From: Acts 14:21-27
The Return Journey to Antioch
[24] Then they passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. [25] And
when they had spoken the Word in Perga, they went down to Attalia;
[26] and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been
commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
[27] And when they arrived, they gathered the Church together and
declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door
of faith to the Gentiles.
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Commentary:
20-22. “If you accept difficulties with a faint heart you lose joy and
your peace, and you run the risk of not deriving spiritual profit from
the trial” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 696).
St. Paul is not cowed by persecution and physical suffering. He knows
that this crisis is the prelude to abundant spiritual fruit, and in
fact many people in this region do embrace the Gospel.
Even though St. Luke records the progress and success of the Word of
God, he also shows that its preachers certainly encounter the cross
(cf. 13:14, 50). The Gospel meets with acceptance everywhere—and also
with opposition. “Where there are many laurels”, St. Ambrose says,
“there is fierce combat. It is good for you to have persecutors: that
way you attain more rapid success in your enterprises” (”Expositio in
Ps 118”, 20, 43).
The Apostles have no difficulty in pointing to events to show the
disciples that suffering and difficulties form part of Christian
living.
“Cross, toil, anguish: such will be your lot as long as you live. That
was the way Christ went, and the disciple is not above his master”
([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 699). “Each of us has at some time or
other experienced that serving Christ our Lord involves suffering and
hardship; to deny this would imply that we had not yet found God [...].
Far from discouraging us, the difficulties we meet have to spur us on
to mature as Christians. This fight sanctifies us and gives
effectiveness to our apostolic endeavors” ([St] J. Escriva, “Friends of
God”, 28 and 216).
23. The appointment of elders in each church means that Christians were
invested with a ministry of government and religious worship, by a
liturgical rite of ordination. These have a share in the hierarchical
and priestly ministry of the Apostles, from whom their own ministry
derives.
“The ministry of priests [...]”, Vatican II teaches, “shares in the
authority by which Christ Himself builds up and sanctifies
and rules His Body” (”Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 2). The ministerial office of
priests is essential to the life of every Christian community, which
draws its strength from the Word of God and the Sacraments. Their
priesthood, derived from our Lord, is essentially different from what
is called the “priesthood common to all the faithful”.
A man becomes a priest of the New Testament through a special calling
from God. “Our vocation,” (Pope) John Paul II told a huge gathering of
priests in Philadelphia, “is a gift from the Lord Jesus Himself. It is
a personal, individual calling: we have been called by our name, just
as Jeremiah was” (”Homily at the Civic Center”, 4 October 1979).
The priestly life is a sublime vocation which cannot be delegated or
transferred to anyone else. It is a lifelong vocation and means that
one has to give himself entirely to God—and this he can do, with the
help of grace, because “we do not claim back our gift once given. It
cannot be that God, who gave us the impulse to Yes, should now desire
to hear us say No....
“It should not surprise the world that God’s calling through the Church
should continue, offering us a celibate ministry of love and service
according to our Lord Jesus Christ’s example. This calling from God
touched the very depths of our being. And after centuries of
experience the Church knows how appropriate it is that priests should
respond in this specific way in their lives, to demonstrate the
totality of the Yes they have said to our Lord” (”Ibid.”).
“Since He wishes that no one be saved who has not first believed (cf.
Mark 16:16), priests, like the co-workers of the bishops that they are,
have as their first duty to proclaim to all men the Gospel of God”
(Vatican II, “Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 4). To carry out this mission
well, a priest needs to be in contact with our Lord all the time—”a
personal, living encounter—with eyes wide open and a heart beating
fast—with the risen Christ” ([Pope] John Paul II, “Homily in Santo
Domingo Catedral”, 26 January 1979).
Reminding priests of their special duty to be witnesses to God in the
modern world, [Pope] John Paul II invites them not only to bear in mind
the Christian people, from whom they come and whom they must serve, but
also people at large; they should not hide the fact that they are
priests: “Do not help the trends towards ‘taking God off the streets’
by yourselves adopting secular modes of dress and behavior” (”Address
at Maynooth University”, 1 October 1979).
24-26. Paul and Barnabas return to Syrian Antioch, taking in the cities
they have visited—in reverse order: Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian
Antioch and Perga. At the port of Attalia they take ship for Syria and
arrive shortly afterwards in Antioch. Their journey, which began
around the year 45, has taken four years.
Despite the animosity and persecution they experienced in these cities,
the two missionaries do not avoid returning. They want to complete
arrangements for the government of the new churches and to consolidate the
faith of the disciples. The possible risks involved do not cause them any
concern.
“Whosoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life
for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). “These are
mysterious and paradoxical words,” (Pope) John Paul II writes. “But
they cease to be mysterious if we strive to put them into practice.
Then the paradox disappears and we can plainly see the deep simplicity
of their meaning. To all of us this grace is granted in our priestly
life and in our zealous service” (”Letter to All Priests”, 8 April
1979, 5).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Revelation 21:1-5a
A New World Comes Into Being. The New Jerusalem
[5a] And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things
new.”
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Commentary:
1-4. The prophet Isaiah depicted the messianic times as a radical
change in the fortunes of the people of Israel—so radical that, as he
put it, God was going to create new heavens and a new earth, a new
Jerusalem full of joy, where the sound of weeping would never more be
heard, where God would make himself plain for all to see and where
everything would be as it was in paradise before sin (cf. Is 65:12-25).
The author of the Apocalypse uses this same format to describe the
future Kingdom of God. The imagery of a new heaven and a new earth
(taken in a physical sense) was very much in vogue in Jewish writing
around the time of the Apocalypse (cf. 1 Enoch 72:1; 91:16), and is
probably reflected also in 2 Peter 3:10-13 and Matthew 19:28.
Scripture nowhere indicates what form the new heaven and the new earth
will take. However, what is clear is that there will be a radical
“renewal” of the present cosmos, contaminated as it is by the sin of
man and the powers of evil (cf. Gen 2:8-3:24; Rom 8:9-13); through this
renewal all creation will be “recapitulated” in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10;
Col 1:16:20). No reference is made to the sea, probably because in
Jewish literature it symbolized the abyss, the abode of demonic powers
hostile to God.
Those who will inhabit this new world (symbolized by the Holy City, the
new Jerusalem) are the entire assembly of the saved, the entire people
of God (cf. vv. 12-14)—a holy people disposed to live in loving
communion with God (as reflected by the image of the adorned bride: cf.
vv. 2, 9). The promise of a new covenant (Ezek 37:27) will be
fulfilled to the letter: God will see to it that none of the evil,
suffering or pain found in this world will find its way into the new
world.
This passage of the Book of Revelation strengthens the faith and hope
of the Church—not only St John’s own generation but all generations
down the ages for as long as the Church makes its way through this
valley of tears. The Second Vatican Council says: “We know neither the
moment of the consummation of the earth and of man nor the way the
universe will be transformed. The form of this world, distorted by
sin, is passing away and we are taught that God is preparing a new
dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, whose happiness
will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts
of men. Then with death conquered the children of God will be raised
in Christ and what was sown in weakness and dishonor will put on the
imperishable: charity and its work will remain, and all of creation
which God made for man, will be set free from its bondage to decay”
(”Gaudium Et Spes”, 39).
5-8. For the first and only time in the entire book God himself speaks.
He does so as absolute Lord of all, to ratify what has just been
expounded. While the author and his readers are still in this world of
suffering, God affirms that he—even now—is creating a new world.
There is, then, a connection between present human suffering and the
future world which is taking shape thanks to the mercy of God.
Although that new world will emerge in its complete form on the last
day, the renewal of all things has already begun; it began with the
life, death and resurrection of Christ. “The kingdom of life has
begun,” St Gregory of Nyssa teaches, “and the empire of death has been
undone. Another generation, another life, another way of loving has
made its appearance: our very nature is being transformed. What type
of generation am I referring to? A generation which results not from
blood or carnal love or human love, but from God. Are you wondering
how that can be? I shall explain it in a few words. This new creature
is begotten by faith; the regeneration of Baptism brings it to birth;
the Church, its nurse, weans it by her teaching and institutions and
nourishes it with her heavenly bread. This new creature matures
through holiness of life; its marriage is marriage with Wisdom; its
children, hope; its home, the Kingdom; its inheritance and its riches,
the delights of paradise; its final destiny is not death, but eternal
and joyful life in the dwelling-place of the saints” (”Oratio I In
Christi Resurrectionem”). We should remember that “the Kingdom is
mysteriously present here on earth; when the Lord comes it will enter
into its perfection” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 39).
The promise of a world to come is so sure that although that world has
not achieved its full perfection, it can be categorically stated that
it is a promise “already kept”—”It is done”: God himself, the Lord of
history guarantees it (cf. note on Rev 1:8)....
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.