taught about the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord but He had not yet received the Holy Spirit since he received only the baptism of John which was for repentance and forgiveness of our sins.
It is relationship with the Lord that matters in the end, not just knowledge. Jesus said to His disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” What was the Lord telling His disciples to ask? It is not about asking for things but a personal relationship with Him in the Holy Spirit. Only when the Spirit of Jesus lives in them, will they be able to receive whatever they ask from the Lord, because whatever they ask will always be what the Lord wants. Such prayers will always be granted. So what brings completeness is our relationship with God. It is this intense relationship that will bring us complete joy.
We need people like Apollos to defend the faith using reason and intellectual knowledge. But more than just knowledge, Apollos has the advantage of knowing the Lord personally in the Holy Spirit. “On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.” Only when we experience the love of the Father, can we serve Him with devotion, passion and conviction.
Fortunately, he had two humble disciples of the Lord who were willing to guide him and help him to be formed in the Way. “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.” Priscilla and Aquila knew talent when they saw Apollos. They knew that Apollos had the potential to do even more. Unfortunately, many of us leaders do not recognize the talents that we have around us. We do not appreciate our staff and subordinates that have talents, skills and knowledge that we do not have. Instead of making full use of them, in our insecurity, we stifle them, put them down and make them lose morale and enthusiasm in their work. The Church has lost much lay talent simply because we do not know we have such talents in our midst; and even if we do, we do not harness their expertise to help us in the proclamation of the good news. We do not employ, nurture, and retain good staff in our organizations.
The real problem is often the insecurity of the leaders. In the case of Priscilla and Aquila, they had no insecurity because they knew themselves, accepted their limitations and strengths. They only wanted the Lord to be known by others regardless who makes Him known. Hence, they did not feel diffident to teach Apollos even though he was well educated and instructed in the way and in the scripture. They had something that Apollos did not have; a personal experience of the Holy Spirit. They were courageous to approach Apollos to see whether he was willing to learn more about the Way. They were also humble enough to guide Apollos because as a preacher and teacher, he was certainly better than them. They did not feel the need to put Apollos down to lift themselves up. In fact, they were happy to make Apollos an even more effective preacher and teacher. So they took him aside, away from the public, to instruct him in the Way.
Both Priscilla and Aquila were not just good mentors for Apollos but for all of us who are teachers. They were selfless in promoting others whom they saw were talented and could do the work better than themselves. This is what all good teachers must do. We must see the talents in our students and bring out the best in them. And the great thing about Priscilla and Aquila was that they were sensitive to the position of Apollos. They did not want him to lose his authority in teaching. So they took him aside to instruct him. Isn’t this what we must do as mentors, that in guiding our students or our subordinates, we must always respect their dignity and not embarrass them by correcting them in public because it would only undermine their authority? It does us no good to correct people in public because we only humiliate them and make others lose confidence in them. Rather, if we were to mentor disciples to be teachers, we need to follow Priscilla and Aquila in the way they brought Apollos aside, taught and encouraged him to go further and made full use of his talents.
Indeed, as a result of the good mentoring of Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos blossomed as a missionary and preacher of the Lord. “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.” It was also the encouragement of the community that helped to retain good talents, as in the case of Apollos. “When Apollos thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking the disciples to welcome him.” The community too must be supportive of those pastoral workers, including our priests, who are working for them. They need our encouragement as well so that they too can blossom in ministering to the people.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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